Nestled among the cocoa plantations of western Ivory Coast is a gold mine that does not feature on any official maps. It is not run by an industrial mining company, nor does it pay taxes to the central government. The unlicensed mine is a key part of a lucrative business empire headed by the deputy commander of the West African nation's elite Republican Guard, United Nations investigators allege. Here: A gold prospector sits and eats close to a soldier at a gold mine near the village of Gamina, in western Ivory Coast, March 18, 2015. (Photo by Luc Gnago/Reuters)

Discovered in 1952 by French bio-speleologist Henri Coiffait, the waterfall and accompanying sinkhole were fully mapped in the 1980s by the Spéléo club du Liban. The cave is also known as the "Cave of the Three Bridges." Traveling from Laklouk to Tannourine one passes the village of Balaa, and the "Three Bridges Chasm" (in French "Gouffre des Trois Ponts") is a five-minute journey into the valley below where one sees three natural bridges, rising one above the other and overhanging a chasm descending into Mount Lebanon. During the spring melt, a 90–100-metre (300–330 ft) cascade falls behind the three bridges and then down into the 250-metre (820 ft) chasm. A 1988 fluorescent dye test demonstrated that the water emerged at the spring of Dalleh in Mgharet al-Ghaouaghir.

Hot lava trickles down from the Stromboli volcano on August 9, 2014 in Aeolian Islands, Italy. Lava flows down the Mount Stromboli off the Sicilian coast in southern Italy. The volcano – at 3,034ft – is one of the most active in Europe and has been erupting continuously since 1932. (Photo by Tom Pfeiffer/Barcroft Media)

John Gourley leans out of the cab of Goliath, one of Europe's largest cranes on September 20, 2011 in Rosyth, Scotland. The crane will begin the assembly of the Queen Elizabeth Class aircraft carriers later this week, when it lifts the first section of the two deck high 8,000 tonne centre block, which includes a section of the flight deck. The lift will mark the start of the Rosyth shipyards assembly of the first of two 65,000 tonne vessels the largest warships ever built for the Royal Navy. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A mother and her daughter paddle during a Stand Up Paddle (SUP) race of the Alpine Lakes Tour, on Europe's biggest underground lake, in St-Leonard, Switzerland, March 10, 2018. SUP is an offshoot of surfing that originated in Hawaii. Unlike traditional surfing where the rider sits until a wave comes, stand up paddle boarders stand on their boards and use a paddle to propel themselves through the water. (Photo by Denis Balibouse/Reuters)

Festival goers pose for photographers on the third day of Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm, Somerset, England, Friday, June 28, 2019. Temperatures are expected to soar over the weekend as a heatwave hits parts of Europe, while the festival runs for five days and is one of the largest events of its kind in the world. (Photo by Joel C. Ryan/Invision/AP Photo)

The snow-capped Etna spews hot lava, near Catania, Sicily island, Italy, 26 November 2023. One of Europe's most active and tallest volcano has erupted again on 25 November 2023. (Photo by Dario Lo Scavo/EPA/EFE)

Artem, a 40-year-old Ukrainian commander, shouts a warning before his artillery team fires toward Russian positions near Pokrovsk in early October 2024. (Photo by Serhiy Nuzhnenko/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)