World Heritage Site

Champaner-Pavagadh is one of the lesser-known Indian WHS. It is also one of the least appreciated by members of our community, although it still amounts to a decent 3 stars. The Tripadvisor reviews about this site are much more positive. One of its main issues is that it is hard to summarize what it is actually about. As the name suggests, it comprises two (contiguous) parts: Champaner (the remains of an Islamic pre-Mughal city) and Pavagadh (a hill with an important Hindu pilgrimage site). They are linked through their prime setting, the hill providing the water the city needed. As it was still relatively early in my 2024 India journey, I deep-dived into it via a day trip on public transport from Vadodara (better known locally under its old name Baroda).

The bus ride to Pavagadh takes about an hour and costs 40~60rs. Buses frequently leave from bays 15-18 at the central bus station; signage is only in Gujarati but just follow the colourful pilgrims on board. From Pavagadh bus station you have to walk about 500m to the right around the walls of the citadel, to where you can see the Jami Masjid – there used to be an entrance right across the street from the bus station (still present in Maps.me), but it is closed off nowadays and looks overgrown.

So I started my exploration with the Jami Masjid, the main mosque and the highlight of the Champaner site. I arrived at the same time as a French tour group, and there were a few local visitors as well. I was immediately taken by the very delicate stone carvings. With their geometrical motifs, they reminded me a bit of the Chaukhandi Tombs in Pakistan. The mosque is walled, with fine gateways (photo 2), and its design with two minarets against the hilly background is picture perfect. On the inside, the carvings are continued in the mihrabs and segregation walls.

For the other parts of the Primary zone of Champaner Archaeological Site, you have to enter the Citadel across the street. This is also where you encounter the infamous village; people have been living inside the walls for decades, housing is permanent and there are shops and businesses. It didn’t bother me too much actually, maybe because I saw worse last year in Pakistan (Rohtas Fort!). It is not as if they are camping on the grounds of the two precious mosques - these are well-protected and gated. Just consider it as separate locations instead of a continuous area as shown on the (very bad) official map.

At the end of the village lies the Shaher ki Masjid (photo 1). The setting with the Pavagadh Hill in the background again is very pretty and its design with multiple domes in a row is similar to what you can see in Bagerhat. In and around the village and the mosques are other points of interest, such as a water tank and a “Custom House”. The smaller Kevda Masjid and Nagina Masjid come recommended in Tripadvisor reviews as well, they can be accessed by following a small road to the right of the Custom House. There are also Jain shrines, some of which have been vandalized earlier this year, and another 11 components towards the town of Halol.

I moved on however to the Hindu pilgrimage part of this WHS: the trek to Pavagadh Hill. Over 2 million people arrive here yearly, so you don’t have to worry about finding transport or something to eat or drink. The first step involves wriggling yourself into one of the Jeeps that provide the transport from the main road (next to the bus station) to the foot of Pavagadh Hill. I think I saw at least 100 of them continuously drive the 5km up the mountain. They pack no less than 20 people in one car! A ride costs 30rs. 

At the foot of the hill, the joyful pilgrimage atmosphere already is present, with a lot of people wearing orange robes or shawls. Even the donkeys, the workhorses of this mountain, wear an orange streak in their manes. 

To get to the top of the hill, where the Hindu temple is, you can walk another 5km (only steps) or take the cable car (a.k.a. “ropeway”). I was already warned how long the queues could be for the cable car, but OMG: I walked and walked around the foot of the mountain to just find the start of the queue. The waiting time must surely have been 2 hours or more. I wanted to give it a go for an hour or so, to see how far I would advance – but I was “rescued” by some men ahead of me. They pointed me to Gate 3, the entrance for people who booked their cable car tickets online – no queue at all. The guard at first wouldn’t let me in (as of course I didn’t know about the booking process and there wasn’t a reliable data connection at the hill either to quickly do it), but the men argued in my favour: Foreigner! Alone! So finally the guard relented and let me in, and I was able to buy a cable car ticket (150rs) at the regular ticket office. I consider this VIP treatment as payback for the foreigner pricing practiced at all Indian WHS!

Within 15 minutes I was at the top. Here you’ll find a pond where people take ritual baths, an older temple and several shrines. To get to the Kalika Mata Temple you need to climb even more steps, but I skipped this since I had to leave my (good) shoes behind among a pile of thousands! The temple has been heavily reconstructed in 2022 anyway and construction is going on to extend the ropeway so that it arrives all the way up there. 

Overall, Pavagadh Hill did feel more like a place for a family outing (I’d guess about a third of all shops along the path sell toys) than an overly religious place. Walking back down, however, I witnessed how the pious tackle this hill: by bowing down and putting a dab of red powder on the stairs at every single step they climb!

The Workers' Assembly Halls, a nomination led by Denmark, is one of the more prominent upcoming serial transnational initiatives. It is aiming for inscription in 2027. They represent the international democratic labour movement of the years 1850 to 1950. This isn’t a popular subject in 2024, but “we” (the workers in the countries where the labour movement had a significant impact) owe perks like the 8-hour workday and holiday bonuses to them. 

Among the 7 proposed Assembly Halls in 6 countries is “De Vooruit” in Ghent, Belgium. It doesn’t feature on the country’s tentative list yet, but it is definitely part of the final selected group that is preparing a nomination and it has received funding to do so from the Flanders government. I visited it yesterday on a guided tour.

The ‘Vooruit’ (Dutch for “Forward”) dates from 1913, the year Ghent hosted an International Exhibition. It seemed a good idea to the local socialist movement to celebrate its cause via a grand building, which was to be situated along the main road between the railway station and the city centre. The construction was funded by the eponymous socialist cooperative, which managed a bakery, a brewery, pharmacies, and other businesses aimed at the socialist customer. Workers could use its services against fair prices, to protect them from rampant capitalism.

The building has a very fine facade, but unfortunately, it is completely covered in scaffolding at the moment (works to improve its accessibility will last until 2026). The halls on that side are also closed off, except for the cafe - the only part that has been in continuous use for the same purpose since the early days. It even still feels like a workers’ cafeteria, while its leftist and student appeal is reflected in dishes like “dessert for Gaza”.

Our guided visit focused on the back of the building. It has a fine setting along the river Scheldt as well (see photo 1). Here we find the concert hall and the theatre. The concert hall and many of the other rooms we passed through do show slight touches of Art Nouveau, but nowadays its design is mostly utilitarian. The building has to comply with modern health and safety standards and has survived performances by bands like Nirvana and Motörhead. It also needs to be cost-effective: to battle the enormous energy bill, solar panels have been placed on the roof and a modern heating system was installed.

The best part of the tour was at the Theatre. It also has been modernized a lot, but "socialist" details remain such as a banner with the slogan “Art Ennobles” above the stage. Its ceiling has great stained-glass windows, typical Art Nouveau, with the musical notes of the socialist anthem The Internationale incorporated into the design.

Considering the Workers’ Assembly Halls in general, the nomination is carried by a convincing historical narrative (global labour movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries), but I wonder (1) how authentic its tangible remains are, and (2) what each of the 7 components adds to the story (aren’t the similarities too superficial?). The Vooruit does have the correct roots, but to be honest, it is far from a great sight on the scales of Art Nouveau (no match for the Horta Town Houses) or monumental theatre buildings (I’d rather see the Amazonia Theatres inscribed).

“De Vooruit” at the moment can only be visited with a guided tour in Dutch, which is available about once a month on a Saturday. The rest of the year it is in use for concerts and events, which seems to be the case for Paasitorni (Finland) as well. Several other Assembly Halls have accessibility issues too, which I hope will be overcome when the site is inscribed: the CGT in Buenos Aires is an office for the Labour Union, and the Redhills Durham Miners Hall in the UK is currently closed for renovation. And we eagerly await a review of the Australian components (Broken Hill, Melbourne)!

There’s a forum topic dating back to 2014 already on this subject: WHS where you have been very close to but missed out on for some reason. We know them as “Near Misses” as well, although the result (frustration instead of relief) is the opposite of a “near miss” in safety procedures where disaster was just avoided; our Near Miss is when you were nearby, but you missed the WHS.

I have been very close to 12 (4%) out of the 293 I haven’t visited yet. How did those happen?

Visited long before inscription

First, I have two recent WHS where I had been very near early in my travel life:

• In 1994, I thoroughly explored the Chinese province of Yunnan for a month with a small Dutch group. I have 3 WHS ‘ticks’ as a result of it. But then, in 2023, there was the “Ancient Tea Plantations of Pu'er” – in Xishuangbanna, southern Yunnan. Unfortunately, I don’t have a travel diary from that trip. I studied my photos, but the closest I could find was Jingzhen (35km away) and some Dai and Bulang villages to the south of it (photos of rubber and rice plantations, no tea!).
• In 1998, I went to Sikkim and Bhutan. Part of the itinerary was visits to the Pemayangtse and Rumtek monasteries. Both lie just outside Khangchendzonga National Park (2016) and Pemayangtse even is mentioned (and pictured!) in the AB evaluation: “although not included in the nominated property or in the buffer zone, ..., need[s] to be protected and integrated into the interpretation and communication of the values of the nominated property”.

Unaware

I also have a couple where I came close, but wasn’t aware that the site would be up for WH status.

• White City of Tel Aviv – visited in 2000, inscribed 2003. I have walked the streets of Tel Aviv, but not into this quarter as far as I can recall based on the pictures.
• Aasivissuit – Nipisat – visited in 2006, inscribed in 2018. I have had a day to fill at the Kangerlussuaq Airport, I did take an excursion from there, but went for the musk-ox safari as I did not think there was anything WHS-worthy nearby.
• Persian Caravanserai – visited in 2016, inscribed in 2024. So painful this one. I came within 150 meters(!) of the Caravanserai in Qazvin when visiting the Chehelsotoon Palace across the street.
• Trans-Iranian Railway. If I had known I could have gone for the quick ‘tick’ of Teheran Railway Station, which lies only 4km from Golestan Palace. Visited in 2016, inscribed 2021.
• Astronomical Observatories of Kazan Federal University – visited in 2019, inscribed in 2023. Looking at the numbers, no one guessed this would ever become a WHS. 96 community members have visited the Kazan Kremlin and only 7 of them went to see the Observatory which actually lies about 1.5km outside of the walls of the Kremlin.
• Flow Country—Visited 2017, inscribed 2024. The road to Orkney passes through The Flow Country, and although I remarked that I enjoyed the landscape along the way, I did not focus on it at all.

Betted on the wrong horse

Here I guessed the ‘wrong’ locations of a serial site before inscription, or did not fully acknowledge the potential or the scope of a TWHS:

• Western Ghats: I have been to Tamil Nadu during my RTW trip in 2011 and I knew this was going to be a WHS (it became so in 2012). By bus, I crossed the hills close to Nilgiri NP, and even walked to Doddabetta Peak, but I think I wasn’t aware of the exact boundaries at the time. Photo 1 shows the Nilgiri Hills, part of the Western Ghats but not an inscribed area.
• Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites: on my South Africa trip in 2016 I even spent a day in transit to visit two of the proposed locations of this serial site when it still was on the Tentative List. But both in the end did not make the final cut! Of the components that got inscribed, I might have had a passing glance at the Union Buildings while driving through Pretoria. But I have no recollection at all, can you even see them from the road? Photo 2 shows the Howick Capture Site, a component dropped when the nomination focused a bit less on the life of Mandela and more on Anti-Apartheid institutions.
• Rachid Karami International Fair-Tripoli – visited in 2014, inscribed in 2024. I have been to Tripoli, the bus station where I arrived lies some 500m from the fairgrounds, but I went the other way – to the Citadel and what I at the time saw as the more promising TWHS. Photo 3 shows the Clock Tower in the center of Tripoli, just a few minutes walk from the WHS.

Travel fatigue / lack of time

This is a category I won’t admit to easily, as I rarely give up on travel goals. But well, on my 5.5-month RTW trip, I was so fed up with eucalypt forests (and Australia in general) that I skipped the Gondwana Rainforests and went for a relaxing day in Sydney instead. 

How many “near misses” do you have, compared to your WH count? And do you have additional reasons than those listed above for missing out on those?

In last week’s blog post I referred to Padua’s Fresco Cycles and wondered why it took so long to get them inscribed. During the preparatory research, I also found out that it is the highest-rated WHS that was inscribed in the past 5 years. It got me curious to look for other recent WHS with very high ratings, and if there are any remarkable trends to discover.

Highest scores of the past 5 years

The following sites, which were inscribed in the last 5 years (2020-2024), have received the highest approval scores by the community members of this website. Remember that 2020 and 2022 had no WHC sessions. The ranking is sorted by the last column, based on the toned-down Wilson score we use on this website to deal with outliers and few votes. 

Findings:

• Two WHS in this bracket still suffer from too few votes to make the score representative. 
• The no.1 of this group only ranks #166 overall, and the no. 10 is #494!
• No less than 8 out of 10 WHS are cultural.
• None have reached a score of 4 or higher (equalling 'very good').

Highest scores of the past 10 years

When we repeat this for the last 10 years (2015-2024), we get the following Top 10:

Findings:

• The no.1 of this group ranks as high as #10 overall, directly followed by no.2 which is at #11 overall. and the no. 10 is on #182.
• The group of 10 has 4 natural WHS, 1 mixed and 5 cultural.
• 8 out of the 10 date from the first 5 years in this decade.
• Now we already have 5 WHS with a score above 4, and the other 5 are very close to that level (3.90+).

Highest scores of the 2000s

And finally, the best-rated of this century, inscribed in 2000 or later. This covers ca. the second half of the existence of the WH List.  

Findings:

• The no.1 of this group still is Bagan, ranking #10 overall. The no. 10 is still as high as #45 overall.
• The group of 10 has 6 natural WHS, 1 mixed and 3 cultural.
• All 10 WHS are now comfortably above the threshold of 4.00.

Conclusions

Considering the findings from the 3 periods presented above, the following can be concluded:

• We knew it already, but the inscriptions during the first half of the 47 years of the List's existence were ‘better’ than those of the second half: from the Top 45, 10 date from the 2000s and the other 35 from the 1900s.
• But, could it also be true that sites that are 'older' are rated higher? More time has passed to let a broad group of visitors rate them, we know more about them, and all fruitful ways of approach are known to us. For example, the scores from the past 5 years don't seem stabilized yet.
• The natural WHS clearly had some catching up to do, especially in the earlier 2000s, with classics such as the Norwegian Fjords, the Okavango Delta and the Namib Sand Sea only inscribed this late.
• Could the latecomers also come from countries that just aren't too active on the WH front? Thinking of Namibia, Chad, Sudan, Myanmar, Botswana, and Iceland (all have 3 WHS or less and its WHS are in the Top 10 of the 2000s).
• A fair number from our Missing List pop up here as well: Bagan, Ephesus, Okavango Delta, Padua, Vatnajökull, Göbeklitepe. Were these just overlooked in the decades before?

What's your take on these findings?

Last week I was in Northeast Italy, celebrating the 10th anniversary of our immersive Art History course in Florence with my study mates (it turned out to be ‘only’ 9 years ago we found out during the trip). We were roughly in the Veneto Hotspot, covering Verona, Padua, Mantua, and Vicenza. I also added two days on my own in Bologna. These were all revisits for me. It's a region that has been popular for its treasures of art for centuries, even the French troops took a lot home from here as seen in the new Napoleonic booty connection.

Below are my Top Tips for Travel to the Veneto Hotspot as a WH Traveller in 2024.

1. Choose your base wisely

We have Venice as the center of the Veneto Hotspot and while its international airport and two inner-city WHS make this a logical choice, I’d recommend choosing a different base. Venice is the most expensive and the most touristy city in this region. For lower costs of hotels and food in restaurants, consider Verona, Padua, or even Bologna. The latter’s university crowd guarantees cheap eateries and the city has excellent train connections with the rest of Italy and a busy airport. 

2. Allocate at least a day per city

During my first trip to this region in 2007, I made the mistake of combining visits to Vicenza and Padua in one day. They’re just 20 minutes apart by train! I ended up missing the interior of the Villa Rotonda (photo 1, made it this time) and my time slot for the Scrovegni Chapel. This time we just did one day, one city and we travelled there from one base (so we did not have to change hotels). There’s so much to see in all of these cities. Many of the WHS also are serial sites, so you’ll need to visit several places anyhow. You’ll easily walk 12-20 km a day within the town limits.

3. Even Italy gets digital

I fear for the future of the Italian tobacco shops! On this trip, I didn’t have to search for one as bus tickets now can be bought via an app or in some cities even by just tapping your credit card. The Trenitalia app also works well for train tickets – say goodbye to the ‘validation stamp’!

4. It’s all quite relaxed

While Venice is always crowded and summer visits to this region should be avoided all around, the smaller cities in this batch are very pleasant in Spring and Autumn. They’re all a bit touristy (Verona probably the most), but nowhere it was uncomfortably busy or too tacky. Also, in comparison to 5-10 years ago, visiting rules often have been relaxed. You can take pictures inside everywhere, even of the most precious frescoes and paintings. You can buy tickets on the spot (even for Scrovegni’s Chapel) and they will accept both cash and cards. There’s also surprisingly little security at the sights (no bag scans etc), albeit most entrances are ‘guarded’ by fierce Italian women who will scold you for any reason. 

5. Padua is the best recent WHS. Overall.

It is hardly imaginable that Padua’s frescoes only were inscribed in 2021, as #57 of Italy’s 60 WHS. It is rated #9 in Italy now and #1 overall of the sites inscribed globally over the past 5 years. These frescoes will appeal to anyone, you don’t need to be an art lover or a religious person. The presentation of the major components also is very good (the Baptistery (photo 2) almost trumps the Scrovegni Chapel). The town wears its WH status proudly with notable banners stating “Padova Meravigliosa! Siamo Patrimonio UNESCO” (Italian for “Wir sind Welterbe”), and also a good new(?) plaque at its second WHS, the Botanical Garden (photo 3).

What’s your take on this region?

Wojciech’s recent review of the Minaret of Jam (“The road from Herat takes 13 hours…”) sparked a debate about whether this Afghan icon is The Most Remote Cultural WHS. A quick look at our “Takes more than 5 days”-connection brings up Bikini Atoll, but all other remote ones listed there are natural or mixed. In a quest to find more Remote Cultural WHS, I took a systematic approach.

The Approach

I started with a subset of sites that are rarely visited: a combination of the ‘least visited WHS’ (cutting it to 10 members or fewer that have visited) and the ones in the '1,000 visitors or fewer' connection. This resulted in a list of 46 different Cultural WHS.

Then I tried to measure the time it takes from a hub city to get to the WHS. With a hub city I mean a place with decent hotels and frequent onward connections to the rest of the country, including an international airport. I used what is mentioned in the reviews and also Google Maps. Timings are calculated under ‘normal’ conditions (no active war, no weather disruptions, not out-of-season).

I also added the time necessary to get from the hub to the international airport, as some hubs are already pretty remote. If that transfer takes 5h or more, I added a * to the site.

Finally, I divided them into 4 groups with increasing grades of remoteness.

The Results

Not too difficult

Even the 46 that are not often visited contain 34 sites that are actually not remote. They are either recent additions to the list so many people haven’t made the detour yet, or places that are quite hard to access for other reasons such as insecurity. 

Within 2 hours of a hub are: Ancient ferrous metallurgy sites (Ouagadougou), Ashur (Mosul), Bamiyan Valley (Bamyan), Deer Stone Monuments (Tsetserleg*), Gedeo Cultural landscape (Dila*), Hegmataneh (Hamedan or Kermanshah), Kazan Astronomical Observatories (Kazan), Kuk (Mount Hagen), Kujataa (Narsarsuaq), Melka Kunture and Balchit (Addis Abeba), Ruins of Loropéni (Gaoua*), Sado Island (Niigata). Tadrart Acacus (Ghat or Awaynat), Taputapuātea (Uturoa on Raiatea), Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa (Sibudhu Cave: Durban). The place named within brackets after each WHS is the proposed hub.

With a bit more effort, but still less than 4 hours one way, the following can be reached: Ancient Kingdom of Saba (Sana’a), Hawraman/Uramanat  (Sanandaj), Lower Valley of the Awash (Semera), Moidams (Jorhat), Sudanese style mosques (Korhogo), Thimlich Ohinga (Kisumu), Tomb of Askia (Gao, pictured below, (c)Roman Bruehwiler).

Long day trip

It gets really serious with the following ones, which take 4 hours or more to reach from the hub, but are still feasible for a loooong day trip because you desperately want that ‘tick’:

1. Al-Faw – hub Abha 5.5h drive 
2. Dholavira – hub Bhuj, about 4h by car
3. Petroglyphs of the Lake Onega and the White Sea – hub Petrozavodsk, “then 370 km by rented car via surprisingly good road to Belomorsk.” 
4. Rudreshwara (Ramappa) Temple – hub Hyderabad, 4h by car
5. The Royal Court of Tiébélé – hub Ouagadougou, full day trip (~4 hours each way)

Overnight needed

In this final group, the sites are so remote that an overnight stay is required away from the hub. That night is spent in temporary or basic accommodations:

1. Bikini Atoll – hub Majuro, 3 days sailing from there.
2. Great Burkhan Khaldun - hub Ulaan Bator, the only reports I can find tell about spending the night at a ger camp nearby
3. Kenozero Lake - hub Arkhangelsk and still a 470 km ride by rail/car.
4. Mbanza Kongo – 6 hours by car from Luanda, can’t see another hub closer and the site is still unreviewed.
5. Minaret of Jam – hub Herat or Bamyan, both taking some 13 hours to reach.
6. Petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai – no reviews yet, but the hub seems to be Ölgi (with a domestic airport and 35,000 inhabitants). You’d have to stay overnight camping somewhere closer to the petroglyphs.
7. SGang Gwaay – hub Vancouver, requires a flight to Sandspit and at least taking part in a 2-day boat tour to get to the right island. 
8. Sukur - hasn’t been visited by anyone, so?? Abuja airport is 14 hours away, so definitely a * as well.

I would like to hear whether you have any “intelligence” on the sites in the two last groups and if they can be reached faster. And also when you know of any other cultural WHS that takes at least a long day trip (4 hours or more one way) from a hub.

Solivagant often sends me inspirational things on WH-related topics, but I don’t always have the time to do something with them. This also was the case with ‘The World’s Greatest Natural Areas’. At the 24-hour ferry back from Ogasawara, I finally found some focused hours to digest this article published in 1982 by the Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas (CNPPA) of IUCN. This was in the early years of the World Heritage Convention, and they decided to come up with an indicative inventory of natural sites with the potential to be listed. It’s interesting to see where we stand now, 42 years later. 

The Inventory

The CNPPA came up with 219 different sites in its concise and well-written article, spread across the biogeographic realms as follows:

1. Nearctic: 33
2. Palaearctic: 42
3. Afrotropical: 47
4. Indomalayan: 31
5. Oceanian: 14
6. Australian: 13
7. Antarctic: 6
8. Neotropical: 33

Their WH status now

Of the 219 proposals, 115 sites have since acquired WH status and 29 more are on the Tentative Lists. Some WHS are partial representations of the proposals in “The World’s Greatest Natural Areas” – a smaller version was proposed (Marine Lakes of Palau instead of the Rock Islands eg.), or a broader version (Rainforests of Southern Mindanao instead of only Mt. Hamiguitan). Furthermore, they also included sites we now know only as cultural WHS, such as Rapa Nui, Nan Madol, Angkor, Niah Caves, Nikko, Mont Saint-Michel and Mogao Caves (I have not added those to the totals).

Findings

• With 219 considered worthy, in 1982 they were already thinking in the high range of numbers we have today (231 natural WHS to date, plus 40 mixed WHS).
• There seems to have been a focus on established ‘safari parks’ (Kruger, Perinet, and other well-known parks in Kenya, Tanzania, and South Africa) and other clear-cut areas such as those managed by the US National Park Service.
• Countries like Canada and the USA are extensively covered, while others such as Brazil and Papua New Guinea have very poor coverage. And it may have seemed unfathomable in 1982 that Iran could have natural WHS too and that China has reached 19 so far.
• For Antarctica, being aware of its special status, they chose a surrogate in the Australian Antarctic Territory.
• As this was a scientific exercise and not a state-centered process as is the WHC, they proposed the sensible combinations of both Iguaz(c)us, both Sundarbans, and Manas on both sites of the border. On the other hand, Bialowieza was seen as Polish only.
• The inclusion of Zhoukoudian (Choukotien) and the Niah Caves indicates that they considered early hominid fossil sites as nature, while they are categorized as cultural nowadays.

Missing Sites and Sites Missing

The list of 219 also provides inspiration for sites that are Missing from the List, but could be worthy candidates. There are 73 sites proposed by the CNPPA that we haven’t encountered yet in the WH domain. Regarding Indonesia for example, they have selected Siberut Island (isolated evolution of plants and birds) and Kutai Game Reserve (for Bornean gibbons and orangutans). In Venezuela, they name Henry Pittier NP for its spring and autumn migrations of millions of birds and butterflies.

The other way around, there have been natural and mixed WHS inscribed since that don’t feature at all in this inventory. No less than 162 of them! The more recent, niche ones (Wadi al Hitan, Vallee de Mai, Los Alerces, etc.) are all missing, and obviously no one thought about the Flow Country yet. Clear oversights include the Cape Floral region, Socotra, the big Sahara sites, any of the Brazilian Atlantic Forests, the Wadden Sea, Socotra, and Ilulissat. Sites like the Norwegian Fjords and Ha Long Bay are also notably missing: the scientists weren’t focused so much on natural beauty. 

I’ve published the lists of Greatest Natural Areas still on the T List and Greatest Natural Areas with no follow-up at all at the Forum for future reference. Pictures in this post show the non-represented Greatest of Perinet (now called Analamazaotra, Madagascar), Torres del Paine (Chile) and Etosha (Namibia).

With a four-week trip to seven of the most recent or most remote Japanese WHS, I have ‘completed’ the country, the second person on this website to do so after Zoë. It was a wonderful trip, my fourth to Japan, and I am certainly not done with it—there are still more areas to explore. I would like to go to Shikoku Island or Hokkaido in the winter, for example.

Below are my Top Tips for Travel to Japan as a WH Traveller in 2024.

1.      Being in Japan is better than seeing all its WHS

Just being in Japan and taking part in its daily life trumped the quality of its sights on each of my four visits. Think of a world where people are raised to be considerate of each other. You can roam the streets of the big cities alone late at night, or leave your bag unattended when you pick up something from a counter or go to the toilet. One with the best public transport system in the world. And with an extremely rich food culture. It’s a "Land of Instructions" too, sometimes bordering on the silly (see top photo), but those make things easier when renting a car or visiting a restaurant where you are supposed to grill your own meal.

2.      It's not for people who get seasick easily

I counted, and no less than 9 of Japan’s 26 WHS partially or fully cover one or more islands, not being one of the four main islands (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu). They can all be easily reached using ferries or sometimes domestic flights, except for Okinoshima Island which is barred to visitors overall. Most voyages stay relatively close to the shore, so the level of 'turbulence' is generally low. Only the 24-hour ferry to Ogasawara crosses the open ocean for a long time.

3.      Trains aren’t always the best choice anymore

When I visited Japan for the first time in 2000, it was obvious that I should invest in a Japan Rail Pass. It was an easy and inexpensive way for foreigners to use most of Japan’s train network. However, the pass was hit by a 70% price increase last year. It may now only be useful to a first-time traveller to the country who wants to move around a lot on the main islands in a short time. Single train tickets are also expensive, Osaka to Hakata (2.5 hours/600km) will cost over 100 EUR. The train experience overall feels a bit dated (Japan isn’t great at digitizing its services in general), although the trains fortunately still run like clockwork! See also this Forum topic about which WHS are best accessible by train. Taking a domestic flight or renting a car are valuable alternatives nowadays. Japan has low-cost flyers as well which often are cheaper than long-distance trains. You need to bring a special International Drivers Licence (model 1949) to rent a car, but driving is easy. 

4.     You'll get a fair representation of the country

The WHS are nicely spread around the country and its outlying islands, and divided between cities and rural areas. From the main islands, only Shikoku is missing. Thematically, there could be room for modern Japanese architecture (I find the Corbusier site in Tokyo a joke). Like most countries, Japan overdoes it a bit on the subjects it values the most (industrialization in the broader sense) and its mines and industrial sites don’t do so well in our community ratings. The next ones in the nomination pipeline, Asuka-Fujiwara and Hikone-jo, are more classical Japanese sights.

5.      They don’t do well on the plaques

World Heritage Sites certainly are a ‘thing’ in Japan, but especially this time I noticed that the UNESCO WH logo rarely is displayed at its sites. The natural WHS are signposted as “World Natural Heritage Sites”, but rarely with a reference to UNESCO or to why they were inscribed. Sometimes they even have their own logos with the text ‘World Natural Heritage Site’ incorporated. This violates of course of our WHS Visitor Commandment #4: “You shall have a proper UNESCO plaque” (and it is a requirement in the guidelines from UNESCO too). What they do often have is a 'selfie-point' to immortalize you at the site, with a display of the site name (see photo 3, me at Shiretoko). At Tomioka Silk Mill, they even have one where you can have the exact date of your visit displayed.

It must be said though that Japan does very well on the other commandments, many sites are free to enter (and when they charge a small fee, you’ll get a proper ticket), they supply a lot of brochures including maps, there are official websites and the opening hours and other basics are rarely in doubt. Translations into English are often given, but usually, they are more limited than the Japanese texts. Sometimes they work with QR codes but these may not be operational.

Finally, I was thinking about the top 3 Japanese WHS and came up with the two best cultural sites (Nikko and Kyoto) and the two best natural sites (Yakushima and Ogasawara). Non-WHS that I enjoyed across the four visits include Matsumoto Castle and the Kibi Plain. Which additional sites in Japan would you put forward?

My first one from the “Takes 5 days or more to visit”-list! The Ogasawara Islands are a Japanese archipelago in the Northern Pacific Ocean about 1,000km south of Tokyo and 1,800km north of Guam. They can only be visited by a weekly ferry which takes 24 hours to cover the distance. About 2,500 people inhabit its two main islands. Settlers arrived here in the 19th century, the islands were mostly uninhabited before. After having been taken by the US during the Second World War, the islands were returned to Japan in 1968.

Despite being a group of islands, the OUV is not marine but firmly focused on land (rapidly diversifying land snails! endemic plants!) – even UNESCO seems to have forgotten that as its Gallery only shows photos of sea creatures. About 80% of the core zones of the 5 components are land-based. On Chichi-jima, where I stayed for 3 nights, the core zone of the WHS covers about 65% of this island; the coastal villages and agricultural fields are excluded.

The protected area that lies closest to the main settlement of Omura is Miyanohama Beach. And that is where I headed on my first afternoon on the island. It’s only a 1.2km walk, but I learned quickly that the hills on the island are very steep. The bay has characteristic volcanic arches and outcrops, and inland I got my first good look at the endemic, fruit-bearing Pandanus trees.

In the evening I joined a Night Tour. My main goal was to see a Bonin Flying Fox, the only endemic mammal of Ogasawara and a nocturnal creature. We started the 2-hour tour at the harbour, where we stared at some eel-like fish. Then we drove to Miyanohama Beach again, where 5 minibusses from other tour companies had already gathered at the parking lot. A long story in Japanese and a lot of anticipation followed (especially by me as I didn’t understand a word), but it turned out that we were to release baby green turtles into the sea! Staff from the Ogasawara Marine Center had brought boxes full of them and gave a box each to the tour leaders. It did feel a bit ambivalent though as green turtle features prominently on the menus of Ogasawara’s restaurants as sushi or in a stew. A licensed fishery is allowed to traditionally capture a limited number of green turtles yearly.  

This all took quite a bit of time, so I hoped it wouldn’t hinder my chances of seeing a Flying Fox. We drove to the south of the island (it’s so small that this takes about 15 minutes), stopping at a dark road lined with a series of Pandanus trees. This was the perfect place to look for a Bonin Flying Fox, as the fruits of this tree are its favourites. You could already tell by the mess on the ground that one had been active. It took a bit of searching by the guide (only red lens torches are used), but there it was: hanging upside down, with piercing eyes, and a frizzy hairstyle. Mission completed for me, and a slight revenge for the elusive Shiretoko Brown Bear. We finished the tour with a look at tiny fungi that glow in the dark.

On day two I took the local bus to the last stop, the “southernmost bus stop of Tokyo” (the whole of Ogasawara is a subprefecture of Tokyo). This area called after Kominato Beach is probably the best part of the island to explore on your own. It has a lovely sandy beach surrounded by cliffs showing displays of pillow lava rock created by underwater eruptions (see photo 1), there’s a river walk along the Yatsusegawa which is good for birds and generally scenic. And it’s the starting point for more strenuous hikes. You can walk along the mountain ridges to remote beaches 2 hours away. I only went to Nakajima Pass (20 minutes uphill), which was fully worth it for its stunning coastal views (see main site photo).

Back in the main village of Omura, there is a Visitor Center and a World Heritage Center. Here you can get a better understanding of the unique evolutionary processes that occurred in Ogasawara due to its isolation. It originated from a volcanic eruption, and every species now on it came flying or floating in from different regions. The centers also are probably the only place where you can see snails: the Nomination File is full of them, but in reality, they live mostly on the uninhabited islands and come out only in the wet season. Especially the evolutionary course of the Mandarina land snail is fascinating.

The main part of the national park on Chichi-jima consists of forested mountains. There is a mountain road, but it cannot be accessed by bus and hiking or biking it seems a stretch. Furthermore, several parts of the forest need an official guide to enter. So I chose to do a Forest Hiking Tour with a company called TAKE Nature Academy. As a group of 7, we went to visit 6 different habitats across the island and did a short walk at each of them. We ended up exactly where I had hoped to go. Highlights included Iwayama and Higashidaira Sanctuary. To both specific biosecurity rules apply: there’s a platform at the start of the trail where you have to scrub your shoes to get rid of seeds and spray the soles. There’s also a creative visitor counting system by placing coral rocks into a tube (photo 3).

Iwayama lies in the easternmost part of the island, the volcanic rock is exposed here and there are splendid views along the coast again. The Higashidaira Sanctuary, to protect the endemic Red-headed Wood Pigeon, immediately intrigued me when I saw it on a map during my preparations. This is firmly closed to outsiders, it is even fully fenced – not against tourists but because of feral cats, which have become the biggest threat to native birds. When walking it is common to see traps to catch them as well. I must say that the nature trail here was a bit of a letdown, although we saw some ‘new’ plant species. No bird in sight though!

I loved my stay in Ogasawara and would have happily extended it to 5 days if it were logistically possible – I didn’t do any water-based activities as these aren’t my favourites overall, but you can go whale watching or visit the uninhabited island of Minamijima where they have fossilized snails. Ogasawara combines the good parts of several other island WHS, such as the small-community vibe of Easter Island (the Farewell Ceremony at the ferry’s departure is so moving), the sweeping beaches of Fernando do Noronha, the steep forested slopes of Madeira and the high levels of endemism in plants and animals of the Galapagos Islands. There are lots of practical details to share as well of course as information on Ogasawara in English is scarce – I’ve gathered them all in this Forum post.

One of the things I like most about visiting WHS is that it opens up lesser-known regions even when the WHS itself isn’t too great. This is certainly the case for Sado Island, a lovely example of a slowish, rural Japan. Sado's size is fairly large, it even is the second largest island (after Okinawa) outside of the four main islands of Japan. Its other major tourist attraction in addition to the WH-listed Gold Mines is the Toki (Crested Ibis), which has been reintroduced here after it had become extinct in Japan.

I started my visit at the two mines of Sado Kinzan: Sohdayu (400 years old) and Dohyu (100 years old). The combined entrance fee is 1500 yen (9 EUR). You’re not forced on a guided tour here as is so common at other WH mines, dragging yourself behind a guide elaborating in Polish or Spanish. You just walk through the tunnels and see the exhibits at your own pace. The information is displayed in both Japanese and English. The OUV of the Sado mines lies in its Edo-period way of mining, but – as with Rosia Montana which is recognized for its Roman way of mining -  it is hard to ‘unsee’ the alterations and additions later mining generations made at the same spot. I also did not notice anything particularly Japanese about the methods used, although, at the end of the tour of the Sohdayu mine, a display shows that Shinto rituals were performed to celebrate the discovery of a new vein or to pray for the ore to become softer.

The iconic image of the Sado mines shows the Dohyu mountain split almost in two halves (see main site photo). This 30m wide crack already started to appear during the Edo period when they started open-cast mining from the top and went in deeper and deeper. As part of the exterior visiting route of the Dohyu mine, you can walk up to where the crack is (see photo below).

As part of the inscription of the Sado Gold Mines, Japan agreed to acknowledge the fate of the Korean labourers who were sent to work here during the Second World War. I didn’t see any of this displayed at the two mines that I visited, but if it is there it would be more appropriate to the mines from the Meiji era (such as the Kitazawa Flotation Plant, which lies a bit further downhill). A separate section at the Aikawa History Museum was also promised. 

What is acknowledged in the presentation of the Edo-era mines is the fate of the “unregistered” or “homeless” people who were sent to work here from 1789 onward. These were Japanese men down on their luck that were rounded off the streets of big cities such as Edo, Osaka and Nagasaki to do hard labour as drainage workers for 10 years in the mines on Sado Island. There’s also a memorial shrine to them along the road just south of the main mines. 

From Sado Kinzan, I walked down for 30 minutes to the town of Aikawa. This is a pleasant hike, with views of the bits and pieces of mining history scattered in the surrounding landscape. A major stop is the Sado Bugyosho: a reconstruction of the former Magistrate's Office (photo 3). The importance of the Edo-period Sado mines is partly derived from the many administrative records that have survived about its production and management. The Office comprises a vast complex, surrounded by a moat as all the precious gold was kept inside. At the exhibition in the Sohdayu mine, you can see a model of how it worked at the time, with offices, a mint and a smelting plant. Exhibits at the main office building are very sparse at the moment, or so understated that you must be Japanese to understand them. There is a bare room for example with only a sign ‘Oshirasu’ – later when I googled it, I saw that it means “Court of Law during the Edo period, in which the parties sat on white sand“. The second building that is open to the public has exhibits on the smelting process that was executed here.

Getting there on public transport

Although it’s not far from Tokyo, it’s a costly detour. A single train journey on the shinkansen from Tokyo to Niigata (2h) costs 68 EUR and the return jetfoil ticket to Sado Island from Niigata (1h) is over 80 EUR. Practically, you'd need to stay at least one night in Niigata. From Ryotsu port on Sado, bus #1 leaves about once an hour for the town of Aikawa. The schedule (which may change monthly) and routes can be found here. Some of those buses, including the 9.15 one that corresponds with the arrival of the 7.55 jetfoil from Niigata, continue directly to the Sado Gold Mines. Tickets can be purchased on the bus, using the old-school Japanese system paying the fare corresponding to a display above the driver, or you can get a one-day pass (1500 yen/9 EUR) at the Tourist Information Center at Ryotsu port. Catching the first jetfoil out and the last one back plus the bus inland, you will have about 5 hours in and around Aikawa and the Gold Mines, which is more than enough.