The Airbus Beluga XL has finally hit the skies, and it’s lived up to the hype and its name.

The world’s smiliest plane had a whale of a time on its first commercial adventure, touching down in Bremen, Germany, nearly two hours after leaving the Airbus head office in Toulouse.

Ever dreamed of journeying to the Red Planet?

Well, there’s still no news on that, but we might be able to offer the next best thing. An installation by research studio Interstellar Lab is set to help scientists simulate the Martian lifestyle – and eventually, it will open to the public.

Widely considered the most beautiful times of day, sunset and sunrise are also probably the most difficult to photograph

Capturing the right composition of light and camera settings while racing against the movements of the sun can be an unforgiving enterprise, but, if you get it right, the results are often spectacular.

Fifty stunning sunset and sunrise-themed photos – selected from nearly 20,000 submissions – are now vying for victory in #GoldenHour2020, an international competition put on by free-to-use photography app Agora.

The 36th annual Harbin Ice Festival has begun in northern China, bringing with it perhaps the largest collection of ice sculptures and snowscapes ever seen by human eyes. Crafted from 220,000 cubic metres of ice drawn entirely from the frozen Songhua River, the exhibits are expected to draw more than 200 million tourists, both domestic and foreign.

Here are a few visual highlights from the frosty festivities, from elaborate ice palaces to exhilarating snow slides…

If the start of a new year stimulates reflection, the dawn of a fresh decade demands some serious thought – specifically when it comes to all-important travel plans.

New flight routes, anniversary celebrations, and exciting hotel openings plunge destinations into the spotlight. Some other places are simply having their moment, right now.

SEE ALSO: 10 Amazing Waterfalls You Need to See Before You Die

Sharing approximately 98% DNA with humans, chimpanzees are intelligent, emotional and have a sense of humour. They also, crucially, feel loss and pain.

In West Africa, bushmeat poaching and illegal pet trade have been catastrophic for the species, now classified as critically endangered in this region, and many baby orphans are left with nowhere to go.

Eager to give them a chance in life, Jimmy and Jenny Desmond have turned their Liberian home into a rescue centre, where they now care for 21 chimps.

Winter blues are best blasted with fantasies of basking in an exotic destination, and new BBC Two three-parter Earth’s Tropical Islands promises scenes to stimulate those dreams.

SEE ALSO: Least Visited Country on Each Continent: Why You Should Go

Showcases for the kind of aquatic power not often seen on dry land, there’s something unusually compelling about the sight of an entire river rocketing down a sheer drop.

There’s the spectacle of the thing, the sometimes deafening sound of pummelling water, and the spray flecking your face from seemingly impossible distances.

Here are a few fabulous falls to see before you die, from trickling tributaries to Amazonian cliffs…

A dense wedge of cloud stripes the horizon, sprouting a quiff of powdery wisps that sweeps across the sky. I’m sat on the beach in Tamarin – a traditional fishing village on Mauritius’ west coast – watching as the dipping sun backlights the scene with a soft golden glow.