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I cannot help myself, but this nomination is a joke. Do not expect geyser like in Yellowstone. This one is a fake-geyser, since it is an artificial one. I visited the site during my long walk from Presov towards the Slovakia borders with Hungary alonside the ridge of Slanske vrchy mountains in 2003. The mountains are of vulcanic origin covered with dense beech and oak forests. Besides the forests, I liked also historical core of Presov, magical lake Izra close to Hungary borders as well as unique opal mines close to vilage Dubnik. All in all, despite the certain charm of this part of Slovakia, there are no sites that would deserve the inscription to WHS. Despite its national importance as historical and technical curiosity, the geyser in Herlany was one big disappoint to me.

About 40 km west of Rio de Janeiro center, this site is a botanical park and museum dedicated to Roberto Burle Marx, a famous Brazilian landscape architect and avid collectors of plants and trees. Along with Oscar Niemeyer, Burle Marx achieved several modernist projects in Brazil, some already inscribed on the World Heritage Site: Pampulha Modern Ensemble in Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro (specifically for Copacabana pavements and Flamingo Park) along with the Palais de la Culture in Rio, which is on the TL.It is planned for inscription for 2020.In 1949 Burle Marx and his brother bought this banana plantation and slowly transformed the property into an extraordinary botanical landscape with an impressive collection of tropical and subtropical plants. He built a small house with contemporary features, and lived there from 1973 to his death in 1994. Several other buildings dot the park: a 17th century renovated chapel, a visitor’s center designed by Burle Marx when he donated the park to the Brazilian state, and a “atelier” in which he planned to teach, but never had a chance to. Nowadays lectures and concerts are held in this last building.His house now displays an emotional tribute to the artist, with personal objects (his bed, with his glasses and shoes, his piano), his work (statues, paintings, drawings, tapestries, textiles, murals) and his collections (pre-Colombian ceramics, catholic religious artifacts, shells and fossils).The most interesting part if of course the garden, with more than 3000 species of cultivated plants. It takes about …

My visit to this site was rather marginal. During a stay in central Crete in the summer of 2018, I explored Heraklion for about half a day. Included in the itinerary for that excursion was a stop at the fortress of Rocca al Mare, or Koules, which guards the city harbor.

The cost to enter is fairly negligible and the required time allocation does not exceed an hour, so even though it is not rising to the level of exceptional, on balance it is a reasonable point of interest to explore. The interior spaces hold a small historical and archaeological exposition (in addition to offering a cool respite from the summer heat). The ramparts offer excellent perspectives onto the town and out to the sea. It is from the ramparts that you can best observe the remains of Heraklion's town walls along its quays. The glass-covered dozen or so skylights in the roof add a bit of unwelcome modern touch to the impression made by the fort.

I have mixed feelings about fortifications on the WH list when they do not present as a fully integrated ensemble with the city that they are meant to protect. Based on this minimal evidence, I do not feel that Heraklion's fortifications are worth the WH status, but I obviously have to reserve my opinion of the full site until I visit other proposed locations.

“Great, ANOTHER fossil site” I thought, as I planned my trip through ZA and mapped the WHS on my itinerary. This is one is so easy to access just at the outskirts of Joburg, within an hour from the airport (traffic sucked a little on that day, or any day?). There are tours every half an hour and I recommend arriving 20min before to use the toilet and go through the exhibition area before descending into the Sterkfontein cave. I hate to say this but the exhibition room is the best thing to see on this site. Fossils of early man found in the cave below and explanations of how homo sapien has evolved. A rather simple science lesson and nothing I hadn't been explained at all the other early man sites.

Once you are in the cave, after a brief explanation of a sun dial outside, the tour has really little to do with that anymore. A group of science students does come here once in a month to dig for more fossils but nothing has been found in years. Instead, you get more explanation about limestone and stalactites and mining operations. Interesting is that the remains of Mrs Little actually later were found to be of a young boy and the early sexist scientists just assumed that a small brain must belong to a woman!

Another interesting fact is that the rest of the site is on private land. When I asked if there are attempts …

The button-shaped, jungle covered islands Rock Islands were nice and interesting to see above the water as we cruised around on our tour, but the real attractions are below the surface. The absolute highlight, of course, was Jellyfish Lake, which, as of our January 2019 visit was back in business and open to the touring public. Snorkeling with these eerie creatures was incredible. We had two days out among the Rock Islands. The first afternoon we went kayaking with a little bit of snorkeling at a couple different spots. Kayaking was a lot of fun and we were glad we'd decided to do it. The next day we did the grand tour, which included: the Milky Way (you cover your skin with smooth limestone mud from the sea floor); snorkeling at several spots such as Clam City (Giant Clams), the "Big Drop", Jellyfish Lake, and more; lunch at the scenic Long Beach (an island with a very long, smooth sand bar); and boating beneath a nice rock natural arch. The snorkeling was fantastic with lots of variety of coral, uncountable colorful tropical fish, sea turtles, rays, starfish,... It was probably worth it even without the jellyfish. But with the jellies included, we were all smiles.

We booked our tour through the Antelope Guest House and were very happy with the service we got. We were the only guests with our guide both days, and had Jellyfish Lake all to ourselves for most of the time we were there, though …

I visited this site on my first day in Brazil, as it is easy to reach, being in central Rio de Janeiro. I was not expecting much of it, and to be fair, it was a little underwhelming. As land has been reclaimed in the harbor, the Valongo wharf lies about 350 meters inland, and it is very difficult to imagine how it used to be. I usually don’t read too much about sites I plan to visit, trying to keep the excitement of the discovery intact. But for this site, it would have been better to research beforhand to better understand and enjoy the visit.It consists of part of the old stone wharf in the former harbour area of Rio de Janeiro, built for the landing of enslaved Africans reaching the South American continent from 1811 onwards. An estimated 900,000 Africans arrived in South America via Valongo. In fact, they were first landed in central Rio de Janeiro for Customs, and the moved on Bom Jesus Island for quarantaine. Only after quarantaine were they taken to Valongo to be sold in slaves markets.

The site is composed of an archeological window, through which two main archaeological layers can be seem. The lowest level consists of floor pavings in pé de moleque style (irregular cut stone set directly on the sand), attributed to the original Valongo Wharf. Built in 1811, it was more a paved beach and remained in use until 1831. In 1843, the original wharf was earthed …

I find this nomination lacking any real credit for unique value to the world. Yes, Mandela was a great man, apartheid was bad (and still exists here) and one could argue that it had impact on the world and not just within South Africa. However, just like India's attempt to inscribe the Gandhi sites, these are memories of history that do not belong on the world heritage list.

So nevertheless I stopped by the Apartheid museum at the capture site on the way to Durban and their museum is still not open until May 2019. Entrance is free to see the small exhibition and the Mandela sculpture at the end of the Long Walk to Freedom. I didn't find it very exciting but I donated to support them. Fact is that the location has little to nothing to do with the capture site already shows that the inscription would be odd.

I see there are many other sites included in the nomination but I am not interested in them, and if they are ever inscribed (to my own disbelief) I will be glad to have “ticked” it off in 20 minutes.

'There lies madness when chasing WHS' – wrote Solivagant about the idea of going from Kaluts to Shahr-i Sokhta through all Lut Desert. These words resonated with me as we decided to take this trip. It is 'only' 450 kilometers away and my GPS showed it could take around 6 hours. In fact it took a lot less – maybe 4 hours or so – I drove up to 150kmph through abandoned desert, on a good road, seeing other cars maybe once per 15 minutes. Remember to have enough gas, although there were some gas stations on the way. The landscapes on the way were just great and far different from nebkas near Shahdad and Kaluts. This road is the best way to enjoy Lut Desert and discover its marvels.

So as a result it was not that mad to go to Shahr-i Sokhta (believe me, there is much more madness in going to isolated Gonbad-e Qabus from Tehran). We were there at around 3 pm and the staff looked like we were the only foreign tourists this month (they certainly do not see many European families with two small children in Baluchistan and Sistan, the remotest Iranian province)... They let us go without any entrance fee, but the guard accompanied us all the time we visited this site. And the site is very huge, if you want to walk all the paths, reserve at least two hours, maybe even more (we did quicker route which took us almost …

I love traveling in Mexico so I admit that I am not impartial. We went to Alamos as part of a tour to Copper Canyon. Along the way we spent the night there. It's a small town but very picturesque. Many celebrities have moved to Alamos because of its solitude and pleasant surroundings. It does take a while to get there. We had 2 tour guides, one in the evening and one the following morning. There are many many ghost stories in Alamos. So many that a book has been written about them but I've never been able to find a copy. An American in the 40s began to restore the buildings. Since then many wealthy people have moved in. Still, it has not lost its charm. There are no tourists. There are no crowds. The food is wonderful and there are some very interesting hotels. And, as usual, the people are friendly and polite.

I also loved Copper Canyon. Our tour leader had lived there for several years and took us to individual dwellings and explained the culture of the indigenous people. But that's for another review.

Nan Madol, on the island of Pohnpei, came as a wonderful surprise to me as part of my trip flying on United's Island Hopper flight between Honolulu and Guam. It was a small city, constructed of stone on artificial islets along the coast of Pohnpei. Construction is dated to the late 1100s and it served as the capital of the Saudeleur Dynasty of the islands until 1628. The scale of it all is truly amazing. Great stone buildings separated by a series of ocean canals, protected by a large breakwater wall. The most impressive remnant is the tomb complex in the center, where the building's (palace's?) remaining walls are over 20 feet tall in spots. And what incredible walls these are! It is constructed of a mix of massive basalt boulders and huge hexagonal basalt crystals. You might be familiar with these hexagonal crystals from the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. Here, long pieces of them are stacked to form walls, reminding me of a set of heavyweight Lincoln Logs, stacked in bunches to form these formidable walls. But the mystery of how this small island civilization constructed all this gets even better, because this type of basalt rock and crystal form is only found on the opposite side of the island! Some of these stones weigh many tons each. The local legends say that the stones were magically flown through the air from the other side of the island to build this city. However they managed to accomplish it, …

We visited Taputapuatea in 1991 when we had a short vacation on Raiatea. Taputapuatea is a set of ancient Polynesian marae, which you can think of as a large open air stone temple. It was the principal marae of the ancient Polynesian culture, the one to which chiefs from all over had to return to for their coronation. The most prominent marae on the site was dedicated to the Ora, the Polynesian god of war. Some of the features here were some important tall stones in the courtyard in front of the main temple, for instance the chief's stone (which he would stand in front of to protect his back) and the human sacrifice stone. If the first blood of the sacrifice didn't seem to satisfy the gods, they would go to the nearby scraping rock to bloody him up more. Another feature of this site was the coronation rock for the Polynesian chiefs. There were also smaller marae on the site, including one to the sea/harbor/fishing god. This marae has a beautiful ocean-front site, and it was really a privilege to visit this important archaeological site.

Taputapuatea is one of those places where the visit is very much enhanced with a knowledgeable guide. Without an expert to explain the site's significance, it wouldn't have been nearly as interesting. We were lucky to have anthropologist Bill Kolans as our private guide. He had been living on the Raiatea since 1969 and studying the Polynesian people. He was such an …

I spent time in Sarlat-la-Canéda, frequently called simply Sarlat, in the late spring of 2018 as part of a week-long stay in Périgord. Its charming medieval core is a maze of honey-colored buildings, narrow streets and passages, and hidden squares. Many of the major points of interest are clustered around wider spaces, such as Place de la Liberté or Place du Peyrou, but some are tucked away from the bustling central area.

The yellow Sarlat stone that is used in medieval buildings all over the department of Dordogne is the main architectural feature of the town, but there are also Renaissance stunners around, such as one of the visual symbols of Sarlat, Maison de la Boétie. They coexist with half-timbered belles, the legacy of Norman invasions of the 14th century. This mix of styles from different epochs makes Sarlat visually irresistible. Practically every building of note in the town center has a plaque or a stand in front of it with brief description of its history. You can give yourself a veritable guided tour of the town by focusing on those descriptions as you walk around.

Cathedral Saint-Sacerdos is relatively spartan in appearance, but not without a couple of standout features. The old church of Ste-Marie houses a small but delightful market. Manoir de Gisson offers a look into the living of local nobility.

I have certainly seen less atmospheric towns already bestowed with a WH designation. Sarlat is worthy of the inscription, whenever it may come, …

I understand now why there is no buffer zone to this site. Most of the site is on privately owned land and there is no need to protect it with more areas surrounding it. I am actually shocked how this can be listed as WHS but a massive chunk, 20% perhaps, is a private game reserve called Mountainlands.

Coming from the Oshoek border crossing I didn't take the 4x4-only path leading to the Genesis Road. I took the long way around and eventually made it into the core zone. The Genesis road leads you along the border towards the Geotrail but don't expect anything aside from bumps and nice views. There is even a lodge village with a security gate but they are happy to let you through.

The Geotrail completed in 2014 then continues to Barberton. Along the 38km road are 11 spots to park, read a panel and see the rocks for yourself. Some stops are just lookouts to see the mountains and the valleys. The highlight of these is surely the Lebombo View. Not only is the view fantastic, there is a panel for each different rock as seen at the individual spots, e.g. tidal sandstone. Plus there is a toilet (and it encourages going in the fields)!

The area has the oldest most well preserved sequence of volcanic and sedimentary rocks on earth, from time periods 3.2-3.5 billion years ago. With Vredefort Dome, 20% of South Africa's WHS are currently geology related. Add …

I visited 2 parts of this nomination in January 2019. Abr Forest was my first stop and it is very tourist centric, with many guest houses and hikes around “Cloud Forest”. Unfortunately on day 2 it started snowing in the morning and the visibility was so bad it was really hazardous to take the 83 through the Khar Turan NP (not part of the Hyrcanian Forest nomination btw). Once I made it to Gonbad Kavus and visited Qabus I continued driving East.

Here I drove through the National Golestan Forest, formerly listed as a separate nomination under the name Golestan NP which aren't technically the same thing but I think mean the same area. So actually I drove through the national park and there are already signs that is is listed on the tentative list for world heritage. I was impressed with the rock formations and the the forest looks healthy but I saw no real good place to stop and enjoy a hike, picnic or whatever. Many people stopped on the way just in the side of the road to feed the boars (hate that). The NP is huge and the main road cuts right through it so there may be smaller areas on the side that actually allow for more touristy stuff.

I highly doubt this is worthy of the title world heritage. The document doesn't even describe why it is unique. Just reading “natural beauty and its masterpieces of nature creative genius in the form …

What you could do if WHC refuses to inscribe one of your proposed sites? One of the options is to add several similar, mediocre sites and propose it under different name and slightly different criteria. This is what is happening in Iran after unsuccessfull proposal of Arasabaran Forest. After negative opinion of IUCN, one year after deferral it comes again as part of Hyrcanian forests. The proposal consists of several forest parks located near Caspian Sea. We managed to visit only one of them – Abr Forest, a nice and quick detour on our way back from Gonbad-e Qabus to Tehran.

I have to admit that once we entered Abr, we felt like we were in a completely different country. The forest was very green and wild, wet and cloudy. Landscapes were pretty, as the area is mountainous. Abr Forest is also named 'Cloud Forest' – this is because relatively high altitude, resulting with frequent clouds and mist. We saw clouds, but were lucky enough to see mountain peaks and picturesque valleys. Although landscapes were fine, I really cannot understand where is the OUV of this site. State party's description of 'masterpieces of nature creative genius in the form of this ancient forest' make me only laugh.

Travel warning – we entered Abr Forest from Aliabad-e Katul and wanted to cross it to Shahrud (with one tentative site and another one nearby). This road cannot be driven without 4WD. It is very good at the beginning but then …

We visited the site in 2015. Many of the churches are quite spread out, and if you really want to see the best of what this site can offer, you’ll need to rent a car. We flew into Puerto Montt, and drove down. There’s been talk of connecting the island to the mainland by bridge for years now, but as far as I’m aware, that’s still not come to fruition, so be prepared to take a ferry.

The churches, like many things Latin America, are outwardly Christian, but with a strong local flavour. There’s a decently well signposted tourist trail, though be prepared for some tricky driving conditions. Not every WHS church is on the trail and not ever church on the trail is WHS, so if your time is limited, I recommend doing a bit of research ahead of travelling.

Castro makes a great central base from which to visit more remote islands. We stayed in a beautiful hostel in a palafito, a local style of stilthouse. The food was also spectacular, and unique to island.

All told, we visited 11 of the 16 churches. My personal favourite was Detif on the island of Lemuy, which is the furthest south, and requires an additional ferry to get too. Lemuy is Chiloe in micro, and an immensely relaxing way to spend half a day. You can visit a majority without leaving Chiloe proper, but I think you miss out on what makes the place special if you …

I visited 2 components of this site. The nomination is focused on the Via Augusta but contrary to other routes, like the Camino Real in Mexico or the Routes to Santiago, they are mostly talking about the street itself and not the stations in between. Too bad basically none of the street is left. I visited Sagunt, around 25mins from Valencia. In itself a town of historical significance, as it was an important Roman town and it was conquered by Hannibal on his way to Rome. The fortress (built by the Romans and extended by the Moors) is massive and visible from far away. Not too much of the Roman infrastructure is left though. Same goes for the Roman Theatre next to the fortress that has been heavily desecrated with modern infrastructure in order to keep using it as a theatre. It’s a shame, compared to the theatres I saw in Orange, Mérida or Dougga. All in all a nice enough town for a stop, but not especially for the Roman sites.

The second component I visited was the Arc de Cabanes. It is a triumphal arc in the size of the bigger door. The fact that they built a road around the arc makes it appear rather like a nice roundabout decoration than an actual archaeological site. At least there is an information panel about the Via Augusta close to the arch.

There might be more interesting components of this TWHS, but from what I saw it …

Valpariso is Chile’s second city, and represents a small snapshot of the glory days of pre-Panama canal Pacific trade. Once one of the wealthiest cities in South America, there’s a real sense of a place who’s best days are behind it. I think that adds to it charm. Visiting Valparaiso is an easy 1½ hour bus ride from Santiago, and the slightly rough-around-the-edges port city makes an interesting contrast with the dull urban sprawl of the capital.

At first glance, it’s hard to get a sense of site. The lower town offers little other than claustrophobic but boring streets and too much traffic. The Plaza Sotomayor is a nice open space, and occasionally plays host to the pop-up markets that are common place in any urban centre in Chile. There are a few decent restaurants in this area serving some quality local seafood. But on first impression I found myself feeling a bit disappointed.

However, the real highlight of the town for was the upper town. A sprawling maze of stairs, twisting street and brightly coloured building, this is the real heart of the city. Maps are only of marginal use here, and it can be easy to get lost. It is quite an experience to wander down an nondescript looking alley only to find yourself at yet another stunning vista of the harbour. The vibrancy and colour is only added to by the graffiti. There’s a fun attitude to Valparaiso that I found so lacking in Santiago, …

I visited Giant's Causeway in the spring of 2017 by driving half the island of Eire from Dublin to see the unique natural phenomenon. The Causeway is the result of volcanic activity dating back 50-to-60 million of years. The cooling lava shaped itself over time as several clusters of basalt columns of differing height, each no more than a couple of feet in diameter. Most of the columns are hexagonal in shape, but the number of sides can vary between four and eight. In their mass, they look precisely like a causeway for getting into – or out of – the sea. Local legends ascribed its creation to the mythological giant Finn McCool, who was challenged to a fight by an unfriendly giant from Scotland and needed to build a way across the sea for the two of them to meet. Hence, the Giant’s Causeway. On the Scottish island of Staffa there are similar basalt columns, corroborating the folklore. The lively audioguide issued to every paying visitor gets a lot of play out of the legend.

The core of the site, where those basalt clusters are concentrated, is relatively compact, but the surrounding coastal area has miles of trails to explore and offers plenty of other rock formations of interest, from Giant's Boot to Giant's Organ. Budget three to four hours for a proper exploration of the site. If the weather is good, you may decide to extend your stay. It is a unique and incredible site, capable of …

For a while I thought, Panama was really trying to nominate the same site for a third time. Panama is a WHS already. And it's also part of the The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá nomination scheduled for the 2019 WHC.

But by comparing the nomination name of the tentative site and the original Panama site, I now believe this is a simple modification proposal:

• Full name of WHS: Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo and Historic District of Panamá
• Full name of Tentative Site: Archaeological Site and Historic Centre of Panamá City

It's really hard to tell from the Unesco homepage that this is the case and it had me worried about the process. Unfortunately, from the Unesco website it's also very hard to tell what the actual modification entails, so it's hard to judge if this add anything to the existing site or not. Having been both at the Archeological Site and the Historic Center I felt the boundaries were rather clear:

• The archeological site has a fence, on the other side a big road and then a modern neighborhood.
• The Historic Center is situated on a peninsula. At the end of the peninsula the colonial buildings end and concrete buildings are everywhere.

In any case, I don't think you need to search for this tentative site.