LIMA, Peru — The ruined city known as the "cradle of gold" was once a mountaintop refuge of Incan royalty, with elegant halls and plazas much like those of fabled Macchu Picchu just 30 miles (50 km) away. Yet only a handful of tourists visit each day, those willing to make a two-day hike to reach its majestic solitude. That is about to change: the national government has approved what will be Peru's first aerial tramway. Bridging the deep canyon...

Pilot Andre Borschberg flies the experimental solar-powered aircraft, Solar Impulse, above Lake Geneva during a test flight from Payerne to Geneva on September 21, 2010. (JEAN REVILLARD/AFP/Getty Images) Traveling the world in a solar-powered vehicle seems like something out of a science fiction novel now, but we might soon be zipping through the sky and plying the oceans' waters in planes and boats powered by the sun. Three projects are proving that technology has advanced enough to make solar-powered circumnavigation...

Diving into the water in Tasiilaq in southeastern Greenland. (Kristinn Einarsson/Visit Greenland) With its Arctic climate and towering icebergs, Greenland may not be known as a swimming destination, but its chilly reputation doesn't deter locals and tourists alike from taking a plunge into the island's crystal-clear waters, according to the national tourist board Visit Greenland. “Of course, it is colder here, but the water can easily get to 5-10 degrees in bays and lakes, which means that the water in...

Nomadic Peoples of the World Nomads come back after travelling for seven days in the Moroccan desert on March 16, 2013 in M'hamid El Ghizlane, southeast of Zagora. (FADEL SENNA/AFP/Getty Images) For thousands of years nomads have roamed the earth, living off the land with their livestock, or hunting and gathering food with the changing seasons. Climate change and globalization have indisputably impacted their lifestyles, but photographer Jeroen Toirkens, who spent 12 years living with numerous nomadic peoples around the...

In a reverse of the normal structure of zoos, the Orana Wildlife Park in Christchurch, New Zealand is offering visitors the chance to step into a cage and be watched by a group of curious animals. In this case, the animals are a pride of hungry lions, who swarm the cage and even climb up the sides and top of it. According to ABC News, the cage is attached to a flat-bed truck so that the tourists can be driven...

(FRANK RUMPENHORST/AFP/Getty Images) RIO DE JANEIRO -- A TAM Airlines flight hit turbulence so severe that 12 passengers and crew members on the plane from Madrid to Sao Paulo were injured and the aircraft was forced to make an unscheduled landing. (MORE: ) The airline says in a statement that Flight 8065 had to land in the northeastern Brazilian city of Fortaleza early Monday after hitting the sudden turbulence. Passengers say the turbulence lasted only a few seconds, but it...

Examples of the objects that are put on auction at Gresham's in Hong Kong. (Credit: Gresham's) Tourists in Hong Kong now have the opportunity to take home more than just a Chinese teapot or fake designer handbag as a souvenir. Gresham's auction house is giving foreigners the chance to bid on rare antiques -- the sort that might be displayed in museums elsewhere -- at affordable prices. The pieces have withstood the tests of time for hundreds of years and...

Two pandas enjoy a meal of bamboo shoots in a enclosure at the Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu, southwest China's Sichuan province on June 24, 2012. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Pandas are among the world's rarest and cutest of animals, with only 2,000 left in the world, but for panda-lovers a luxury tour operator is offering the chance to get up close and personal with the creatures. Remote Lands, which provides customized trips in Asia for wealthy clients, is offering a...

Japan's Hashima Island, commonly called Gunkanjima (or 'Battleship Island'), was populated from 1887 to 1974 as a coal mining facility and housed thousands of workers in its heyday. When coal mining declined, operations at the facility ceased and the island was abandoned. (Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre) Commonly known asGunkanjima (or "Battleship Island"), Hashima Island floats off the coast of Nagasaki in Japan, surrounded by a concrete sea wall which gives it an armored warship appearance. The abandoned island's weathered...

Changing Waterways:Kanal Istanbul A view of Istanbul and the Bosphorus, a navigable channel of water which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara as seen from an airplane flying over Istanbul, November 2012. The Bosphorus is considered the physical and geographical boundary between Europe and Asia. (BULENT KILIC/AFP/Getty Images) From the damages wrought by Hurricane Sandy along the East Coast in October 2012, to the construction of the biggest building in the world in China, every new year...

Great Wall of China - China Rain clouds pass over a section of the Great Wall at Jinshanling, Hebei Province on June 10, 2012. A recent archaeological survey found its total length to be 21,196 km or 13,171 miles. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images) The sight of a building being torn down or renovated is a common one in any big city, and we've become all too accustomed to seeing homes and businesses torn apart by the elements, from hurricanes to tornadoes....

Kandovan, Iran Perhaps nothing exemplifies the harmony of nature and human settlement more than the troglodyte and cave villages of the world. Many of these underground cities' structures were formed by natural processes such as erosion but man has taken advantage of these rock formations to carve out their own energy-efficient cave homes (they remain cool in the summer and warm in the winter) and permanent historical monuments. From ancient desert cities to modern European towns, we explore the incredible...

The idyllic sand beaches and fantastic rock formations on the Marieta Islands are a perfect example of happy chance that can sometimes occur when nature and technology work together. Located off the west coast of Mexico near Nayarit, the Marieta Islands were formed by volcanic activity and were later used by the Mexican government for military weapons testing, reported the Daily Mail. The bombs carved chunks out of the rocky landscape, creating caves and revealing hidden beaches. (MORE: Florida Beaches...