I made it a priority to visit Khao Yai National Park during my trip to Thailand in April 2018. It is the most accessible among the five protected areas that make up the Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai Forest Complex. Almost all of the other reviewers have visited Khao Yai in one way or another—as a day trip from Bangkok or as a tour from Pak Chong—so I am just going to share my experience taking a tour of the forest when I stayed in Pak Chong.
I decided to spend 2 nights at the town of Pak Chong, which is typically the jump off point for tours to Khao Yai National Park, as many guidebooks and online sources would say. The plan was to take the half-day tour (3pm to 7pm) on my first night, and the full-day tour (8am to 7pm) the following day. All of these tours were offered through my guesthouse in Pak Chong, and were reasonably priced during the time of my visit—500 baht for half-day tour and 1,300 baht for full-day tour. I also thought that getting to Pak Chong was pretty straightforward—take the bus from Mo Chit bus terminal in Bangkok to Pak Chong, then wait for the guesthouse’s car to pick me up. I was positive that my early morning flight from Manila to Bangkok would allow me to get to the guesthouse right before the half-day tour starts.
But boy was I wrong. I missed the start of my half-day tour …
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I arranged for a private half-day guided tour of Bethlehem in November of 2019, which included not just the Church of Nativity, but also a drive through the governorate countryside, several viewpoints, a visit to the Shepherds Field, and a stroll through the center of the town of Bethlehem.
Church of the Nativity itself is not unlike the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, in that it is a major pilgrimage destination that is shared by several Christian denominations. The Bethlehem church is less of a madhouse, though; the stream of visitors is steady, but nowhere near the volume you find at the Holy Sepulchre. You can view the remains of the floor mosaic of the original church from the 4th century, and descend to a number of secondary grottoes where you may even have the space to yourself. With the Nativity Grotto, I profited from having a local licensed guide by being allowed to enter the cave on the “exit” side, thus bypassing the long line of pilgrims who wait a couple of hours to be able to get close for just a few seconds to the spot where Jesus was reputedly born.
This is obviously a place much more meaningful to devout Christians than it is to any secular person or otherwise non-Christian. I don't believe the church is exceptional on its own merit, and its obvious from reading the inscription that the recognition is based primarily on the church's symbolic value to the Christian …
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I visited Mexico between February and April 2019. I visited most WH colonial towns around Mexico City and Morelia was the first one.
The historical center of Morelia is not a breathtaking place, but the city is beautiful and the feeling walking around was really enjoyable. With its pink stone facades, la Avenida Madero and la Plaza de Armas, the city looks unique among Mexican towns. The focal point of any visit to Morelia is without a doubt the cathedral. It is impressive, massive and harmoniously mixes many architectural styles. Make sure to look at the 4,600 pipes organ inside! The cathedral is also nicely illuminated at night.
Among other sites I've visited, it is worth mentioning el Santuario de Guadalupe. This spectacular baroque church is heavily decorated with golden and colored ornaments. It is located on the beautiful Plaza Morelos, from which you can take la Calzada Fray Antonio de San Miguel, a nice pedestrian street that leads to la Fuente Las Tarascas. El Acueducto, even being less impressive than Querétaro's one, is still beautiful and nice to walk along. La Plaza San Agustin, el Jardin de las Rosas, el Bosque Cuauhtémoc, la Biblioteca Publica de la Universidad Michoacana, and la Plaza de San Francisco are other nice sights.
Logistically, Morelia is a big city with plenty of transportation options. I reached it from Angangueo (Monarch butterfly sanctuaries) via Zitacuaro. There are also many buses from Mexico City. I then traveled west to Uruapan (no WHS heres, but you …
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How could I NOT like this place as both a scuba diver and nature lover!
I went to 3 places although I'm confused about the third. Does Bacalar Chico marine reserve include Amergris Caye or not!? I only went on a night dive from San Pedro (full moon makes for the best night dives!!) I know the park has a ranger station with a museum but it doesn't seem worth it, not many trips go out there and I think chances to see a jaguar are as likely in any other park in Belize and espresso northern Guatemala, and by chance I mean like 0.001%.
I took the same trip as Frédéric from Caye Caulker. It takes 2½h to reach the famous blue hole and most people have seen the beautiful birdview picture online, but as you actually anchor on the line you wouldn't really know you are there. I wanted to do skydiving but it's not offered anymore, but anyway the Blue Hole is a marvel.
If you don't dive you'll get very little out of this place and novice divers only went to 24m (78 feet) and there is absolutely nothing to see. Limestone all around and hardly any fishes. I did spot midnight parrotfish as the only exceptional fish although I think it's mainly rare because they aren't in waters I usually dive before. There were supposed to be sharks but nothing on that day. However, go below 40m (that's 130 feet for imperials) …
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Trade Pilgrimage Routes of North-Western Ghana
Trade Pilgrimage Routes of North-Western Ghana (On tentative list)
While returning from Mole National Park to Tamale, I stopped briefly in Larabanga in northern Ghana to visit its whitewashed mud-plaster and wooden-beam mosque, which will celebrate its six hundredth anniversary in two years, making it the oldest mosque in the country and one of the oldest in West Africa and earning it the nickname the Mecca of West Africa.
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I thought of reviewing an Iranian UNESCO World Heritage Site in light of Trump’s recent threat to the country’s cultural sites. Sheer insanity I thought, but thankfully, the Pentagon just completely ignored him as blasting cultural heritage sites constitutes a war crime. Date of Visit: December 2016.
Esfahan was the second city I visited during my backpacking trip to the country 3 years ago, and I truly enjoyed it. My first day in this city was spent in this square and the adjacent grand bazaar, taking heaps of photos and observing locals and tourists stroll, eat, shop, play and socialise. Meidan Emam is bounded in all sides by a 2-storey arcade, interrupted in the four cardinal directions by the following beautiful monuments and the Qeysarie gate of Esfahan’s grand bazaar:
- Ali Qapu Palace – as mentioned by Alexander, the view of the square from its balcony is stunning. From a casual traveler, I appreciate its beautiful ornamentation, design and architecture.
- Masjed-e Shah – the site’s UNESCO page mentions that it “remains the most celebrated example of the colorful architecture, which reached its high point in Iran under the Safavid dynasty”. At the time of my visit, scaffolding could be seen surrounding one side of the mosque’s dome. For some reason I could not recollect, it deterred me from going inside the mosque. Stupid me, I should’ve at least tried.
- Sheik Lotfallah Mosque - in terms of its interior, it is THE most beautiful mosque I …
March 2017- for our honeymoon we went to Andalusia. After the First nicht at the coast, we went to the deserted Hotel town, just West of the NP, parked the car and went on an 1 hour hike along the coast, in the way back went walked through the wonderful dunes. The nationalpark seems to Stretch way beyond the Horizont, but hard to visit other parts, since there are no roads. Looking at the shrubs, just behind the dunes, we saw footpaths of the famous lynx but could not spot any Cats.
That was a wonderful experience already. We continued our journey to Rocio, a Western town, all in Sand with Gauchos riding on mules. There was a festival going on, very lucky, for us since the atmosphere was great.
In rocio you can book numerous bird sighting tours to the wetlands, but since it is bordering the Nationalpark, we had a glimbs at the Fauna at the Lake from el Rocio.
If you want to go further East you have to go almost all the way back to Sevilla to cross the River Guadalquivir. It take a few hours of driving to a small ferry. We stopped at deherto de Abuelo and recommend it to everybody. Never seen that many storks at one place, not even in Masurian lakes in Poland. All in all we had a wonderful experience in Donana.
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Site visited in April, 2018. Located some 300 km from Dakar to the north, close to Mauritanian border. From Dakar Gare Routiere there are mini buses (stand is located in the middle of bus station) but despite good asphalted road it took full day to reach Saint-Louis, including waiting time in Dakar (in most cases the cars leave when full, leaving hours are not specified). So when you start the journey in the morning it is possible to get to the place late in the afternoon or in the evening the same day.
While approaching Saint-Louis you will encounter huge garbage dump (some 10 km before the town). It is just for you to be prepared what you can expect in the town. And that is terrifying. Rubbish are everywhere, the streets are dirty but more appalling is what you see in the water and areas nearby (have in mind that this is an island). Of course not everywhere. Some streets in the center are more clean but overall first impression is somehow discouraging.
Historic centre of Saint-Louis is located on the island, within the estuary of Senegal river, linked with the land by Faidherbe Bridge (interesting landmark, metallic, from the end of XIX century). It has regular rectangle shape and adapted streets layout. Apart from the bridge other important places are former catholic church (closed), Grande Mosquée de Saint-Louis, Faidherbe square, post office, building of Office Du Tourisme-Syndicat D'initiative de Saint-Louis. If you forget the rubbish nice …
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I visited northern Ghana in November 2019. I flew from Accra to Tamale in northern Ghana, about two hours by road from Mole National Park, the country’s largest protected area. Although the national park doesn’t have many animals, it is one of the best places in West Africa to see elephants and is one of few parks that allows visitors to approach the world’s largest land animal on foot. I was able to walk within ten meters of a large, broken-tusked, indifferent male, who was destroying small trees about fifty meters from Zaina Lodge, where I spent a few days.
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After WW2 France was faced with a severe housing shortage. During the wars construction had been on a low level. After WW2 a baby boom set in and people left their villages for the big cities, specifically Paris. Last but not least, the end of colonialism meant a huge influx of French citizens from the colonies back to France, most notably Algeria.
To deal with this the French constructed huge banlieus (suburbs) on the outskirts of town. These were build in a modernist style all over France. The citizens were mostly poor; new arrivals from the former colonies or poor French from the country side. The buildings are referred to as HLM (Habituation à Logement Moderé). While HLM literally only means rent controlled, in France it normally infers the image of a large concrete apartment block in a rough neighborhood.
Le Havre is similar to these HLMs and banlieus. The city was destroyed during WW2 and then rebuilt from scratch in modernist style afterwards. The leading architect was Auguste Perret, but you also find a building (the Volcano) from Oscar Niemeyer.
As is often the case, modernist architecture done right works: Le Havre is a pleasant visit. It makes you wonder what went wrong in the other banlieus of France. Personally, I think it's a mix of spending too little money on the architecture when creating the copies. And the population. Le Havre was a complete city for poor and rich inhabitants. The HLMs and banlieus meanwhile …
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I love gardens, so I was rather excited to choose Aranjuez Cultural Landscape as the first central Iberian World Heritage Site to visit after I arrived in Madrid for a long weekend last May. In truth, the gardens were not as impressive as others I have visited, but I did appreciate the laidback atmosphere of this suburb that began as a royal estate in the 16th century. After arriving in town, I started my tour indoors with the palace, so as to avoid a passing rain shower. The palace had many fine rooms, but since I came to Aranjuez to view the gardens, as soon as the skies brightened I was back outside. The gardens next to the palace were beautiful, however I was slightly let down by the Island Garden, which was not as well upkept as I thought it might be. I did find the water canals within the garden curious, since they reminded me of those irrigating Al Ain Oasis in UAE. It was the weir on the Tagus next to the palace that I found most fascinating, though (as noted by other reviewers). After getting a quick lunch, I strolled around the Prince's Garden, which was far more relaxing to me. I loved walking on the pathways that bordered the Tagus River, and took time to rest and read on a bench overlooking a Chinese garden further inside the park. Aranjuez made for a pleasant introduction to central Spain, and was definitely worth touring before visiting …
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Frederic M has done what I believe is the best way to really appreciate the OUV of this site--taking a multi-day tour. This was what I hoped of doing when I visited Mexico, but unfortunately, I did not have enough time and resources and I was traveling with my friend who was not too inclined to do such tours. Date of Visit: April 2019
Description:
The nomination file indicates that the Tehucan-Cuicatlan Valley is an “arid or semi-arid zone with the richest biodiversity in all of North America.” It adds that the valley occupies an expansive area between Oaxaca and Puebla, which can be accessed through the scenic 135D highway. The nomination file also said that “it is one of the main centers for the diversification of the cacti family”, and “it harbors the densest forests of columnar cacti in the world”. As a biologist by education, this is the aspect of the site that I focused on.
Experience:
Taking the single or multi-day tours was already out of the question given the above reasons. Hence, I had to choose properties within the core zone that were accessible for travelers with limited time. Reading through the nomination file and other sources, the following properties were mentioned:
- Parque Ecoturistico Turritelas
- Salinas Las Grandes
- Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden
Sinuhe mentioned the Helia Bravo Hollis Botanical Garden in his review. Just to feel assured, I contacted the Comision Nacional de Areas Naturales …
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I organized my December 2019 trip to Sudan with ITC Sudan and stayed at their Nubian Rest Camp near the foot of Jebel Barkal and Meroe Camp overlooking the pyramid field. I stayed at Acropole Hotel in Khartoum at the beginning and end of my trip, and in between visited Jebel Barkal, a holy mountain surrounded by the ruins of two thirteenth century BCE temples and some of the most intact pyramids in Sudan, erected between the third and first centuries BCE; Nuri in northern Sudan, where more than twenty ancient pyramids that served as a necropolis for Nubian kings and queens still stand near the Nile; Meroë, an ancient city along the eastern bank of the Nile and home to hundreds of Nubian pyramids; the Temple of Apedemak at Naqa, dating from the first century CE and one of the largest ruined sites in Sudan; and Musawarat es-Sufra, a large temple complex dating back to the third century BCE.
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WHS#3
Kyoto is the first WHS that I've had the chance to visit in 2 different trips. I first visited this amazing city on a day trip from Tokyo in May 2012, visiting just 2 out of the 17 WHS component sites, namely Kinkakuji and Kiyomizu-dera, probably the 2 most popular to visit. When I came back to Japan in December 2019, I knew I had to refresh my Kyoto experience, so I ended up coming back to Kyoto on a day trip from Osaka and visited 3 more sites in Kozanji, Ninnaji, and Nijo-jo. Kyoto as a WHS is a bit disconnected, as it's a predominantly modern city, but no one can deny how remarkable and evident its historic heritage is. The city is home to over a thousand temples, and out of those, only 13 are recognized as part of the WHS, which does sometimes raise the question of why this, why not that? Well, the best answer I can give to that is just this: Each component site has it's own individual OUV that makes it a good representation of the diversity of heritage in Kyoto. Of course, that's not to say that none of the other temples don't have individual value, but this just seems to be a defining characteristic for each of the inscribed sites. Now, without further ado, let's dive into each one.
Kinkakuji and Kiyomizu-dera are definitely highlights of the Kyoto WHS, at least for the touristic perspective. Kinkakuji's Golden Pavilion …
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Visit January 2020
My short visit to Fernado de Noronha was probably one that I should have skipped, but now that it is in the past I am happy to be able to include it to my visited Sites count. One reason that I should have changed my plans was that I have not been in perfect health for a couple of weeks, which, not surprisingly, cut down on my level of enjoyment. A more important reason, however, was that a visit to this island is significantly expensive, and, since I have been routinely exceeding my travel budget lately, I really didn’t need another costly addition to my route.
When I first checked the airfares to the island several months ago, the costs seemed reasonable. Daily flights depart from Natal and Recife, but at this time flights from Natal stop at Recife first, so there is no good reason to start from there. Of course, as frequently happens to me, when it came time to book the flights, the fares had nearly doubled. I should also have also done more research into accommodations, because their costs are really off the charts. The place I eventually booked was around ten times more expensive than similar accommodations I had recently used in the Brazilian interior, and perhaps four times more than those in the more touristy coastal areas, with a generally similar, and fairly basic, level of amenities. There is also the Environmental Protection Fee, based on the length of …
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WHS#56
Petra, man. There isn't much that hasn't been said about Petra, so I'll make this short for once. It's one of the most undeniable wonders of the world, and to me, one of those few places that lives up to the huge amount of hype it gets. I was lucky enough to visit in April 2018, arriving late morning from Amman and staying until nightfall. It was enough time to thoroughly explore the basic route from the entrance to the Monastery at a relatively relaxed pace, though I wish I had been able to get to the Treasury Overlook and the High Place of Sacrifice. Nevertheless, the short visit was just an amazing experience, and I think it gave me a good look at Petra's unique OUV. It's a city of the dead and the living, of culture and nature, and of creative and technical genius. While the beautiful tombs carved into the cliffs seem to define the city, the theater and "earthquake-proof" building were just as impressive. My favorite part of the visit, though, was exploring this ancient city with its cute canine inhabitants. This one puppy followed me all the way from the Siq to the exit. Definitely a highlight in all of my travels!
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As interesting as a horse farm can be, if this appeals to you, there probably aren’t many better places to visit, it is well maintained and thoroughly explained (in Czech unless otherwise arranged).
For me the appeal was rather slim, I was merely doing my duty and visiting on an unseasonably warm lovely Saturday afternoon in October 2019. The details have been covered in the other reviews, but I will say the landscape around the farms were pleasant to stroll through, seeing mares and foals gambolling away in the distance.
My visit was fine, but this is about as far removed from my interest as it is likely to get.
The highlight was the welcome and help given by the staff, mostly only Czech speaking, though one lovely guide spoke excellent English. She finished a tour on the dot to drive me to the station in a rush to get my train (more on that below).
(Site 2: Experience 5)
Visiting by public transport:
The nearest train station is at Řečany nad Labem which is about 3km south of the main stables. On weekdays there are connecting busses, however, the station one stop east is Přelouč could provide a better connection, so check the full itinerary at idos.cz to find out where is best to get off there train. These give you a chance to rejoice in getting acquainted with the Czech language’s unique and devious letter: Ř
If you arrive at …
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If you travel by road between Cartagena and Mompox then, after around 40kms, you will cross the Canal del Dique on a modern bridge at Gambote. By all means stop and have a look at it but, based on our experience (photo), it won’t yield much “value” other than another T List “tick”!! The Canal does however provide an entrée to some interesting aspects of Colombia’s history. Even if a visit to it isn’t really worthwhile, an understanding of why and how it came into being, together with its current and possible future state, will, IMO, add to one’s understanding of the country. It is for that reason that I have done the following review – as well as to cover yet another T List site towards our objective of full coverage!
The Magdalena River is Colombia’s major historic transport artery. Navigation was possible along it up to Honda, 1000kms from the Caribbean, and only 160kms from Bogota (which isn’t situated on the river). Upstream of the rapids there, smaller vessels could travel a further 300 kms to Neiva. This extract from the US Army Handbook of 1964 gives an idea of the importance of the river route in earlier years and also refers to the “Canal del Dique” as a part of it. From the earliest days of Spanish settlement it proved a problem that neither of the great historic Caribbean ports (Cartagena and Sta Marta) were situated where the Magdalena reached the sea. Action to overcome this …
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