It looks like a crack in a road, but this is in the Afar Triangle of Djibouti, where a triple junction of tectonic plates is tearing Africa in pieces. Plates spreading apart is called a Rift. I’m standing over where three gigantic rifts – the Red Sea that has split Arabia and northern Africa in two, the Gulf of Aden that will split off Somalia from the rest of Africa, and the Great Rift Valley of East Africa currently ripping Africa itself asunder – originate. Here the once intact Africa Plate began to tear in three directions.

Ironically, here is where humanity did the same. Genetic scientists have determined that some 60,000 years ago a small band of Africans (less than 200) rafted from what is now Djibouti to what is now Yemen in Arabia – and that incredibly, every human on earth today except for those who stayed, is descended from them. That means, e.g., all Europeans, Chinese and Asians, Australian Aborigines, North and South Native Americans, descended from those 200 people long ago.

Two amazing facts from this tiny country. There’s a third – it’s the best place in the world to swim with whale sharks, an unforgettable experience. All in Djibouti! (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #238 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is “Tatik-Papik” (Grandmother-Grandfather), a stone monument built in Soviet days as homage to the mountain people of the Transcaucasus Highlands of Armenia and Azerbaijan. After both became independent with the fall of the USSR, Armenia seized the Azeri part, known as Nagorno Karabagh. Since late September, war has broken out anew, with Turkey supporting the Azeris and Russia supporting the Armenians.

The dispute could be settled easily with a “land swap.” There is an exclave of Azerbaijan called Nakhchivan (see The Land of Noah, Glimpse #3) separated by a sparsely inhabited corridor of Armenia called the Mehgri Strip running to the border with Iran. It could be swapped for the Armenian-populated portion of Karabagh. Result: Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan are united and whole, Armenia and Armenian Karabagh are united and whole.

Should be win-win achievable given recent peace agreements achieved by our genius POTUS between Serbia and Kosovo, plus between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, and Sudan don’t you think? (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #71 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

This is Caño Cristales, a river flowing through an ancient tableland in a remote roadless region deep in the forests of Colombia. Known as The Liquid Rainbow, geologists consider it the world’s most beautiful river.

The colors are due to endemic riverweeds that grow only here, clinging to the rocks of the riverbed, and the crystal clarity of the water. It is not easy to get to – fly a light plane to an airstrip, take a boat upriver for miles, then walk a few miles more. But then you get to explore one of the most beautiful sights nature has to offer – replete with dozens of small fun waterfalls, surrounded by an uninhabited forest teeming with tropical birds.

No wonder National Geographic calls Caño Cristales “the River of the Garden of Eden.” Yet it is only one of the many extraordinary experiences in this huge country – for Colombia is larger than Texas and California combined. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #22 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

The Igreja de São Francisco (Church of St. Francisco) was built 800 years ago on a ledge overlooking the Douro River in Porto, Portugal.  500 years later in the early 1700s, the people of Porto devoted themselves to making its interior supremely magnificent.

Most breathtaking is the polychrome wood carving depicting The Tree of Jesse springing from the reclining body of Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of King David, and showing the genealogy of Jesus through the branches of the tree that are the Twelve Kings of Judah, ending with Joseph and above him the Virgin and Child. Above the Tree to the ceiling is intricately carved woodwork deeply covered with hundreds of pounds of gold leaf.

This masterpiece of baroque art is an awesome tribute to the importance of Christianity to Western Civilization. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #234 photo ©Jack Wheeler)

Dar al-Hajar, the Rock Palace, was built by Yemen’s ruler, Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamiddin (1869-1948), atop a rock pinnacle as his summer residence. It lies in a valley about 10 miles outside Yemen’s capital of Sana’a. While an iconic example of Yemeni architecture, it’s impossible to visit now with civil war raging in the country. Someday we’ll be able to safely return to Yemen again. (Glimpses of Our Breathtaking World #143 Photo ©Jack Wheeler)