In my preparations for upcoming trips, I do like to read the AB evaluations of lesser known natural sites, and phrases like “remote and rarely visited” in there often draw my attention. Some WHS just barely receive any visitors. So I decided to try and create a connection for sites with “ 1000 visitors or fewer ”; as a counterpart to the longstanding One million visitors or more which currently has 98 entries.

Definition

As defining description I choose:

WHS core zones that have only 1,000 visitors a year or fewer.

• Total given upon inscription, as stated in the AB evaluation or the nomination file. If it is not given, reliable data sources such as IUCN Outlook and UNEP/WCMC can be used.
• Reflects the number of visitors in a ‘normal’ year, not at a temporary low (because of Covid, restoration, war, etc).
• It also excludes the sites that have never been open to tourists .

Sites may see a growth in tourism after the inscription and go beyond the 1,000 – but not excessively so or they will be delisted from this connection.

Selection

We have had a Forum topic called ‘ Aspiring to be on the Tentative List ’ already since 2008. It is filled with mentions of places around the world that have publicly announced to aspire to World Heritage status, but are not on their country’s Tentative List yet. Honestly, I never took those very seriously, as they were often proposed by locals after a few drinks without any further thought or follow-up.

But I feel something in the ‘Road to WHS’ has fundamentally changed over the past few years. Countries seem to keep their cards close to their chest longer than before. For a WH traveller, it can now be more worthwhile to be aware of these Aspiring TWHS (ATWHS) than to look at a current but aged Tentative List. On my recent short trip to Poland for example, I already added a Cluniac site (Tyniec Abbey) to the itinerary as it lies next to Krakow and it has a high chance of being nominated for WHS within the next 5 years.

What kind of ATWHS are we looking at?

Winterkjm last year already gave a great non-exhaustive summary of sites in the running. …

In the series “Revisiting the great cities of Europe”, I present Krakow . My first visit to Krakow was in early February 2005, and in the few pictures that I have left the buildings look gloomy and there’s a layer of snow on the ground. So I planned this return trip for April, confident in catching a few warm and sunny Spring days. Oh, how wrong I was! It was freezing. But I came prepared with a list of things to see gathered from previous reviews and other sources. And I read the original nomination file (1978), which has become available since it was attached to the 2010 minor boundary modification .

On my first afternoon, I joined a Free Walking Tour covering Kazimierz. No less than 36 foreign tourists showed up, which confirms Krakow as a popular city trip destination. The tour still milks the success of the Schindler’s List movie which dates from 1993. Fortunately, the group was split in 2 with a guide each. We walked a lot, also to the former ghetto across the river (outside of the WHS core zone). Several 16th and 17th-century synagogues and a cemetery have survived in …

During my recent visit to Gunung Mulu , I enjoyed an early morning walk on what they claim to be the world’s longest tree-based canopy walkway. It indeed is a truly adventurous one consisting of 15 long and narrow rope bridges connecting the trees. Only two people are allowed on each stretch at the same time. Another good one that I visited on the same trip was at the Rainforest Discovery Centre in Sandakan; this is a more accessible skywalk with unobstructed views, and it is excellent for birds . The guide told me that on the hardcore birding tours they stay here for 5 hours, between 6 and 11 a.m.

The Definition

Canopy Walkways are structures that provide pedestrian access to a forest canopy. Sometimes they are also identified as skywalks or elevated walkways. For their construction, a lot of high trees obviously are needed, as well as a feel for adventure tourism and an expectation of a high number of visitors to get a return on the considerable investment. China seems to mostly have gone for the Glass floored Skywalks which are more like viewing platforms. Zip Lines are also similar, but …

This is the second fairly recent book about WHS in China, after Chinese Heritage Sites and their Audiences by Rouran Zhang (2020) which I reviewed earlier. ' World Heritage Craze in China ' was originally published in 2018 and is written by Haiming Yan - born in China, got his Ph.D. in Sociology from a university in the USA, and now is the director of the secretariat of ICOMOS China. The central question he tries to answer in this book is: Why is World Heritage so important for the Chinese ?

The role of the State

The author mostly focuses on the role the central government plays in the nomination and management of World Heritage in China. He clearly is comfortable with Chinese laws, governmental organizations, and bureaucracy. Like Zhang, he underlines the importance of China having integrally adopted the World Heritage model of heritage conservation (as a framework with its tools and vocabulary), as it did not have one of its own before. They don't feel awkward about this copying, as a Chinese saying says " a stone from other hills may serve to polish the jade of this one" . Also, because …

A visit to ‘ The Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves ’ nowadays has to start in Kuching, where in the wonderful Borneo Cultures Museum they have ‘Deep Skull’ on display. The museum’s fourth floor holds an intriguing exposition about the findings in Niah.

When I arrived at Niah National Park itself, I was surprised to see banners all around stating ‘Niah National Park Toward UNESCO World Heritage Site’. As the nomination is only up in 2024, this is a bit premature and just shy of failing Commandment #7 ! The facilities, including a large car park, cafeteria, and tourist bungalows, already are set up for high numbers of visitors. On a weekday in March 2023 though, there were only a handful of other people.

There still is no bridge however to enter the park, so two young guys were ferrying the visitors across (1 ringgit, 1 minute). On the other side, the 3km long trail to the caves starts. I had read reports beforehand about how slippery the walkway is, even dangerous. To make things worse, it had rained heavily all night and was just starting to clear up when I arrived at …

Gunung Mulu National Park scores in superlatives. Mulu has the Second Biggest Cave Chamber in the world (Sarawak Chamber), the Largest Cave Passage (Deer Cave), and one of the Largest interconnected cave systems (Clearwater Cave System). It has among the highest number of palm tree species anywhere ánd even the longest canopy walkway . It has been inscribed as a WHS on all 4 natural criteria. Even on our website, it ranks 30th of all 1157 WHS, with an average score of 4.5.

Despite knowing all these accolades, it blows you away on arrival. Its rainforest setting is stunning, it is much prettier than pictures can convey. I found it especially hard to take good photos here, I took over 500 and kept only 90 or so. I tried all kinds of settings, both on my large zoom camera and my phone, to no avail (others had more success with their latest generation high-end iPhones). The rainforest and the cave interiors are very dark, and pouring rain doesn’t help either. Animals are either very skittish or tiny. Trees, cave entrances (photo 2) and stick insects (photo 3) are the best bets!

The park is …

Visiting WHS isn’t always easy. Frederic M. and I both tried to tackle the Lenggong Valley recently – a site where early hominid remains have been found, a type of site that always has a challenge in communicating its story anyway. In Lenggong the archaeological museum has been ‘under renovation’ for ages with no end. The other locations are closed to ordinary visitors. To access them you need a guide connected to the museum, but the e-mail address for contact only results in a Delivery failure notification. Frederic and I kept on trying via different channels and we will let you know in a review if we succeed.

Why make our lives so hard? I came up with the following 9 ‘Commandments’ that the management of a WHS should adhere to in order to accommodate a WH traveller:

1. You show your OUV!

You do not keep it to yourself (looking at you, people of Stoclet !). You may restrict visitor numbers when overcrowding becomes a concern, but access should be allowed via a mechanism that is open to everyone.

2. Thou shalt not close up shop right after becoming a WHS

…

For my ‘tick’ of the Kaeng Krachan Forest Complex I choose Kui Buri National Park. Kui Buri (sometimes also spelled as ‘Kuri Buri’) was established only in 1999 after tensions between wild elephants and villagers escalated. The elephants’ former habitat had been taken over by pineapple plantations. The park now offers daily 'elephant safaris', where - with a bit of luck - one can observe the wild elephants from a distance. The WWF is still active here to further reduce human-elephant conflict.

The park lies about 1h15 from the pleasant seaside resort of Hua Hin. I used HuaHin Taxi for the return transfer – they are easy to communicate with and know the drill at Kui Buri. The wildlife viewing area is open to entering daily between 2 and 5 p.m. (though you will leave towards 6 p.m.) and requires hiring a 4WD truck and guide at the ticket office.

We arrived at 2.15 and I was driven into the park immediately. The noisy truck drove quite fast on the sandy roads and it was clear that we wouldn’t be seeing much along the way. They will bring you to one of the two main …

Put this one on your to-do list, as Banteay Chhmar may be nominated in the next few years by Cambodia. Serious restorations and improvements of the visiting conditions have taken place, especially since 2017. A lot of money and effort has been put into what is still a remote site not far from the border with Thailand. As with the other Cambodian sites, most of the work is being carried out by local workers and paid for by the Cambodian government. In the earlier stages of its rediscovery and preservation, both the World Monuments Fund and the Global Heritage Fund have been active here as well to mitigate the effects of structural instability and looting.

The Archeological complex of Banteay Chhmar is the focal point of the contemporary town that bears the same name. The ancient site is encircled by a wide moat, still filled with water. The modern town is much smaller and feels like a temporary set-up at its fringes.

My visit to Banteay Chhmar was organized by the local Community-Based Tourism (CBT) group. I stayed overnight in one of their homestays (in a fine room on the second floor of a traditional …