Georgia

Postcard of Tbilisi city centre, capital of Georgia, a country that shouldn't have been that hard to add into to collection – I've had Armenia and Azerbaijan for years – but has eluded me until now. Many thanks and მადლობა to friend Andy who was in Georgia on holiday. Card shows a part of the Tbilisi Historic District site on Georgia's Tentative List for World Heritage, and the undulating green Bridge of Peace that links the old and new parts of the city.

Stamp is from the 2012 Europa series promoting tourism and features the Gergeti Glacier on Mount Kazbek, one of the highest in the Caucasus Range.

Nicaragua II

Postcard of the Granada, one of the oldest cities founded by the Spanish in the New World and, ostensibly, the first European city founded on the American mainland. It was founded in 1524 and was one of Spain's major colonial cities in the region. It is on Nicaragua's Tentative List for World Heritage as a mixed site: City of Granada and its natural environment. Muchas gracia to friend Bobby for sending this card while on a Spanish language course.

I couldn't find any information about these stamps that say they were issued in 1994. They feature famous international football players.

Mauritius

Postcard from the archives of the "Seven Coloured Earths" in southwestern Mauritius, an unusual geological formation where layers of differently coloured sand dunes create the technicolor landscape seen here. Part of the Black River Gorges National Park site on Mauritius' Tentative List for World Heritage (I think; the UNESCO site listing is not entirely clear in this regard). 

Many thanks to my cousin Frank and wife Lily who sent this to me during their honeymoon.

Stamp from a 1997 set of four commemorating the 150th anniversary of the issue of the famous Mauritius "Post Office" stamps, considered among the rarest and most valuable stamps in the world. A cover of these two stamps sold for nearly four million dollars in 1993!

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. 

Burundi

Postcard showing a beach on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, in both cases, after only Lake Baikal in Siberia. The water flows into the Congo River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean, although it's thought that as recently as the region's exploration by Europeans in the 1850s, the lake did not have an outflow to the ocean at all, and may have, in the distant past, flown into the Nile instead.

Lake Tanganyika is on Burundi's Tentative List of World Heritage, although the lake also borders Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.

Many thanks to David, of Postcards A World Travelogue, for sending the card during his East African adventures.

Stamp is from a set of 4 issued in 2012 featuring royal drummers and dancers.

Bhutan

Woohoo! New country: Bhutan!

Rather spectacular card showing the Paro Taktsang Monastary, also known as the Tiger's Nest Monastary, a prominent Himalayan Buddhist sacred site and temple complex, located on a cliffside in the upper Paro valley, Bhutan. The temple complex was first built in 1692, on the site where a Buddhist sage is said to have meditated for three years, three months, three weeks, three days and three hours in the eighth century, and thus introduced Buddhism to Bhutan. Part of the "Sacred Sites associated with Phajo Drugom Zhigpo and his descendants" site on Bhutan's Tentative List for World Heritage.

Many thanks to friend Ed for helping me strike Bhutan from my list, after years and years of waiting for an opportunity to present itself!

Couldn't really find much info about this stamp commemorating, presumably, the years of the Chinese Zodiac, in this case "Male Water Dragon Year 2012".

Canada – Yukon II

Postcard shows a man panning for Klondike gold. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1898 was the last and most renowned of the world’s great nineteenth century gold rushes when upwards of 100,000 prospectors rushed to this inaccessible and very remote part of Canada. The rush was centred on Dawson City, which grew from a Native moose-hunting camp to a city of 40,000 people in the space of a few years. Plots of land cost millions of today's dollars, and one visitor likened the newly paved streets with their smartly dressed inhabitants to the Strand in London! Part of The Klondike site on Canada's Tentative World Heritage list.

Previously featured baby black bear stamp with a Dawson City postmark, though not the same one as on this card.

Guyana

WOOT! New country Guyana added to the collection. It's been quite some time since I've been able to cross a country from the Americas off my list, so quite enthusiastic to get one now. (Last one was Colombia back in 2011). Postcard is from the capital of Georgetown and shows Saint George's Anglican Cathedral on Guyana's tentative World Heritage List. It was built in 1889–1894 and, measuring 43.5 metres, is one of the world's tallest wooden buildings.

Stamp from a 1997 set of 24 commemorating George Washington on the 200th anniversary of his death. Stamp seems to depict George and the Founding Fathers, maybe signing the Declaration of Independence. 

Czechoslovakia II

A postcard from my archives of the Czechoslovakian spa resort of Mariánské Lázně in eastern, modern-day Czech Republic. The spa was popular with the nobility of Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century, when many celebrities and top European rulers came to enjoy the curative carbon dioxide springs and features a wealth of fine architecture from the period. The spas hosted the likes of Goethe, Frédéric Chopin, Thomas Edison, Richard Wagner, King Edward VII of England, Russian Czar Nicholas II, and Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph I, and many others. On the Czech Republic UNESCO Tentative List as a part of the West Bohemian Spa Triangle.

Groovy stamp from 1987 about atomic energy.

Italy

Cannobio is an Italian town on the shores of Lake Maggiore. The area has been settled from as far back as the Roman times. The town's fortunes have waxed and waned over the centuries and have been particularly prosperous during times of smuggling from across the border in nearby Switzerland. Part of the Lake Maggiore and Lake D'Orta Lakelands site on Italy's tentative World Heritage list.

A rather utilitarian and uninspiring Italian postal label.

Benin

Postcard of Ganvié village in southern Benin. The village is built on stilts over Lake Nokoué and was originally built this way because the religion of slave-traders in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries forbade their warriors from entering the water, thereby making the lagoon safe territory for other tribes. It is the largest stilt village in Africa and is on Benin's Tentative List for World Heritage.

Stamps featuring the white-throated guenon, Cercopithecus erythrogaster, an endangered primate that lives in rainforests and tropical areas of Benin and Nigeria.

Romania II

Sibiu is one of the most important cultural centres of Romania and, in tandem with Luxembourg, it was designated a European Capital of Culture for the year 2007. Formerly the capital of Transylvania, the old city of Sibiu was ranked as "Europe's eighth most idyllic place to live" by Forbes Magazine. Piaţa Mare is the city's central square. On Romania's Tentative List for World Heritage status as "The Historic Centre of Sibiu and its Ensemble of Squares".

Stamp from a 2009 set of six commemorating early electric trams. Seen here is the inauguration of Vienna's  electric tram line in 1897.

Russian Federation II

Postcard showing Mamaev Kurgan in Volgograd, a memorial complex commemorating the Battle of Stalingrad (Volgograd's Soviet-era name), a decisive but terribly bloody Soviet victory over the Axis powers in 1942-1943. With some sources putting the number of casualties as high as two million, it was one of the most lethal battles ever. On Russia's tentative list for world heritage.

Self-adhesive stamp of one of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic mascots, the hare. The two other mascots are strange choices: the polar bear, whose range is several thousand kilometres away from Sochi, on the shores of the Arctic Ocean, and the leopard, which was extirpated from Russia in the 1960s. Maybe hares are common enough around Sochi to make up for the lack of the other two?

Nicaragua

I was very excited when a coworker friend announced he was going home to Nicaragua on holiday, as it's been a hard country to crack for my collection. Unfortunately, the postcards were sent in an envelope, so my search for a stamped card sent from Nicaragua continues, but certainly very sincere thanks to Carlos for taking time out of his holiday to track down some postcards for me.

The first card shows the crater of Masaya Volcano, an active volcano not far from the nation's capital, Managua. It was added to the World Heritage Tentative List in 1995 as the Volcán Masaya National Park.

Multiview card of Granada, founded in 1524, ostensibly making it the first European city in mainland America. Built on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, the "City of Granada and its natural environment" was added to the World Heritage Tentative List in 2003 because of its rich colonial heritage and the exceptional natural heritage of the lake.

Card shows the Park entrance, the Cathedral and Independence Square, mango-pickers in the park, and some of the Islets of Granada, an archipelago in the lake formed when a nearby volcano erupted 20,000 years ago.

Multiview showing a scarlet macaw, the Presidential Palace, the Islets of Granada, and another shot of the crater of Masaya Volcano.

Guatemala

Lago de Atitlán
Lake Atitlán is a large lake in the Guatamalan Highlands surrounded by three volcanos. Mayan culture and traditional dress are still largely prevalant in the villages and towns which surround the lake. The region is on the Tentative World Heritage List.
















Stamp shows a top from a 2009 series on traditional games.

Tentative List

Having worked as a translator at UNESCO for a number of years, the World Heritage Programme has a extra-special place in my heart. The nomination process is long and very involved, so special props to all the sites on the Tentative List. Hopefully, with some gumption and a bit of perseverance, they will all find their place on the World Heritage List one day!

The following Tentative List sites are in my collection. Only about 1500 or so more cards needed to complete the set! :-P

Benin
Lake Village of Ganvié

Burundi
Lake Tanganyika

Bhutan
Sacred Sites associated with Phajo Drugom Zhigpo and his descendants

Canada
The Klondike

Czech Republic
The West Bohemian Spa Triangle

Guatemala
Protected area of Lake Atitlán: multiple use

Guyana
Saint George's Anglican Cathedral

Iraq
Erbil Citadel [inscribed as WHS in 2014]

Italy
Lake Maggiore and Lake D'Orta Lakelands

Mauritius
Black River Gorges National Park

Nicaragua
Volcán Masaya National Park
City of Granada and its natural environment

Romania
The Historic Centre of Sibiu and its Ensemble of Squares

Russian Federation
Mamayev Kurgan Memorial Complex "To the Heroes of the Battle of Stalingrad"

United Kingdom
Turks and Caicos Islands