Stingray City is a very popular tourist attraction that is comprised of a series of shallow sandbars which are located in the North Sound of the Grand Cayman Island, that is within the autonomous British Overseas Territory, the Cayman Islands.

The beginnings of this interesting place are not well known, and as it has no city at all, but a large gathering of Southern Stingrays, it is considered that the creatures began showing up there decades ago.

As a matter in fact, fishermen who were returning from an excursion, were actually cleaning their fish far from the mosquitoes that were in large numbers on the island, and they have been throwing the fish guts overboard.

This allured the stingrays to start gathering frequently at the sandbar and feast on the leftovers, which became more of a tradition to the fishermen too. Once realized the great potential of this unusual event, people even began to feed the stingrays by hand.

Soon after, tours and excursions began to be organized, and flocks of people started playing with the very friendly stingrays in their own habitat.

As there are two sandbars, one is located in the shallows which is perfect for those who would like to stay atop the water and snorkel with the waves that are created from the marvelous creatures.

The second sandbar is a little bit deeper, and it allows for visitors to dive and enjoy in the stupendous vistas of the piercing sun in the water which are always interrupted by the amazing stingrays.

The Caymans being a cruising destination with cruise ships arriving all the time, there are always large numbers of visitors all around the water who are always eager to be much closer to the impressive aquatic creatures who do not mind at all the very curios people.

Palais de l’Isle, better known in English as the Palace of the Isle, is an old fortified house which sits on a small triangular islet by the Canal du Thious, in Annecy, which is the largest city of Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, within the French Republic.

The original construction of the house dates back from 12 century, and this fortified house has been classified as a historic monument of great importance in 1900.

Often referred to as a “gallery house”, at one point of its history, it was turned to prison, courthouse, and administrative center.

The whole structure follows the curves of the islet, and it has somewhat triangular shape which encompasses the edges of the islet that touch Le Thiou Channel.

At the beginning the palace was used as a prison, which was in 1325, when the feudal lord of Annecy paid Jean de Menthoux, the master of the island, to feed two prisoners. Thirty years later, Count Amadeus II of Geneva was granted the right to establish a coin minting workshop in the small castle.

Nevertheless, when Annecy and the Genevois province were attached to the Duchy of Savoy following the demise of the Genevois dynasty, the castle was given to the Monthoux family as a fief, so that subsequently later to be bought by the Dukes of Savoy.

It is at the end of 16 century, when the house was transformed to a courthouse and a prison, however, it housed too the Presidential Council of the Genevois province and the Court of Auditors.

Even when the French Revolution happened, it was used as a prison, until 1900 when it officially became a Historical Monument of the French Republic.

With the restorations, nowadays, this amazing architectural masterpiece is open to the public, where every visitor would be able to see the impressive entrance courtyard, the Banches which is the part where business was conducted, the Coin Mint Wing, the Tower Lodge, the dungeons, the inner courtyard, and the chapel.

The museum exhibits parts of the urban history, heritage and environment of Annecy, making it one of the most attractive points in the city. A true historical treasure kept in great condition by the French Government.

The Managing Director, Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC), Abubakar Yelwa says clamour by Nigerians for the dredging of Rivers Niger, Benue and Kaduna to check perennial flooding in affected areas will be difficult for the federal government to handle without intervention from international donor agencies.

Yelwa disclosed this while speaking at the 2023 stakeholders meeting on flood mitigation and other related issues in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital, noting that the estimated cost for dredging of the rivers as at 1983 when the federal government asked for the cost was $2billion, adding that the cost had astronomically gone up over 10 times.

The HYPPADEC MD, while responding to suggestions from participants at the meeting to mitigate 2023 flood prediction by the Nigerian Metreological Agency, said the commission would embark on aforestration programme, adding that trees would be planted in five hectares of land in each of the five local government areas in Kwara North senatorial district.

Meanwhile other speakers at the forum called for multi-sectoral approach towards mitigating flood in Kwara state and beyond.