Solivagant

United Kingdom \ Member since December 2005

#8 854 374 59

I am now retired but have been "travelling" for a "hobby" since I was 15 (1957!) whilst pursuing otherwise normal mundane career and "home" things in UK - thus being limited by "annual leave" allowances. During that time I have visited 164 "independent countries" - defined by me as the 193 full UN members plus (somewhat illogically, but they are generally accepted as "sovereign") Taiwan and Holy See (but am not pursuing "193"!). Unfortunately quite a few relatively easily accessible current WHS got "missed" along the way. If only I had known they would get chosen - they are not all obvious choices! Despite the weaknesses in the list and the politics involved in the selection and voting mechanism they provide a quick means of grasping the highlights of many countries and sometimes lead down interesting knowledge and research "avenues" which would otherwise have remain unexplored. 
Proposal for a new WHS:- Roca Agostino Neto Cocoa Plantation Sao Tome.
There are just too many European WHS relative to the rest. Little Sao Tome became the world's greatest producer of cocoa under the Portuguese. So poor were the social conditions that Cadbury boycotted Cocoa from there in early 20C. At Roca Agostinho (and other crumbling colonial sites on Sao Tome) you might just get a feeling for the economic system which created it and "fed" Europe with a raw material so often taken for granted - a really atmospheric place. But it isn't even on the "Tentative list"!

My most impressive site: Machu Picchu. I would like to choose somewhere

My proposal for a new site: See under

Recent Visits
  • 11
    0
    July 28, 2024
    Beijing Central Axis, Funerary and memory sites of the First World War, Gedi , Hegmataneh, …
  • 0
    44
    Jan. 1, 2024
    Visit nominated site: 17th Century Port Royal, Aalto Works, Alamüt Castle ...
  • 0
    4
    Jan. 1, 2020
    City Walls of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Dunhuang Yardangs, The Lijiang River Scenic Zone …

About Solivagant

Member since
December 2005
Country of Origin
United Kingdom
Visits
Rank
#8
WHS
854
Tentative Sites
374
Website Participation
Reviews
444
Ratings

Ratings

World Heritage Sites
855 0
Photos
N/A
Locations
N/A
Zones
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Reserved for members.

Reviews by Solivagant

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Civil Rights Movement Sites by Solivagant

Civil Rights Movement Sites (Nominated)

Civil Rights Movement Sites

The announcement  that the Lincoln Memorial is to be added to the Civil Rights Movement T List entry has prompted me to post a review of my first visit to …

Giant's Causeway by Solivagant

Giant's Causeway (Inscribed)

Giant's Causeway

In May 2024 we revisited the Giants Causeway (GC) for the first time in many years. There is a confusing range of logistical/cost options/issues for a visit and, since 6 …

Frontiers of the Roman Empire by Solivagant

Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Inscribed)

Frontiers of the Roman Empire

If you zoom in on the Map of Hadrian’s Wall on this Web site above you will note, on the far right, separated from the closely spaced locations along the …

Tombs of Buganda Kings by Solivagant

Tombs of Buganda Kings (Inscribed)

Tombs of Buganda Kings

I provide a photo of our visit to the Kasubi tombs taken in 2005 (I.e before the great fire of March 2010) to “support” my “right” to review it! I …

Maasai Mara Game Reserve by Solivagant

Maasai Mara Game Reserve (On tentative list)

Maasai Mara Game Reserve

Wildebeest crossing the Mara River...... Undoubtedly one of the great “mass gathering” wild-life “experiences” of the World, up there with e.g the butterflies of Mexico and the penguins of S …

Central Karakorum National Park by Solivagant

Central Karakorum National Pa… (On tentative list)

Central Karakorum National Park

I commence this “review” of the "Central Karakorum National Park" (CKKNP) by stating that I am somewhat shame-faced to proffer a report of such a “puny” visit to …

Brú na Bóinne by Solivagant

Brú na Bóinne (Inscribed)

Brú na Bóinne

We visited Brú na Bóinne in June 2022 but didn’t post a review as there are plenty already. However, I now note that no one has yet described the Mound …

Patzcuaro by Solivagant

Patzcuaro (Part of Nomination)

Patzcuaro

Our visit to Patzcuaro was somewhat fortuitous. It was early in our 2008 trip driving round Central Mexico picking up as many inscribed and T List sites as we could …

The Historical-Cultural Axis of Fin, Sialk, Kashan by Solivagant

The Historical-Cultural Axis … (On tentative list)

The Historical-Cultural Axis of Fin, Sialk, Kashan

Kashan is a city you may well speed by on the 450km highway between Tehran and Isfahan (or vv in our case in 2017). You might stop briefly to see …

Transatlantic Cable Ensemble  by Solivagant

Transatlantic Cable Ensemble (Part of Nomination)

Transatlantic Cable Ensemble

In readiness for its likely addition to Ireland’s T List, we paid a visit to the Transatlantic Cable Station on Valentia Island in June 2022. A simple review of the …

The Passage Tomb Landscape of County Sligo by Solivagant

The Passage Tomb Landscape of… (On tentative list)

The Passage Tomb Landscape of County Sligo

During a comprehensive tour around Ireland in June 2022 we gathered that the Eire T List review process might well result in the “Passage Tomb landscape of Co Sligo

Historic Monument of Kangavar by Solivagant

Historic Monument of Kangavar (On tentative list)

Historic Monument of Kangavar

If you visit the WHS of Bisotun then you are likely to pass Kangavar 60 kms earlier on the road from Tehran/Hamadan. The site is an open untidy, scrubby area …

Hegmataneh by Solivagant

Hegmataneh (Inscribed)

Hegmataneh

This site’s current UNESCO T List description confidently asserts that “Hegmataneh is universally well known because Median Dynasty was established over there” (sic) and adds, for good measure; …

Bastam and Kharghan by Solivagant

Bastam and Kharghan (On tentative list)

Bastam and Kharghan

So here we have yet another, currently un-reviewed, Iranian T list entry situated, like “The Historical Texture of Damghan”, just off Highway 44 in NE Iran, well away …

The Historical Texture of Damghan by Solivagant

The Historical Texture of Dam… (On tentative list)

The Historical Texture of Damghan

Damghan is one of those places you might find yourself passing round on its by-pass without realising that it contains a relatively minor TWHS which justifies a quick diversion off …

Srirangapatna by Solivagant

Srirangapatna (On tentative list)

Srirangapatna

Srirangapatna is a medium-sized town (c150k population in 2011) situated around 30 minutes north of Mysore by road and is eminently suitable for an afternoon excursion from that city – …

Sun Temple, Modhera by Solivagant

Sun Temple, Modhera (On tentative list)

Sun Temple, Modhera

Does the addition of the “Modhera Sun Temple” to its T List in Dec 22 represent a “return” by India to its many uninscribed "classical" religious/archaeological sites whose “aspiring World …

Upper Sepik River Basin by Solivagant

Upper Sepik River Basin (On tentative list)

Upper Sepik River Basin

As is often the case, the extent and possible boundaries of this T List site are not at all clear. Although the title refers to the “Upper Sepik”, …

Sites marquants de la Route de l’Esclave au Bénin by Solivagant

Sites marquants de la Route d… (On tentative list)

Sites marquants de la Route de l’Esclave au Bénin

Back in 2008 we gave a pretty thorough visit (including walking the entire "route") to the T List site which was then called “La ville d'Ouidah : quartiers anciens et …

Bhedaghat-Lametaghat by Solivagant

Bhedaghat-Lametaghat (On tentative list)

Bhedaghat-Lametaghat

Bhedaghat-Lametaghat - more widely known, certainly outside India (and I suspect inside too), as “Marble Rocks” is one of those places which have rather more “resonance” nationally than to non-nationals. …

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