World Travel

See the world's most extraordinary natural sights, including a brilliant turquoise lake of sulfuric acid on top of an Indonesian volcano, a giant waterfall in Cambodia, rice terraces in Bali, a 6 story high limestone champagne bottle in Mexico, the River Nile in Egypt, a tumbling glacier in New Zealand, a beautiful tropical island in Fiji, an undisturbed rainforest jaguar sanctuary in Belize, the Chocolate Hills of the Philippines and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

You'll also see many of the world's most famous buildings like the pyramids of Egypt, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, St Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square, Maya cities in the Yucatan Peninsula, Karlstejn Castle in the Czech Republic, the Grand Palace in Thailand, the Mosque of Suleyman the Magnificent in Turkey, the Houses of Parliament in England and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Finally, watch as local people from around the world go about their daily lives - riding camels, elephants, horses and bicycles, earning their living as soldiers, tourist guides and sulfur porters, and enjoying themselves fishing and swimming.

Ancient Ruins

Four continents, ten countries and 4500 years of history await you in this collection of photos of the world's most famous ancient ruins, starting with an early step pyramid in Egypt which is the oldest stone structure in the world, and ending with the ruins of a church in the Philippines which was buried with its congregation by a volcano 200 years ago.   You'll see the largest temple in the world at Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the pyramids and sphinx at Giza, Buddhist and Hindu ruins in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, Maya temples in Guatemala the height of a 23 story building, and the little-known pyramids at Teotihuacan in Mexico.

The collection includes photos of the colorful and fascinating artwork which adorned these ruins.   You'll see huge Buddha statues from ancient Thailand, magnificent murals of gods and animals in Egypt, battle scenes from the Khmer kingdoms, vibrant blue and red paintings from the civilizations of central Mexico, and artifacts from Maya cities such as a jaguar-shaped throne, a relief of an eagle clutching a sacrificial victim's heart, and life-like stucco statues which were only recently discovered by accident under an ancient temple.

Bugs of the World

This collection contains 100 different bugs from countries around the world, including Australia, the Czech Republic, Cambodia, Fiji, Guatemala, Indonesia,  Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Russia, Thailand, the USA and Vietnam.   You'll see some of the most beautiful butterflies, dragonflies, beetles and moths the tropics have to offer, as well as the creepiest spiders, scorpions, flies and caterpillars!

The fact sheet describes some of the most amazing critters you'll ever see, like a giant ant from the rainforests of Malaysia, an insect from Belize whose kiss can kill you, bugs that spray vinegar to defend themselves, beetles that glow at night, an American caterpillar that predicts how cold winter will be, spiders that mimic ants and ants that build apartments in the trees.

You'll also see extraordinary behavior like a butterfly defending its territory against all comers, a caterpillar rearing up to attack, mating walking sticks, weaver ants building a nest from leaves, a dragonfly stretching its wings for the first time, a crab spider dining on an ant, an ant hauling a feather back to its nest, a mantis and its friends wolfing down a meal, hover flies mating in mid-air and a nursery spider defending its eggs.

Underwater Animals

Jump in and enjoy 100 of the most beautiful, weirdest and most dangerous animals from tropical reefs around the world!

They're all here, from a sea horse in Indonesia to a sea snake in Thailand, from a bearded ghoul in the Pacific Ocean to a green moray in the Caribbean Sea, from the beautiful flamingo tongue of Belize to a giant clam in Malaysia, from tiny but brilliantly colored sea slugs to the largest fish of all, the whale shark.   You'll see the world's most attractive fish, including angelfishes in Mexico, butterflyfishes in Egypt, clownfishes in an anemone on a reef in the Philippines, and a rare Banggai cardinalfish in Indonesia.   A deadly cone shell shares its realm with the world's most poisonous sea urchin, stingrays live alongside their relatives the sharks and moray eels lurk in their holes and prowl the reef at night.

Pistol shrimps clean house for their fish friends and defend them with claws which create the loudest sound in the ocean, able to break glass and kill enemies using a 190 decibel pressure wave which creates an 8500 degree heat flash and a small pulse of light!   Wonderpus pretends to be a sea snake, a frogfish walks along the sea floor, a sea slug lays a long ribbon of eggs, a harlequin crab and a sexy shrimp share an anemone,  a cleaner shrimp steps on the eye of a giant moray, a crab carries a sea urchin for protection,  sharksuckers hang onto their host and a stargazer buries itself and waits for its next victim.

Birds of the World

See colorful tropical birds including toucans, kingfishers, woodpeckers, flamingos and parrots, as well as familiar birds from the United States.

Read about the strangest birds you've never heard of - birds that walk on water and fly underwater, a parrot that eats cars, a bird that always holds its beak upside down when feeding, a bird with a two and a half gallon beak, a bird with cat's eyes, a bird that was lost for 100 years and bombs made from bird droppings.

Watch them all in action, taking off, landing, flying, hunting for prey, defending their territory, raising their young, washing and even sleeping.

They're all here in this collection of 100 different photos of birds from countries around the world, including Australia, Belize, Cambodia, the Czech Republic, Egypt, Fiji, Guatemala, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Russia, Thailand, Turkey, the USA and Vietnam.

World Fighter Aircraft

The world's fastest and deadliest fighting machines duke it out in this collection photographed at airfields and military bases in Russia, Great Britain,  the Czech Republic, New Zealand and the USA, with rare footage of the modern Vietnamese Air Force in action.

You'll see fighters from the Fokker triplane of Baron von Richthofen to the American P-36 "Peashooter" of the 1930s, and World War Two fighters of every nation like the American P-51 Mustang, the British Spitfire, Russian Yak 3, German Messerschmitt Bf 109 and Japanese Zero.   Early jets from the Korean War like the F-86 Sabre and MiG-15 "Fagot" develop into the F-4 Phantom and MiG-21 "Fishbed" of the Vietnam War, and then into sophisticated aircraft like the F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, MiG-29 "Fulcrum" and Su-27 "Flanker".   Finally the latest generation aircraft arrive on the scene, like the F-18 Super Hornet, Saab Gripen and F-22 Raptor, the world's first true stealth fighter.

As well as individual aircraft in the air and on the ground, the collection contains many group photos including US Air Force Heritage Flights and US Navy Tailhook Legacy Flights combining modern and historic American aircraft, as well as combat foes in close formation.   There are also rare aircraft like the FJ-4 Fury, the US Navy's first swept-wing jet fighter, the French Mirage F1 and Mirage 2000, the Gloster Gladiator, P-63 Kingcobra and the Sukhoi S-26, the only Mach 2 fighter ever equipped with skis rather than wheels!

Unusual Aircraft

The world's most unusual aircraft, all together in one collection for you to enjoy in the office, at home and at school!

Many of the photographs were taken in Russia and Europe, and many of the aircraft are one of a kind and unique - experimental aircraft like the giant Beriev A-42 jet-powered seaplane which never entered service, or sole survivors from military history like the Japanese Ki-43 "Oscar" fighter.   Most of the aircraft are captured in flight, but others now reside only in places like the extraordinary Russian Air Force museum at Monino, outside Moscow.   Here you'll see aircraft long kept secret from western observers, bombers like the M-4 "Bison", M-50 "Bounder" and the Sukhoi T-4, designed to fly at three times the speed of sound.   This museum also houses the Tu-144 "Concordski" supersonic airliner and the only MiG-105 "Spiral" one-man space craft.

You'll see the German Me-163 Komet rocket-powered fighter of World War Two, an aircraft called the EZ-Rocket which became the first rocket plane to carry mail in America, SpaceShipOne on the historic day it became the first civilian rocket plane to enter space, and the world's fastest aircraft, a glider which flies at 25 times the speed of sound and is best known as the Space Shuttle!   There are bizarre helicopters like the HH-43 Huskie, Ka-50 Black Shark gunship, the V-22 Osprey which can fly like a helicopter or like a regular plane, and the V-12 "Homer", the world's largest helicopter, measuring 218 feet wide and 121 feet long, with two rotors mounted side-by-side and powered by four huge jet engines.

Sampler

The very best photos from The Flying Kiwi's first seven photo collections!

On this CD-ROM you'll find fascinating wildlife, including colorful fish on coral reefs from the Underwater Animals collection, weird insects in steamy tropical jungles from the World Bugs collection and spectacular birds from the World Birds collection.

You'll be taken around the world to see ancient pyramids and murals from the Ancient Ruins collection as well as beautiful architecture and landscapes from the World Travel collection.

Take flight with the strangest aircraft in the world from the Unusual Aircraft collection and the fastest, meanest instruments of war from the Fighter Aircraft collection.