Lake Nakuru is framed by a bright pink line,
Of flamingoes resting or choosing to dine,
On bits and bobs along its shore,
Under acacia trees, that provide shade and more.
The flamingoes feed on plankton rich in vitamin A,
Which gives them their glorious pink display.
Lake Nakuru means ‘a dusty spot’,
But that is something that it is not,
It is shallow, saline and covered with birds,
When they take off together, you’re lost for words…

This imposing symbol’s the Brandenburg Gate,
It represents communist Germany that existed of late,
Because it once divided East from West,
It was one of the gates that kept East Berlin suppressed.
Originally, there were eighteen gates in the Wall,
And when it came down this is the only one to survive at all.
Now it stands for a reunified country and metropolis,
Designed to mimic, appropriately, Athen’s Acropolis.

This is La Gomera, a beautiful isle,
Where time has stood still for quite a while.
It’s like a land that mankind forgot,
Columbus’s ship’s about to come into shot!
Subtropical forest from 50 million years ago,
On this isle in the Canary Archipelago.
This wood is like a velvet frieze,
Mosses smother the limbs of trees,
And ferns crowd densely to your knees.

This is the Chateau de Chambord,
A masterpiece of Renaissance decor,
A hunting lodge was Francois I’s desire,
But it is now the largest castle in the Loire.
Its construction took twenty years,
Oodles of money, blood, sweat and tears.
It contains 440 rooms,
With numerous artistic and stunning heirlooms.
It has a double spiral staircase at its core,
So you can avoid seeing those you simply abhor.
Ironically, despite all this savour faire,
Francois declared it “too windy” and spent only 42 days there!

This is the railroad from Qinghai to Tibet,
It is beautiful travelling to get there and yet,
It is also a journey you’ll never forget.
It is a masterpiece of engineering,
Using techniques quite pioneering,
All mod-cons, precision steering.
It is laid on an area that is earthquake-prone,,
An astonishing feat for that alone,
It forms the country’s transport backbone.
Liquid nitrogen was used to give stability,
Its windows are sealed hermetically,
And each one is protected against UV.
Oxygen has to be piped on to this train,
To allow each passenger to survive the terrain,
Each carriage resembles an aeroplane,
The view between Golmud and Lhasa leaves a lasting impression,
To board it you need a governmental concession,
You also need a medical pass to cope with decompression.

The Potala Palace is a beautiful thing,
A building of grandeur to make your heart sing.
A palace and temple, for years it has stood,
This building composed of earth, stone and wood.
The walls look as if they are made of silk,
But their whiteness is due to the use of milk.
This building contains some 10,000 shrines,
And 200,000 statues that Buddhist practice defines.
Yet it’s most valuable scriptures and artworks divine,
We’re lost in the uprising of 1959.

If you dive near Flic en Flac,
You won’t want to venture back.
It has the island’s longest beach,
And a sandy reef just beyond reach.
It’s protected by the surrounding coral,
And here, dear reader, is the moral,
If you want a great view of the Indian Ocean,
Get your walking shoes into serious motion,
And if you want your curiosity piqued,
It’s in Mauritius’ Rivière Noire District.

In North Transylvania there’s an amazing spot,
That’s an Orthodox/Gothic melting pot,
The wooden churches of Maramures,
Display architectural vernacular truly pure.
All eight wooden churches stand on bases of stone,
Yet each one shows traces of that village alone.
After the last Tatar invasions of 1717,
These churches were restored to their splendour Byzantine.

The Pont du Gard is a beautiful bridge,
That crosses the river from ridge to ridge,
Romans built it two thousand odd years ago,
Architects, engineers, all wanting to show,
Their dedication and their undoubted skill,
At bridging the river from hill to hill.
Lord knows just how long it took to construct,
This beautiful, elegant aqueduct.
It stands at fifty meters high,
And is on 3 levels, from earth to sky,
The longest stretch metrically is 275,
Astonishing such a structure still survives.
This is such an astonishing edifice,
A technical, artistic masterpiece,
Constructed by Agrippa and his fabulous team,
It carried water from Uzes to the city of Nimes.
It drops only 17 metres along the way,
And delivered 44 million gallons of water per day.
No mortar was used, it is just stone on stone,
Held together by huge iron clamps alone.
Some stones weigh upward of 6 metric tons,
And took 3 years and 1,000 workmen before it was done.
The bridge was constructed slowly, inch by inch,
By a human powered treadmill to drive the winch,
A complex scaffold was attached to each pier,
To make the construction less severe.
This beautiful bridge which is such a delight,
Is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Let me introduce you to Borobudur,
Nine platforms, a dome, and a Buddhist decor,
Built in the 9th century, of Gupta design,
It is a place of pilgrimage, a Buddhist shrine.
The journey for pilgrims begins at the base,
And goes past relief panels all over the place,
You pass through 3 levels of Buddhist cosmology,
Before you wind up at the top of the tree.
The 14th century saw the monument’s decline,
Because Java concerted to Islam around that time.
It was discovered by Raffles in 1914,
Who made it his mission that it would be seen,
So from then onwards it was restored,
To make it a building that’s admired and adored,
Borobodur’s still used for pilgrimage once a year,
The Buddhists celebrate Vesak* here,
It’s now a UNESCO World Heritage Site,
So its future’s assured, its future is bright.

*Sometimes known as Buddha’s Birthday, it commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha.