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Socotra is filled with stunning landscapes. The forest of iconic dragon blood trees on the Diksam plateau is truly unique in the world, and one of the main draws here, but there is so much more. My first night, we camped between the amazing dunes of Arher beach and the ocean. This has to be one of the most amazing campsites I have ever stayed at. White sand dunes climb up to 200 meters along the face of towering 600+ meter cliffs. Besides the dragon blood trees, which never get old, there are also thousands of fuchsia-flowering bottle trees and a few frankincense trees to watch for. There is great rugged hiking, such as into the Kalissan canyon where you can then cool off in emerald colored fresh water pools between gently eroded white limestone rocks. The white sand beach beside Detwah lagoon and near Qalansiya at the far northwest of the island is probably one of the most beautiful beaches in the world without any sort of hotel on it. Besides the handful of more famous beaches that are commonly visited by the small tour groups, there are literally miles of gorgeous white sand beaches that are practically untouched.

I visited in April 2022, and at this time, there is exactly one flight per week from Abu Dhabi, and you have to book an organized tour to visit. This makes it rather expensive, and just the Yemen visa, obtained through the UAE, costs $US 170. Our tour camped …

I just noticed that this was a new nomination from Italy in 2021: Historical 62 theatres in the Marche Region. Yes, I've been to 1 of the 62 theaters! 

In 2012 when I visited Urbino, I saw Teatro Sanzio. In fact this theater is in the core zone of the Urbino WHS, right by Palazzo Ducale. The name Sanzio comes of course from Urbino's most famous son, painter Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. 

Now, that was 2012, and I couldn't have put this theatre in the context with the other 61 theaters. It must be that Italy believes that these 62 theaters have something in common that is World Heritage worthy. 

The nomination document says things like: "the synergy that can establish with the historical centres, where they often are the hard core"; "The close identity relationship that binds them to local communities." I also like the sentence: "The theatre, both in the form of an independent building and as a space hosted in the municipal building, became the paradigm of an era, the symbol of a society's cultural self-identification." Perhaps the role of theaters was similar to that of churches. Church to the religion, theater to the arts.  

In the photo the large building in the background is the Palazzo Ducale. In front of it in the center is Teatro Sanzio, seen from the back. The round structure connected at the back of the theater is another interesting historical landmark in Urbino, Rampa Elicoidale. 

Within …

I visited this WHS just before New Year's Eve 2021 using Ocampo as my base. Already on the highway coming from Morelia there were signs to slow down due to the monarch butterfly migration. Indeed many butterflies are killed each year as roadkill just before the end of the impressive and length migration journey done by the butterflies each year. Ocampo is at an altitude of over 2000 metres so it might be a good idea to rest well before the uphill hike to the butterfly sanctuary if you suffer from altitude sickness. Horse riding tours to the sanctuary are also organised and are a pleasant way of exploring the biosphere reserve. Also, in Ocampo's central plaza, quite a long way from the El Rosario entrance proper, there is the UNESCO WHS inscription plaque.

During peak season, it seems to be normal practice for locals to organise "pacific" demonstrations which in my case meant being obliged to pay some pesos to be allowed access to the road leading up to the El Rosario entrance which was blocked with stones and a rope/chain till I paid the unofficial fee. Moreover, apparently also during peak season, the parking lot for tourists and visitors is some two hundred steps further down now from the upper parking lot used by local vendors, rangers, and the police. Apart from an additional uphill climb up the stairs (and downhill after the visit), you'll be bombarded by local vendors mostly selling the same souvenirs/stuff and repeating …

Whilst reviewing the Mughal Gardens in Kashmir I noted that the T List “Cold Desert Cultural Landscape of India” was also un-reviewed and, to date, has only 7 recorded visitors among our community – including myself for our trip back in 1983. I wonder why? Possibly because there are no other (T)WHS "ticks" available from this lengthy journey....or because the area is only accessible by road in Summer (when people are less likely to be travelling to India for other reasons) and is extremely cold in winter for those who fly in after touring elsewhere?

Although Indian Kashmir/Srinagar has been closed to normal tourism on and off across the past 35 years, Ladakh has remained relatively easily accessible by air from e.g Delhi or Chandigarh, or by the Manali to Leh highway opened in 1989 which misses out Jammu/Kashmir altogether! I would suggest that those who been to India without visiting Ladakh have been missing a great experience - whether you want the Buddhist culture or the world class trekking and wild life viewing - or all of these! And, even if it never gets that UNESCO inscription, it is well worth seeing.

When it first appeared on India’s T List in 1998 it was as 2 small separate cultural sites (“Hemis Gompa” and “Buddhist Monastery Complex Alchi, Leh”). In 2015 these were replaced by/incorporated into the current entry which covers a much larger area (“around 9,898,000 hectares”) as a …

"The more mechanical you are, the freer you are." --- Robert Wilson

For this occasion to visit the UK, I decided to finish up the remaining WHSs in the UK except some islands. As such, it was my first time to travelled to the south-western England: Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. If I am going to this part of England, I thought, I'd better go all the way to Land's End and thus chose St. Just as the place to visit among the 8 locations of this WHS.

There was an incredibly knowledgeable woman at the Penzance tourist office. She had good answers to just about everything I asked her and was passionate about the area she served. While asking her these questions, I revealed to her my plan in minute detail in the St. Just area, including the departure and arrival times of several buses I was going to take, and she was sort of excited, saying, "I have never met any tourists as organized as you are." Well, a plan doesn't always go as planned. 

I stayed for one night at a YHA Land's End in St. Just, with my main reason being the price: 23 GBP for a single room. My plan was to walk from the hostel through Cape Cornwall to the Botallack / Levant Mines in the morning, catch a bus to Land's End in the afternoon, return to Penzance by bus and then to Exeter by train in the evening. But …

As of April 2022, the price to enter Blenheim Palace stands at £31 per person, expensive even by the standards of the south of England. Whilst I found the interior of the palace and attending gardens impressive, there are few rooms inside that are available to the public as the palace is still occupied by the Duke of Marlborough and family, although photography is now allowed (at least nobody told me off for taking photos). Some further areas can be visited on guided tours for no extra cost but there is not much to see here that stands out over the many other stately homes scattered throughout the English countryside. Personally, I found the most impressive aspect of Blenheim to be the grand exterior architecture, created by Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor from 1705 to 1722, and how it is set into what is now seen as a traditional landscape but, at the time, would’ve been an innovative design from the great Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown.

Thankfully for the frugal traveller, it is possible to enter the core zone of this site and get great views of the famous palace for no charge at all. This is thanks to the fact that the grounds are crossed by a public right of way and so free access is enshrined in UK law. Starting from the village of Hanborough, which has a railway station on the line from London through Oxford to Worcester, I meandered my way through the picturesque Cotswold …

This is another T List site pencilled in for 2024 which hasn’t, to date, been reviewed (and has only been visited by 6 Community members). Our visit was way back in 1983 when no trip to India was “complete” without going "up" to Kashmir! Even though my memories are somewhat faded and any visit today will meet very different circumstances, it seems worthwhile providing some info on this upcoming nomination.

A few years after our visit in 1983, conditions for visiting Kashmir changed radically. A few quotes from Wiki – “in 1987, a disputed election….created a catalyst for the insurgency……In July 1988, a series of demonstrations, strikes, and attacks on the Indian government effectively marked the beginning of the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, which escalated into the most important internal security issue in India during the 1990s.” Problems have continued on and off during the subsequent 2 decades and the region has never returned to being a "normal" tourism destination. Today the area is regarded as one of the most heavily militarized in the World with probably more than 500000 Indian troops present. India tries to claim normalcy for tourist visits and, as recent Tripadvisor reviews show, many people do still visit without problems – though I note that most of them are Indian nationals. The UK Foreign office advice remains “The tourist destinations of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg, the city of Srinagar and the Jammu-Srinagar national highway are within the areas where the FCDO advises …

It's impossible to make a huge review about these Tumulus. There are a lot in Djibouti. I'm not sure if these should be inscribed. I think not. But there are many near Lake Abbeh as well, which, maybe, could be inscribed together with the lake as a cultural landscape. They are, as stated, a pile of black rocks mainly. They are not like other "beautiful" tumulus in other parts of the world. Nothing really special.

I visited this WHS in January 2022 and spent 3 days here. It is certainly one of the most famous colonial towns in Mexico and it attracts lots of expats and retirees from North America.

San Miguel de Allende's star attraction to me are the few remaining "corazon de manzana" gardens and groves behind the colourful facades of San Miguel de Allende. Most are part of boutique hotels and posadas or privately owned. They are comparable to Marrakesh's riads in a way, were you can relax and unwind though still being bang in the centre of town. Between the Jardin Allende and the main Gothic church, on the floor lies the UNESCO WHS inscription plaque in the form of a brass UNESCO certificate. The best views of town are from one of the long straight uphill streets leading to the panoramic Mirador de San Miguel de Allende and perhaps the most photographed street is Aldama street with the different cupolas and towers in the background.

Just a short drive out of town, lies the sleepy town of Atotonilco, which is worth visiting mostly for its lavishly painted sanctuary interior. For a few pesos more, the old lady selling religious items, will let you in the side chapel, nicknamed "the Sistine chapel of Mexico". I wouldn't go that far, but it still is certainly worth visiting and a worthy extension the San Miguel de Allende proper. Just in front of the sanctuary here, again on the floor, is another …

One thing I want to make clear: Tadrart Acasus and Tassili n'Ajjer, the eastern section also called Tadrart, are hardly distinguishable. If you visit the Algerian side you should only have a reason to visit Libya due to bordered defined by the UNESCO committee. The rock art is on both sides but I feel the countries don't want to cooperate and Algeria is limiting the site to what it is now, the western section of Tassili n'Ajjer NP. At the moment the Libyan land border is officially closed so you need to hike over the Tadrart plateau to get into Libya only to claim you have set foot into it, something I can't say is worth it. Or come from the Libyan side which involves a long, long drive and then the park may still be officially closed anyway.

Overall I find that both sides of the border are rather crappy for world heritage but get high ratings because the entire tour involves an adventure; trekking, camping, Touareg hospitaly, nomad camps, rock formations, sand dunes that keep going, magnificent sunsets and sunrises, and of course the whole remoteness. However, that should not really count for the site - that's just a vacation tagged on.

While I do rate the art higher than most I have seen ranging over a huge time period, and it's interesting to see different animals that no longer call it their environment such as elephants, it's just not the amazing part of the trip …

I visited this tWHS in January 2022 as a convenient stopover between the Sierra Gorda missions WHS and the Otumba/Zempoala components of the Padre Tembleque WHS.

For starters, the whole area surrounding Las Pozas is quite shabby and also prone for tourist traps. There are several activities and places claiming to be the right place to visit to appreciate Las Pozas, and makeshift parking personnel ready to earn a quick buck to keep your vehicle safe. If you insist to drive further on, you can park your car for free at your own risk, but having a drink at one of the cafes/bars should be enough instead of paying the same 50 pesos for such a parking tourist trap. It is quite a drive to get there and the locals know this so just keep this tip in mind instead of paying for a fake service.

The surreal gardens of Edward James are open everyday except on Tuesdays and entrance is currently only allowed with a guided tour taking 1.5 hours (125 pesos + 25 pesos for the guide). It's best to book and pay for your tickets online in advance and you're requested to exchange your booking with an actual ticket some 15 minutes before the scheduled time. When we visited, we were the only visitors requesting an English guide, so apart from having a private tour we were also lucky to have a really motivated guide who showed us photos of Edward James on his tablet …

Really cool to visit but believe that it should really be included in the Le champ de bataille de Waterloo tentative site, having both as separate ones in exactly the same seems like a long shot.

I have never stepped into a 360° panoramic picture before and upon visiting I was really impressed with it. It makes you feel like you’ve just jumped back centuries and was easily one of my highlights to Waterloo. 

The French won’t like it one bit if this doesn’t be becomes a world heritage site (they even had it blocked from being on a two euro coin…although Belgium did make a 2.5 euro coin successfully afterwards), but it truly hope it does. This battle changed the history of the world and surely that is exactly what UNESCO is meant to preserve! 

I was on route to Brussels when I accidentally came across this location, it is so impressive and impossible to miss if anywhere near. An extremely GIANT mound with an impressive lion on top. 

The ticket was really expensive but included a visit to the museum (which is pretty cool as it’s underground). There was also another building next to it with a giant 360° panoramic image (that you stand in the middle of) of the battle of Waterloo happening so you feel like you’re right there. 

There are steps to the top of the mound, so make sure you climb it…just be warned that there are no stops or larger steps you can easily rest on, so take it easy all the way up! 

Sufetula ruins are quite big and some highlights as pictured but overall I found they aren't unique enough to be inscribed. Haven't we got enough Roman ruins already, better, more unique and really worth visiting.

The ticket office is across the entrance by the way, so if you just walk in they'll follow you to buy a ticket. Somehow they only do this to foreign guests which seems a little discriminating, and while I don't care about the difference in entrance ticket price the fact they can just waltz in but I get chased after with a buggy because there was nobody at the entrance made me feel like I dislike the place too...

And seeing that I spent most of the review ranting about something else I'll say that the arch is quite nice and you can see plus take pictures of it from outside the walls, but seeing that you came all the way I suppose you are entering the site proper.

In my quest to visit every country and having Djibouti on my radar since childhood (no clue why, I have this with a few countries) I had no choice to book it when KLM Air France had great mileage redemption tickets. I visited all TWHS as I had a week due to just one flight a week.

The Abourma Rock Art was in the top 3 places I wanted to see in Djibouti. It's also said it will be the first inscription for Djibouti within the next few years. UNESCO is putting in place already a conservation plan and helping Djibouti with the submission files. This will be a nice remote site to tick off in the future. It's "impossible" to do as a day trip from Djibouti city. You must stay overnight at Foret Du Day (another TWHS). From there it's a 2-hour rocky off-road drive + a 5-hour total hike to see ALL the art. If you just want to see a few on the 3km stretch, then 3.5 hours works. I opted to see all or most of the art. Keep in mind the hike is rocky for the most part and no shade, 35-40 degrees C and dry as hell. I finished 5 litres of water. Getting there is a lot of fun! Note: you do NOT go there from Randa as that involves a much longer hike.

The site was discovered in 2008 by a French Archeologist. Actually, we must say discovered by …

I visited this WHS in January 2022 on two separate legs of my Mexico road, before and after visiting the Islas Marietas, marked by the loss of my camera due to technical failure and managing to find the exact same replacement online for half the price on my return to Tequila proper.

Due to this mishap, I allowed more time to explore the area and components of this WHS. First I focused on the agave landscape around El Arenal which is by far the most scenic and also the busiest, with several workers employed in the fields loading and unloading their trucks with the main raw material. Having a rental car or a bike helps to look out for the tiny roads with the most scenic spots for photography. The only drawback, a bit like in Burgundy, France, is the huge highway which passes right through the agave landscape. By far less disruptive are the railway tracks which are a great alternative if you want to visit the area in style with the expensive Jose Cuervo Express train+bus tour at sunrise or sunset departing from Tequila.

Be aware that most if not all attractions in Tequila and its surroundings are very touristy, for locals and foreigners alike, so early visits (in Mexico this is conveniently stretched to before 11am) will prove essential to beat the tour groups and the bulk of the tourist circus (especially in Tequila proper, with long vehicles in all shapes and forms (I've seen …

I must admit my local bias with this one. I grew up just outside the nearest town and have memories of visiting several times. The pyramid-shaped Céide Fields visitor centre, built in 1993, in this remote part of one of the most isolated treeless parts of our small country has always stood out, and while I distinctly remember its bog oak centrepiece, I haven’t been inside since I was a child. I visited the outdoors (always open) near sunset sometime again in the last decade. It is situated just above a spectacular sea-cliff landscape, complete with viewing platform. There are little visible archaeological remains on this short uphill boardwalk, since everything is essentially under the bog, and I have no memory of the court tombs mentioned in the T-List description. 

It will always be quiet, regardless of season, with visitor numbers in the vicinity of 30-40,000 per annum. Visitors may be inclined to stay a good bit less than a couple of hours for sure, although they may wish to linger longer in the remote coastal landscape situated 30-40 minutes from the town of Ballina. Own transport will almost certainly be required, particularly if you were to be following the increasingly popular Wild Atlantic Way.

The description outlines it as one of the world’s oldest field systems, and the “most extensive Stone Age monument in the world and the oldest enclosed landscape in Europe”. Naturally, when studying local history, we all watched videos of the …

Visit in March 2022

This was the first Site that I visited during my hastily-arranged trip to Mongolia, just after the country had reopened after being closed for the previous two years. Though it is not ideal, it is possible to make a rewarding visit to this Site during the final, at least according to the calendar, week of winter. However, that particular time of the year did significantly affect the type of visit that I was able to make. While I normally would have preferred to travel to the Site and back by bicycling—there is now a reasonable-quality paved road for the entire distance from Ulaanbaatar to Kharkorin—the limited amount of time I had available and, more importantly, the still-cold weather ruled out that option. I also considered traveling on my own to Kharkorin by bus and then finding someone locally to take me around to the interesting locations. However, while I think that would be possible in the summertime, and more so in a “normal” year, I was not confident that I would be able to make those arrangements under the circumstances, especially given that some tourism facilities and services had not completely restarted at the time. Therefore, I needed to book a package tour from a guiding company based in Ulaanbaatar. The trip would require four days, one to travel most of the way to the Site, two for visiting various points of interest, and one to return to UB, with three nights accommodation in traditional …

Side-stepping a discussion of the merits of inscription, it’s worth drawing attention to the mulberry tree at Down House. It survives from Darwin's day - though now needing to be propped up - and still produces mulberries. All despite being filled with concrete….

Oh no, not another vineyard. That was my first thought when the Prosecco Hills were inscribed on the World Heritage list in 2019. Not really an enthusiastic reaction. But is it justified? Well, vineyards are an over-represented category. But we are in Italy, so good food can be expected and I can taste a wine I didn't know well before. Reasons enough to spend a long weekend in the Veneto and tick off a new WHS. So in September 2021, I set off on a 5-hour drive to the Prosecco Hills.

The inscription was highly controversial, a secret ballot was needed to overrule the "not inscribe" recommendation by ICOMOS in 2018. One year later, an amended proposal with a significantly reduced core zone was inscribed. The focus is on the scenic landscape with its steep vineyards and small hilltop villages. The production sites and wine cellars are not explicitly mentioned in the description and obviously do not contribute to the OUV of the site. In this respect, the Prosecco Hills differs, for example, from the French "Champagne Hillsides, Houses and Cellars". The larger villages at the foot of the steep hills are not included, nor are the eponymous towns of Conegliano and Valdobbiadene. And rightly so, the cultural heritage here - historic town centres, churches and monasteries - is not outstanding and is below the level of other World Heritage sites in Italy.

I got a first impression of what is special about the Prosecco hills when I …