Ammon Watkins

Canada \ Member since November 2018

#52 529 215 25

Air traffic controller from Canada. Spent the better part of my 20's traveling around the world after finishing my bachelor degree. Made a friend on the road that suggested I look into the WH list if I didnt know what to visit somewhere. Excellent advice! Unfortunately got into the WHS thing a little too late to maximize my potential visits. I wont make that mistake again! Now my goal is to visit every country and as many WHS as i reasonably can and I'm rarely disappointed.

My travel experience is varied but has mostly ranged in the budget to extreme budget category which has made things very interesting at times. With a limited time and budget and to balance other interests I am more prone to skipping out on the less known natural WHS. 

I still try to take holidays and visit new sites a few times a year, with an itinerary and prioritization that befuddles all, including the mrs. 

Fun trivia: I proposed to my wife in the Rock Islands WHS in Palau. I married her in the Waterton/Glacier NP WHS in Canada :)

My most impressive site: So many to choose

Recent Visits
  • 3
    0
    May 12, 2025
    Kernavė, Modernist Kaunas, Struve Geodetic Arc
  • 3
    0
    May 11, 2025
    Białowieża Forest, Mir Castle, Nesvizh
  • 2
    0
    May 6, 2025
    Leptis Magna, Sabratha
Top 10 Missing
  1. Rapa Nui 4.62
  2. Serengeti 4.41
  3. Uluru 4.39
  4. Ngorongoro 4.36
  5. Meteora 4.32
  6. Volcanoes of Kamchatka 4.31
  7. Teotihuacan 4.29
  8. Yosemite National Park 4.29
  9. Great Barrier Reef 4.19
  10. Te Wahipounamu 4.16
Completed Countries

About Ammon Watkins

Member since
November 2018
Country of Origin
Canada
Visits
Rank
#52
WHS
529
Tentative Sites
215
Website Participation
Reviews
64
Ratings

Ratings

World Heritage Sites
Tentative Sites
190 24
Locations
0
Zones
0
Reserved for members.

Reviews by Ammon Watkins

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Zabid by Ammon Watkins

Zabid (Inscribed)

Zabid

I managed to get to Zabid in March 2007, just before UNESCO gave it a "last chance" to fix itself up. It was in a terrible state of decay but …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 04/12/19
The Historic City of Thula by Ammon Watkins

The Historic City of Thula (On tentative list)

The Historic City of Thula

Unintentional visit Feb 2007. I hadn't set out to specifically visit Thula but while at the rock palace of Wadi Dhahr I was offered a ride with an American woman …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 03/12/19
Maaloula by Ammon Watkins

Maaloula (On tentative list)

Maaloula

Visited Feb 2007. Maaloula is less than an hour by minibus from Damascus but I made an overnight trip of it, staying overnight with the nuns in the Convent of …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 02/12/19
Cretaceous Dinosaur Fossil Site Bayanzag

Cretaceous Dinosaur Fossil Si… (On tentative list)

Cretaceous Dinosaur Fossil Sites in Mongolian Gobi

On an 8-day road trip to the Gobi desert in the summer of 2005 we also visited Bayanzag which do indeed look and feel like flaming cliffs when you are …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 31/10/19
Amarbayasgalant Monastery

Amarbayasgalant monastery (On tentative list)

Amarbayasgalant monastery

I was able to visit this monastery in the summer of 2005 during a jeep tour to Khovsgol Lake. It is a rather small and out of the way monastic …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 30/10/19
Uxmal by Ammon Watkins

Uxmal (Inscribed)

Uxmal

We visited as a day trip from Merida in August 2019. Having come from the southern Mayan sites of Palenque and Calakmul it is hard to believe this is still …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 28/09/19
Campeche by Ammon Watkins

Campeche (Inscribed)

Campeche

As a quick stopover between other destinations in the Yucatan, Campeche feels like a quiet, safe provincial city but as a WHS destination, Campeche is relatively uninspiring. As previously mentioned, …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 27/09/19
Calakmul by Ammon Watkins

Calakmul (Inscribed)

Calakmul

For such a remote site, Calakmul was surprisingly easy to get to. I had considered leaving it off our itinerary at one point thinking that it would be too time …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 26/09/19
Palenque by Ammon Watkins

Palenque (Inscribed)

Palenque

Maybe it was the perfect weather or the howler monkeys or the thousands of butterflies, but Palenque ended up unexpectedly being our favourite Mayan site on this trip and second …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 12/09/19
Antigua Guatemala by Ammon Watkins

Antigua Guatemala (Inscribed)

Antigua Guatemala

Compared to other colonial towns in Central America (and quite possibly the whole new world) Antigua has no equal. We arrived at night and the first impression was of how …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 11/09/19
Copán by Ammon Watkins

Copán (Inscribed)

Copán

Honduras has a reputation that is enough to scare off most visitors from making a lengthy visit. Fortunately Copan Ruinas is very close to the Guatemalan border and is easily …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 10/09/19
Chalchuapa by Ammon Watkins

Chalchuapa (On tentative list)

Chalchuapa

We visited part of this TWHS in the afternoon after visiting Joya de Ceren before returning back to Santa Ana. There are 3 separate zones in town of differing historical …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 04/09/19
Joya de Ceren by Ammon Watkins

Joya de Ceren (Inscribed)

Joya de Ceren

After some problems and delays in Nicaragua we found ourselves having to scale back our plans through El Salvador. Fortunately there is only one WHS to visit and it remained …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 03/09/19
City of Granada and its natural environment by Ammon Watkins

City of Granada and its natur… (On tentative list)

City of Granada and its natural environment

We got delayed in Nicaragua a little longer than planned so spent about a week in Granada. It is by far the most touristic and popular town in the country …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 10/08/19
Panamá by Ammon Watkins

The Colonial Transisthmian Ro… (Inscribed)

The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá

Of the 2 parts of this WHS I enjoyed the ruins of Panama Viejo more than the neighbourhood of Casco Viejo. We easily covered both sites in a day. The …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 01/08/19
Portobelo-San Lorenzo by Ammon Watkins

Portobelo-San Lorenzo (Inscribed)

Portobelo-San Lorenzo

We visited Portobelo July 2019 as an easy day trip from Panama City on public transit. There is actually very little to add to the previous reviews as it is …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 31/07/19
Cartagena by Ammon Watkins

Cartagena (Inscribed)

Cartagena

After reading many travel reviews on Cartagena suggesting that less time is better (cost, crowds and hassle were frequently mentioned) we only gave ourselves one full day to see the …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 21/07/19
Santa Cruz de Mompox by Ammon Watkins

Santa Cruz de Mompox (Inscribed)

Santa Cruz de Mompox

Although Mompox was an important and prosperous port upriver from Cartagena, it was never very large. It hasn't really grown and has a very relaxed and lethargic atmosphere. It's no …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 13/07/19
Lower Basin of the Chicamocha River by Ammon Watkins

Lower Basin of the Chicamocha… (Removed from tentat…)

Lower Basin of the Chicamocha River

Continuing north, it took us half a day to get to San Gil from Villa de Leyva. San Gil, is the most touristic town in the area and makes the …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 12/07/19
South of Ricaurte Province by Ammon Watkins

South of Ricaurte Province (On tentative list)

South of Ricaurte Province

A pretty broad name but perhaps the only one that makes sense for a TWHS whose only real unifying feature is the location. Reading up on the description it sounds …

Keep reading Ammon Wat… 11/07/19
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