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I visited Taman Negara (literally translates to "National Park" in English) twice: one in August 2008 via Sungai ("sungai" translates to "river" in English) Relau and another in May 2012 via Kuala Tahan.

First Trip via Sungai Relau (the climb to Mount Tahan, Peninsular Malaysia's tallest peak)

Sungai Relau was the entry point if you want to climb the tallest peak in Peninsular Malaysia, Mount Tahan (2,187m). That's what my friends and I did back in 2008. The hike to Mount Tahan began from the Sungai Relau park HQ in the morning. Then, it was followed-up by an off-road drive through the jungle into Sungai Juram where we continued by foot. The first day involved little elevation, and the hike took from the morning till late afternoon when we arrived to the campsite for the night, Kem Kor. Unlike the Pinnacles hike in Gunung Mulu National Park or Mount Kinabalu climb in Gunung Kinabalu National Park, the facilities were very minimal. There were no hostels, or sleeping huts built at the campsites in Taman Negara, just a small shed that functioned as a toilet (there was a pail for you to retrieve water from the creek next to the campsite). Instead, you are required to set up your own tents for the night. In terms of the flora and fauna so far, the only encounter of note the evening before in Sungai Relau, we were greeted by a pair of beautiful Rhinoceros Hornbills, perching right up on where …

I find it hard to review the sites independant from the bad travel experience I had. Therefore first of all the circumstances and second of all the experience on site. I tried to visit Tiwuanaku twice (!) from La Paz by public transport. The first time failed unfortunately. After a nice walk over La Paz cemetery I reached the closeby spot where trufis go to Tiwuanaku when full. It was the Friday before the La Paz Anniversary at about 9 a.m. Some other tourists and locals waited there slready half an hour. The office was closed. After nothing happened for another 30 minutes we decieded to go up to El Alto Terminal Interprovincial. Big mistake not to take the efficient téleferico but a taxi. The taxi driver kicked us out as soon as reaching El Alto as he didn't knew the way to the terminal. The Uber driver afterwards got stuck in the huge markets and some parades in El Alto. Finally we took the téleferico and reached the terminal at about noon. We decided that it's too late to visit the one hour distanced Tiwuanaku now. One week later we returned to the cementary Trufi office at 08:30 a.m. and it took until 10 a.m. until the trufi was full. Not to mention that I was annoyed by the fact that they explained that the week before there was a reunion that's why they didn't operate but normally they go every day. Without apologizing of course. Then we had …

We visited Sintra as the last of 10 WHS in Portugal, on our varied trip between Porto and Lisbon this July.

What can I say about Sintra that hasn't already been mentioned in the 14 reviews below?Should I mention that it has way too many people especially in the summer high season? Yes, it's like that, at times in the Pena Palace you feel like you're standing in an endless queue at Disneyland.Should I mention that it's still incredibly beautiful? Yes, it is, especially the combination of gardens and palaces really excited us.

But I can at least mention one new thing: You now have to book a time slot for the Pena Palace. You can do this on the website parquesdesintra.pt (in portuguese and english). Attention: The transfer that can be booked there as well is not a transfer from the village of Sintra, but only from the main entrance of the garden of the Pena Palace to the palace itself.

Update on the photography policy as at 01 August 2023. Photography is now allowed in the Tomb without flash. There is non EU discrimination on entry for kids in that it is free for children from the EU but 1/2 price for kids from elsewhere. Although the kind ticket lady insisted that our 6 year old daughter was 5 and therefore free (which everyone found amusing except, of course, for the 6 year old)

As a stopover between Tblisi and Dilijan and Yerevan, we visited Haghpat monastery and Sanahin Bridge. Both are medieval monuments (10-12th century) belonging to the Kingdom of Lori, a 10th century offshoot of the Kingdom of Armenia. The key element is the unique masonry, that also sets it apart from Georgian churches of the same period.

Our plan had been to first visit Akhtala (not on the list), then Haghpat, then Sanahin and continue towards Dilijan for the night. However, when we came back to our car after our visit of Haghpat, we noticed our driver, as he was checking the tires. Both tires on the left side of the car were broken; we must have hit something along the way. We exchanged one with the spare tire, descended from Haghpat and made it back to Alawerdi safely were the driver left us to get two new tires. Upside: We had ample time to explore the Sanahin bridge (which takes 5min).

After spending an hour waiting for our driver and new tires and with the weather turning bad quickly (heavy rains!), we decided to skip on Sanahin and head directly to Dilijan for the night.

Haghpat and Sanahin are probably the best WHS you can visit in Armenia. They combine the usual Armenian church look and feel with great masonry and the natural beauty of the valley. They are no longer, though, hidden gems. Unlike Paul, we saw loads of tour buses at Haghpat.

Getting …

I visited Kuldiga in early August 2023, just after it became known that it got a positive recommendation from ICOMOS and will almost surely be inscribed in September 2023.

Although I’d wanted to go there from Riga by public transport, there are no direct buses and connections seem infrequent. So I rented a car from the airport and drove there easily in 1.5 hours. Kuldiga lies deep in the countryside, and it certainly looks like you’re arriving at something important. One enters town via the large new stone bridge (a one-way street), and there is even a parking lot for tour buses. The streets were also filled with parked cars – this is really a popular destination for Latvian daytrippers.

Kuldiga (named Goldingen at the time) is strongly linked to the peculiar history of the ministate of the Duchy of Courland. Although their home base in Europe was tiny, they managed to establish colonies in Gambia and Tobago. That all happened in the 17th century, but unfortunately, there are few tangible links with today’s town. Its older buildings mostly date from the 19th century. The setting of the town, along a river and next to a ‘waterfall’ (more like rapids), is its main strength. The shape of the town has been unchanged for centuries.

I saw no banners or other adverts to announce the WH nomination. The only things geared at international tourists seem to be the new direction signs, which are both in Latvian and English. …

I visited Kinabalu Park back in September 2022 with my wife, and we decided to climb Mount Kinabalu as part of our visit. The cheapest climbing option was to book directly via the official site (sabahparks) for the climbing permit and accommodation booking. It's worth pointing out that the climbing permit is limited and always in high demand, especially outside the rainy season (basically avoid Nov - Feb), and the permit booking slots are open in a 6-month window. So, if you're planning to climb the mountain, be on the lookout for the announcement once the booking window is open. The safest bet is to follow Sabah Parks official FB page. They will have a set allocation for independent visitors (booking done through sabahparks.com reservation portal) and visitors via agencies if I'm not mistaken.

As we flew to Kota Kinabalu from Kuala Lumpur and didn't plan to rent a car or take a bus, we opted to book through an agency. The package included return transportation to Kinabalu Park and stops at Jambatan Tamparuli, Desa Dairy Farm, Kundasang market, and Poring Hotsprings. We decided to skip Poring Hotsprings so that we could have more time spent at the park itself.

On the first day, we arrived at Kinabalu Park around 3pm, greeted by clouds concealing the Kinabalu summit. After checking in at Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, the only accommodation within the park, we took a walk along the one-way road, spotting Bornean Stubtail, Mountain Wren-Babbler, and Ochraceous Bulbul. As …

Ceramics and tools were found in this cave about 18,000 years ago, attesting human settlement during the Stone Age in a region relatively close to the sea and the Congo river in Bas-Congo.

Mbanza-Ngungu is a town about 4 hours drive SW of Kinshasa, and it is here where the adventure starts. There are signposts leading to the narrow gravel road (Grottes Ngovo&Finzolua) off the N1 highway. From here it takes you at least 45 minutes on a road (best with 4wheel drive) with very little traffic, luckily, as two cars can not pass in the same time. You see school buildings that you can not miss, hundreds of children there, some try to hang on to the car, drive carefully. A further few kilometers, you come to a local village where you find the guides, there is no shortage of them. We walked with 10 villages boys to the caves, this trek takes about 1 hour return, there is a kind of path, at places overgrown with plants. Steep stairs lead down to the cave. It is a rainforest tropical vibe here in front of the entrance, and paths are slippery. Several layers of soil have been unearthed since the caves were first discovered in 2015 by Colonel Tordeur, but other deeper layers are still untouched, and nobody reached the very end of this curious caves that are themselves very hard to reach!

While in the region, visit the Cathedral and Botanical Garden of Kisantu, and the …

I visited Zeche Zollverein in September. Since there are so many detailed reviews on content etc. I focus on the "post-corona" update and some organizational hints.

Access: Very easy from downtown Essen by public transport in 24 minutes, and even from Düsseldorf main station it only takes less than an hour. But also by car it is easy and parking is available. Nearest bus/tram stations are: „Zollverein“ (Tram 107), „Zollverein-Nord“ (Tram 107, Bus 170, Bus 183 oder Train RB32) or bus stations „Kokerei Zollverein“ or „Kohlenwäsche“ (Bus 183).

The area is accessible without entrance fees, but it makes much more sense to take a guided tour (charged, but not too expensive). Also, the different museums (e.g. the very famous Red Dot Design Museum) do cost money. There are several tours available from 30 min to 2 hours. Some tours include reports from people who really worked there. Also for people who cannot or don´t want to walk, there are bus tours around the huge area. There are no Corona measures neccessary anymore.

I visited Anak Krakatau (a part of Ujung Kulon National Park) in January 2011 with my brother, my dad, and my uncle. We took a 2D1N tour package that includes a day-trip to Anak Krakatau, a stop at the Anak Krakatau's monitoring office near Carita, and a visit to the historic Dutch lighthouse called Cikoneng on the way back to Jakarta.

We flew to Jakarta from KL one evening and were immediately greeted by our guide (from krakatau-tour.com) and his driver who took us to a nice little hotel in Carita that same evening. Carita was a very small town and not at all touristy at that time. I'm not sure how it is today, but I remember we had to walk quite far from our hotel just to get to the nearest restaurant for dinner. 

The next day, we had a simple hotel breakfast before the guide came to us and brought us to the jetty about 5 mins from the hotel. The boat ride to Anak Krakatau took about 1.5 hours one way, the ride was very bumpy as the ocean waves were very strong, definitely not a ride for those who are prone to seasickness.

We weren't allowed to land on the Anak Krakatau island itself because of the ongoing volcanic activity, so we had to land at one of the islands nearby called Sertung Island. Once arrived, we sat down by the black sandy beach while enjoying the impressive display put by Anak …

Also called the Bonin Islands but that won't get you far with the locals, has 30 islands but you will only visit two of them tops. You will always arrive at Chichi-jima (Father Island) by ferry and it continues to Haha-jima (Mother Island) before returning the same way. This ferry goes twice a week most of the year and takes 24h from Tokyo. There is no faster way to get here and returning will only be after at least 3 days on the island. You will not want to leave as the islands are lovely but you MAY want to leave because it's quite off the beaten path and expensive too. I've been wanting to do this your EVERY time I had something planned for Japan and buying the ferry tickets is actually really easy, but not so much for hotels!! They are sold out for months ahead especially for the golden weeks (=peak holiday season) and to make things worse you can ONLY book by contacting the hotels/hostels/"guest houses" which don't speak English. So...err.. good luck? Well there is one place on booking.com but it far way from the port area and getting to there and then getting around seemed very annoying. You can rent a scooter or car if you really want but that just seems silly for a place like this. Scooter...maybe. and there is a bus service but it would just be a burden to stay far away and having to come back to port for …

Jasmund Beech Forest, June 2023

Jasmund National Park Beech Forest is situated on the homonymous peninsula on the north-eastern coast of the island of Rügen, facing the Baltic Sea. Jasmund is known for its ancient beech trees - some of these trees are estimated to be around 700 years old and reach heights of up to 40 meters - stunning natural scenery, and rich biodiversity.

What makes the landscape so extraordinarily beautiful and uniquely attractive are the famous (Caspar David Friedrich!) white chalk cliffs of Rügen, rising dramatically from the Baltic Sea, with the beech forest located on a plateau some 100-150 meters towering above, extending right to the very edge of the cliffs, with various intermittent viewing points offering breathtaking vistas of the Baltic Sea.

I took the path from the popular little seaside resort of Sassnitz to the Königsstuhl National Park Center, which runs along the edge of the cliffs from south to north. The cliffs rise up and down quite a bit, with small gorges breaking the landscape, hence the trail takes somewhat longer to walk than I originally expected. There are also some paths which cross the forest in an east-west-direction, taking you deeper into the heart of forest; however, as I was facing intermittent (and at one point forceful) rain, I did not explore further.

According to the park’s Web site Jasmund is home to a rich diversity of flora and fauna. Myself, I noticed various kinds of ferns and mosses, …

My expectations were low - the site was not really appealing, but I wanted to bag it anyway. It seemed to ba an easy tick as this - besides Maropeng - tihs is the other WHS that can be done from Jo'burg in a daytrip. Parys, the starting point for the trip is only 1hour 15 mins from Jo'burg on the motorway. I do not know anything about the public transport - but I seriously doubt that any foreign tourist wouzld dare using public transport in and near Jo'burg. From the previous reviews and the general description of the site I understood, that although it is totally possible to explore the area on your own, as there are some tar roads and more dirt ones through te core zone it is more advisable to do it with a guide. Fortunately I found Gustav Engelbrecht, who by the way work for the world heritage visitor center, who offered a 7 hours tour for only 450 ZAR per preson. I booked it for my group and it proved to be a very good decision. The site - in georphicaly measures - great, but what you can see are quire average looking mountain ranges and strange rocks. Without a PhD in geology - or a knowledgable guide - they look like any other mountain or any other rock. Gustav was able to show us the invisible - ad took us to really nice places from Quaries, to river crossings, from prtoglyphs to historic …

It's not often that a major city, especially a national capital, has genocide memorials as its most famous and important tourist attraction, but for all Phnom Penh has to offer, this is exactly the case. I flew into Phnom Penh to start my tour of Cambodia in January 2023, and Choeung Ek and Tuol Sleng were definitely the top priorities of my first day there. The Cambodian capital is unfortunately deficient in public transport, so I had the hotel call us a taxi which took us around the city for the whole day. This was quite fortunate as our driver was very knowledgeable about the different sites in the city, and he informed us that the two main genocide memorials had long lunch breaks; if you want to see them consecutively, make sure to leave early in the morning, or otherwise, you would have to fill up the 3-4 hours around noon with other things as we did (we checked out Wat Phnom, Wat Ounalom, and the Royal Palace, and even had lunch in between the two sites). Els already covers Tuol Sleng well in her review, so I'll mostly focus on Choeung Ek, the Killing Fields and the very first site I visited in the wonderful nation of the Khmer.

Choeung Ek is the farthest major Phnom Penh site from the city center; with the morning rush hour traffic, it took nearly an hour to get there from downtown. Despite the sprawling image conjured up by its name, …

Highly recommended even for non-divers. Obviously the main draw is diving and even snorkeling is popular at the resorts but you'll be missing a lot of the area just looking at the lush-green karst and trying your luck to see a special bird, or any bird really. The obvious choice of coming here is a liveaboard but resorts have their own transportation so staying on one and doing day trips is a good option, and you can even get a public ferry of sorts if you want to go budget (not recommended). So I went with the liveaboards for ~2 weeks and the price was higher than most places around the world but I wouldn't want to compare this to a budget safari on the red sea - you get a lot more out here and the distances are quite far so fuel costs are something to keep in mind. All tours start in Sorong which has decent flight connections but I would recommend not having to stay in a hotel here because it's not a lovely town or anything, thus try to arrive with a morning flight and go directly to the boat. The tour I chose was specific because it started going to Misool in the south, prettier for underwater but troublesome to arrange diving because local "owners" will restrict each site to one boat per hour. In Central, the area that is in the center of the islands, you don't have this problem and you get more …

Most rewivers complained about the missed cultural element of the site, so while planning my visit to South Africa I deliberately wanted to find some kind of clue how not to miss it. Finally I found a website - www.khomanisan.com - where - though there is absolutely no reference to the World Heritage status, I assumed, I can fulfil my desire. The site is maintained by the bushman council, so if anybody knows what the sam cultural landscape is about, they are surely the ones. The comunication with the admins war painstaikingly slow. After some weeks I got an aswer from the tour operator appointed by the council, Vinkie von der Westhiuzen, an email, that, yes, she is the one who is in charge and once she would send me some more information. It was in late November, and in January I got it. The two days cultural tour, though somewhat pricey, seemed to be interesting, so we booked it. What we got was really interesting - though in a certain sense somewhat patchy. We had two local guys - Elivs and Philemon - with us who tought us how to use bow and arrow (we were better, but even though did miss the coke can), how to recognise the excrement of different animals in the bush, which are th the plants with healing powers etc. This was real fun. We have also seen some tribal dancing around the fire with some stories told. The choreography was quite simple - …

In some ways, Epidaurus can be viewed as two different sites in one - the sanctuary and the theatre.

The history of the sanctuary is fascinating and I found it really interesting to see how some of the principles of medicine that we take for granted these days were being used thousands of years ago - but within a religious framework. There is not much to see of the original buildings, but the general layout is here and the small museum has a decent collection of artefacts, so you can piece it all together.

Visually, the theatre is the highlight of visiting Epidaurus, and it really is a remarkable ancient monument. Sitting right at the top, you can hear someone talking down on the stage. I visited during the day and I regret not doing some research to see whether I could've attended a performance in the theatre in the evening (even if most of the festival is in Greek). I would recommend having a look into that before you visit.

Epidaurus is close enough to Athens that you can do it as a day trip, although it's a bit tricky by public transport because of the limited bus timetable. If you are coming by bus, you might be better off basing yourself in Nafplion for a night or two and seeing a few sites in the region. If you're using a car, or joining a tour from Athens, it also makes sense for travellers interested in …

I visited this place in May 2022 and think it was wonderful. It seems that older reviewers could not benefit from the excellent exhibition in the museum which is really great as it explains in a very good didactic way (explanations, exhibits, reconstructions) the life of the first immigrant policy in the world. Mauritius is the site of the first large-scale use of indentured labour in the modern world. Between 1830 and 1910 more than 462,000 people arrived in Mauritius. Appr. 70% of modern Mauritians are descendants of these workers. Really impressive. The mueseums shows a lot of very illustrative items, e.g. the way the new arrivals were registered and how and where they waited to be allocated to work. Having seen this exhibition, the (yes few) buildings outside can be understood and valued much better.

Access is easy, it is right downtown the capital city of Mauritius, Port Luis. 

Phnom Kulen was never on my plans for my trip to Cambodia in January 2023. All that I'd known about it was that there was a mini-version of Kbal Spean, a waterfall, and a reclining Buddha; I had no idea that it was also the site of the former capital of the Khmer or that there are a lot of remains of that time left behind. Instead, I'd set my eyes on Kbal Spean itself. Our driver-guide, on the other hand, didn't like the idea as much and recommended Phnom Kulen instead, and because I was traveling with my aunt who was having foot and knee problems, I caved and followed his suggestion. I'm actually quite glad I did, though I hope I'll see Kbal Spean one day, perhaps with better hiking company. Phnom Kulen ended up taking the whole morning into early afternoon (which is a must, as the national park closes entry at around noon) and a fairly hefty $20 entrance fee per foreign head, which must be bought at a certain hotel in Siem Reap (just ask any Angkor guide you have). After driving for about an hour towards and into the park, we arrived at the parking lot, and I was in for an adventure I'd never prepared for.

Our driver-guide negotiated with a motorcycle rider at the parking lot, who was offering an off-road tour to four sites in the jungle, and they reached a deal that was then recommended to me. I ended …

Some reviewers have already noted that the 'coules de petite valachie' TWHS is quite close to the already inscribed Horezu monastry WHS. So is this just a minor sidestep on the way to something more worthwhile, or can it stand on its own ? My initial reaction was indeed "Ah, it is so close, might as well spend a couple of minutes there". However, the site at Maldaresti is actually quite a nice heritage area, with two of the mysterious 'cula', an old church, a little heritage house and some nice green surroundings. The culas itself are interesting, too, being a mixture of a country house and a fortress from a time when the area was seemingly so dangerous that everything needed to be fortified - castles, villages, churches, houses. Still waiting for the 'Fortified outhouses of Transylvania' to show up on the list. I had a good time rummaging through the old houses, and probably spent an hour doing so. The visit also was quite easy, with everything being open and a friendly caretaker going around to collect the small entrance fee. The site is indeed only 5 kilometers away from the entrance of the Horezu monastry, with a pretty direct street connection in between. I had a car, but the distance seemed to be walkable to me. The 'cula' concept is interesting and unique enough to make it worthwhile for the list, so all in all, a thumbs up from me for the site. It would have been …