Articles und photos featuring UNESCO listed world heritage sites, natural heritage sites as well as cultural landscapes

Viñales – Tobacco and Dripstone Caves

The Viñales Valley (Valle de Viñales) in the West of Cuba is one of the island’s key growing areas for tobacco, the Cuban export hit number one. Its scenery belongs to the UNESCO cultural landscapes of humanity as is shaped by the surrounding Sierra de los Órganos, a range of karst mountains.… Read More

La Habana – Old Lady of the Caribbean

In the course of the years colonial occupants as well as visitors gave the city of La Habana a couple of names. They called it “the dirty beauty” or “Paris of the Tropics” and also “The old Lady” is a common moniker for the capital of Cuba. With architectural highlights as well as lots of music, rum and cigars Vieja, the historic old town of Havana every day anew gives proof why it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site… Read More

Salt with Pepper – The underground Chapel of Wieliczka

The South Polish town of Wieliczka hosts a very special UNESCO World Heritage: one of the oldest salt mines on our planet hosting the world’s largest underground chapel. Being located approximately 100 metres below the surface, the chamber got carved into the rock salt under the village whose name literally means “Great Salt”.… Read More

Okavango Delta – The Course of River and Time

In March 2003 the city of Maun used to be a village, but now, 12 years later, it’s a town, even Botswana’s third largest town. Without interruption the sky above Okavango Delta, that locals refer to only as The Delta, gets cut by airplanes carrying hundreds of tourists that want to see what the Delta looks like from above.… Read More

World’s largest Curtain of Water – The Victoria Falls

While the whole world of social media laughed their asses off when Robert Mugabe fell – only a few people have a mere clue who that actually is and where Zimbabwe is located – I was on the ground to have a look at the mighty Victoria Falls of Zambezi River with my own eyes and not by the help of Google Earth & Co.… Read More

Fiji – Melting Pot of the South Seas

The Fiji archipelago is the perfect melting pot of the South Seas. In a very charming way its 332 small as well as big islands unite the culture of Melanesia and Polynesia plus the influences of British colonial times and the Indians being brought into the country back then by the Britons.… Read More

Avacha, Kamchatka’s Red Riding Hood

Avachinskaya Sopka – colloquially also known as Avachinsky or Avacha – is the backyard volcano of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the regional capital of Far East Russia’s volcano peninsula. It is a ~4000 years old Somma-type volcano, meaning it is growing and prospering inside the caldera of a historic fire mountain. The magma rising up inside the Avacha contains more iron ore than usual.… Read More

Mount Ruapehu – Above the Clouds of North New Zealand

Mount Ruapehu marks the southern end of the Taupo volcanic zone. Together with stunning Tongariro national park it stands for a region that shapes and defines the character of New Zealand’s north island. With an elevation of impressive 2797 metres it is also North New Zealand’s lighthouse, its highest spot; a place easily seen from the far away.… Read More

Tongariro – The Film Star among Volcanoes

The Tongariro Alpine Crossing is one of New Zealand’s most known hikes, a so called Great Walk and like the name already tells visitors can cross the massif of an active volcano. In particular movie fans will know about this place from the epic “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy as it is the place where finally gets rid of evil ring.… Read More