New World Heritage sites 2014

As this year's World Heritage Committee meeting wraps up in Doha, Qatar, a big congratulations to the 26 new sites and four extensions that were inscribed on the World Heritage list, bringing the total number of Sites to 1007, in 161 countries. The 1000th site is the Okavango Delta in Botswana, and special congratulations to Burma for adding its first site to the list, Pyu Ancient Cities.

This is also the first time a Tentative List site featured on my blog has become a full-fledged site. Special congratulations to Erbil Citadel on its graduation.

There was quite a bit of controversy at this Committee meeting as well. Australia's idiot prime minister, Tony Abbot, wanted to delist a large section the Tasmanian Wilderness site (which had, in fact, been added to the List only the year prior), stating that Australia had "too much locked-up forest". The Committee took just seven minutes to consider the delisting bid, which member nation Portugal called "feeble", before rejecting it out of hand. There was also some consternation about the appropriateness of considering a bid from the United States, given the fact the USA has not paid their UNESCO dues for several years now. The Native American Poverty Point site in Louisiana was nevertheless inscribed in the list.

More information all all the new sites from UNESCO's site here.

Bolgar Historical and Archaeological Complex (Russian Federation)
Bursa and Cumalıkızık: the Birth of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey)
Carolingian Westwork and Civitas Corvey (Germany)
Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands as a Microcosm of the Land of the Caves (Israel)
Decorated cave of Pont d’Arc, known as Grotte Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, Ardèche (France)
Erbil Citadel (Iraq)
Great Himalayan National Park (India)
Historic Jeddah, the Gate to Makkah (Saudi Arabia)
Monumental Earthworks of Poverty Point (United States of America)
Mount Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary (Philippines)
Namhansanseong (South Korea)
Okavango Delta (Botswana)
Palestine: Land of Olives and Vines – Cultural Landscape of Southern Jerusalem, Battir (Palestine)
Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape (Turkey)
Precolumbian chiefdom settlements with stone spheres of the Diquís (Costa Rica)
Pyu Ancient Cities (Burma)
Qhapaq Ñan, Andean Road System (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru)
Rani-ki-Vav (the Queen’s Stepwell) at Patan, Gujarat (India)
Shahr-I Sokhta (Iran)
Silk Roads: the Routes Network of Chang'an-Tianshan Corridor (Kyrgyzstan, China and Kazakhstan)
Stevns Klint (Denmark)
The Grand Canal (China)
The Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato (Italy)
Tomioka Silk Mill and Related Sites (Japan)
Trang An Landscape Complex (Viet Nam)
Van Nellefabriek (Netherlands)

French Polynesia

Postcard from the idyllic island of Bora Bora in French Polynesia. I've been mesmerised by the allure of French Polynesia for a long time, since elementary school, in fact, when we were given a project about French-speaking countries and I was assigned this faraway paradise of turquoise lagoons and swaying palm trees. I've been hooked ever since! A the card from French Polynesia, however, eluded me for a very long time. It's a very long way from anything, and not many people make it there. I was over the moon when Couchsurfing friends Sacha and Denis requested to stay with me. It was great to talk to them about my ongoing fascination with their homeland, and to politely beg them to send a card for my collection on their return. They very kindly obliged, and a big merci and māuruuru roa to them for this new country to my collection.

Stamp from a yearly series for Chinese New Year, featured here 2013 Year of the Water Snake. Snake is most closely associated with education and research, making 2013 a very special year for scientists and scholars.

Cambodia II

Super cute postcard of kid riding a water buffalo through Cambodia rice paddies. Nice to see a postcard from Cambodia that's not of Angkor Wat for once. – Not that I have anything against Angkor Wat; it's amazing. But it's always nice to see a non-picture-postcard, non-tourist-site side to a country.

A couple of older stamps on this card. On the left, stamp from 1999 set of seven on birds, featuring the European greenfinch, Carduelis chloris. Two stamps on right from 1997 set of four on the Asian elephant, Elephas maximus.

Nigeria

Postcard of the Durbar Festival, an event celebrated in various Nigerian cities to mark the end of Muslim Eid holidays. It begins with prayers, followed by a horseback parade of local leaders and their entourage, accompanied by musicians, and ending at the leader's palace.

Many thanks to friend Oliver, who was in Nigeria for a friend's wedding, for adding this tough country to the collection.

Stamp showing the Argungu Fishing Festival, a yearly fishing tournament that takes place in northwestern Nigeria. The festival began in 1934, to mark of the end of centuries of hostility between two local rulers. Competitors are only allowed to use traditional fishing tools and many prefer to catch fish entirely by hand to demonstrate their prowess. Nigeria released another stamp on the same subject in 1973.

Turks and Caicos Islands

Postcard of a beach on Providenciales, the most populated island in the British territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands, though not the capital, which is diminutive Cockburn Town with just 8,000 residents. The beaches in the Turks and Caicos are regularly voted among the best in the world, and are a popular winter holiday destination for North Americans. Turks and Caicos are also notable in that there has been, over the years, discussions of the territory becoming a part of Canada. When Britain began decolonising the Caribbean, the locals were not in favour of joining an independent Bahamas, which had been Britain's original intention. The islands not feeling they could become independent themselves, idea was therefore floated of giving them to Canada. The Canadian government was not interested in becoming a new colonial power, but the idea still pops up in the media from time to time. – No doubt the notion of owning a slice of palm tree paradise appeals to many in the Great White North!

The island group is on Britain's Tentative List for World Heritage. Many thanks to friend Scott who fled the Canadian cold for the turquoise shores of T&C!

Stamp shows Astraea brevispina, a species of sea snail found in the Caribbean, from a 2007 set of 15 featuring shells and sea snails. 

Belarus

Postcard showing Grodno Regional Drama Theatre in Grodno (Гродна), a historic city in eastern Belarus not far from the borders of Poland and Lithuania.

Permanent rate definitive stamp featuring traditional Belarusian textile designs from a set of two issued in 2012.

Uganda II

Postcard showing mountain gorillas, Gorilla beringei beringei, a critically endangered subspecies of the eastern gorilla, with populations estimated to be less than 900 individuals. There are two separate populations in Uganda, with both are under threat from habitat loss and human encroachment.

Many thanks to fellow postcard blogger David, of Postcards A World Travelogue for sending this to me during his East African holiday.

Stamp on the left features the shining-blue kingfisher, Alcedo quadribrachys, a common bird in sub-Saharan Africa. The two triangular stamps on the right are from a set of four commemorating 100 yeas of Sikh presence in Uganda. A bit of a strange stamp coming from Uganda, where dictator Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of entire Ugandan-Indian community in 1972. Perhaps trying to make amends?

Kenya

Multiview postcard showing  various animals common to the Kenyan savanna. Many thanks to fellow postcard blogger David, of Postcards A World Travelogue for sending this to me during his East African holiday.

Stamps from a set of 100 (!!) commemorating Kenya's independence from the United Kingdom in 1963. Stamp on the left features the current President and Deputy President. President Kenyatta is actually being indited for crimes against humanity by in International Criminal Court in the Hague for his alleged role in post-election violence in 2007 where over 1000 people are estimated to have been killed. – Maybe not the best person to put on a stamp, if you ask me. Stamp on the right features a rather less controversial pair, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip in 1953.

Chile

Multiview card of Chile showing famous sites from around the country. Until now, I'd say that Chile had been the "easiest" country on my Remaining Countries list. I guess that mantle now passes to Panama, or perhaps a Caribbean island frequented by North Americans for winter holidays, such as Aruba or Antigua.

Many thanks to friend Rubén, who was visiting friends in Chile.

Stamp on the left featuring a nativity scene, a Christmas issue from 1995. Stamp on the right from a 2013 set of six commemorating the third anniversary of the rescue of trapped miners in the San José mine in northern Chile.

Rwanda

Postcard of a waterbuck, Kobus ellipsiprymnus, a large antelope found throughout sub-Saharan Africa in Akagera National Park in eastern Rwanda. A substantial area of the park was settled in the late 1990s by former refugees returning after the end of the Rwandan Civil War. Due to land shortages, in 1997 the western boundary was moved and much of the land allocated as farms to returning refugees. The park was reduced in size from over 2,500 km² to its current size to 1,200 km². In 2009, the Rwanda Development Board entered into joint management arrangement of the park and will spend US$10 million to rehabilitate the park, including a planned reintroduction of lions and black rhinos.

Many thanks to David, of Postcards A World Travelogue, for taking time out of his East African adventures to post this card.

A 2010 stamp from a set of 5 featuring paintings.