5 Places to Visit Before They're Gone

Thomas Don't just book it. Cook Thomas Cook it. Places to visit before they're gone 1 Kilimanjaro's snow cap A dormant volcano, Tanzania's massive Mount Kilimanjaro is covered by a glacial ice cap. Now rapidly depleting, this ice cap will shortly leave the rest of its twelve millennia year old body. 20 years left" 25,000 People attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro each year 85% Percentage of snow cap lost since 1912 The tallest freestanding 15.100 mountain in the world feet tall 2 2 The Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is a living organism which is threatened by overfishing, climate change, poor water quality and tourism. These days nearly all trips to see the reef are strictly managed by the Australian Government, so while visitors may not get to see the most pristine coral, they can make sure they are not contributing to its 40 downfall. years left* Great Barrier Reef Stretching some 3,000km in length, the Great Barrier Reef is the only natural structure that you can see from space. for the next 3000km To date, scientists have classified at least.. Fish species Coral species 1,500 400 Bird species Mollusc species 215 4,000 Sea turtle species Plus a host of sponges, anemones, worms, crustaceans, shells, sea stars and urchins! The Amazon Rainforest 90 1 3 years left* Stretching across is rich with some of the world's most astonishing wildlife. Home to millions of insects, fish, birds, mammals and amphibians, it is a Mecca South American countries, the Amazon Rainforest for all nature lovers. If the Amazon rainforest were a country it would be the 7th largest! 5. Brazil 8,514,877 km2 6. Australia 7,692,024 km2 7. The Amazon 5,500,000 km2 8. India 3,287,263 km2 9. Argentina 2,780,400 km² To date, scientists have classified at least... Bird species Mammal species 1,294 427 Current rate of destruction is over 7000km? Insect species Fish species 2,500,000 2,200 per year Reptile species Plant species S 378 40,000 4 4 Venice A favourite of Shakespeare, Venice is renowned for its romance, decadent architecture and artistic qualities. Constructed out of shallow, petrified wooden piles that are submerged in clay, Venice is slowly but surely sinking. 100 years left* Only 3 to 4 Gondolier licenses are issued annually. Despite their fame, only 400 licensed Gondolas operating in Venice today. Venice lies on an archipelago made up of 118 flat islands far off the Veneto coast, in the north-eastern Mediterranean (aka the Adriatic Sea). The Swedish Ice Hotel This swish Scandinavian hotel is redesigned and restructured each Has to be year. With the polar ice caps melting, this hotel disappears with them. rebuilt 2011 marks the construction of model #22 and took artists, designers every year! and draftsmen from over 15 countries to conceptualise, build and adorn. The ice blocks are made from water from the Torne River, which dates back as far as the Ice Age. 120 Miles above the arctic circle ©2011 Thomas Cook www.thomascook.com Thomas Cook Holidays worth writing home about. Permission granted to copy, print and distribute in an unmodified form * At current rate of destruction Sources NASA.GOV Kilimangiaro's Vanishing Snow Cap http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003100/a003125/index.html BBC - Australia reef's days 'numbered' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3509383.stm Greatbarrierreef.org - http://www.greatbarrierreef.org/ AFP - Amazon countries vow to enhance conservation efforts http://news.yahoo.com/amazon-countries-meet-brazil-mull-development-154402519.html History.com Venice http://www.history.com/topics/venice About ICEHOTEL http://www.icehotel.com/uk/ICEHOTEL/About-ICEHOTEL/ Every year! 100 years 90 years 40 years Timeline 20 years