The new Netherlands tentative list is now on the Unesco website.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/nl

Bonaire Marine Park (2011)
Island of Saba (2011)
Eise Eisinga Planetarium (2011)
Koloniën van Weldadigheid (agricultural pauper colony) (2011)
Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie (2011)
Plantations in West Curaçao (2011)
Sanatorium Zonnestraal (2011)
Teylers (2011)
Van Nelle factory (2011)
Frontiers of the Roman Empire (extension) (2011)

Vietnam added two new sites to their tentative list.

Trang An Scenic Landscape Complex (2011)
Cat Ba Archipelago (2011)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/vn

I've visited all of them, all on European soil that is, over the past few months. I will add the reviews shortly.

It seems Bulgaria has resubmitted 4 of their tentative sites. All four sites were previously on their tentative list since 1984. Just updated on the UNESCO site.

Central Balkan National Park (10/10/2011)
Pobiti Kamani Natural Monument (10/10/2011)
Rocks of Belogradchik (10/10/2011)
Vratsa Karst Nature Reserve (10/10/2011)

France added a new natural tentative site.

Chaîne des Puys et faille de Limagne (17/11/2011)

And the first 3 for Trinidad and Tobago!

- Banwari Trace Archaeological Site (17/08/2011)
- La Brea Pitch Lake (17/08/2011)
- Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve (17/08/2011)

Anyone seen one of these?

Yes, I have been to the La Brea Pitch Lake in Trinidad.
The "interest" to the passing tourist really lies solely in just how "strange" it is. There are some other "Tar Pits" around the world, particulary "nearby" in Venezuela and in California. The one in Los Angeles (also called La Brea = Tar in Spanish) is well known for the fossils which have been found -it is a site of excavations for that purpose. I think some have been found in Trinidad too but the site is not well presented. There are the remains of some railways and equipment previously used in the industrial removal of pitch. I think this continues but I can't remember seeing any sign of much activity when we visited back in 1993 (!!). I don't know how UNESCO/IUCN would view continued extraction. I note that the new blurb on the UNESCO site for it speaks totally irrelevantly of its significance to indigenous peoples - it is, after all, being prepared solely as a Natural site! Another possible plus point for it (not mentioned on the UNESCO site) might be the discovery of microbial life in it .

Walking on most of it isn't much different from walking on a tarmac car park though there are some "sticky" areas. There is surface water in some areas and some of the photos show this as if it is the "shiny tar".

I have been to the La Brea Tar Pits in LA a couple times. While interesting, particularly for the incredible amount of fossils excavated, the site is fairly small and is not very impressive as a tourist site. However, its ecological importance is fairly strong.

The museum at the site (while a bit spendy) offers a good overview of the importance of the tar pits. You can walk around the small park and tar pits for free. The La Brea Tar Pits is right next door to the impressive Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

The site in Trinidad seems signifacantly different than the one in Los Angeles, despite the name. Nevertheless, an interesting nomination.

Two new additions

Seowon, Confucian Academies of Korea (12/09/2011) Korea, Republic of

Chaîne des Puys et faille de Limagne (17/11/2011) France

Two more:

- Ethiopia: Dirre Sheik Hussein Religious, Cultural and Historical Site
- Peru: Kuelap Archaeological Complex

Any thoughts on these two?
Coincidentally I read about Kuelap today. It is one of the stops on the trip along the Andes made by Michael Jacobs in his "Andes" (a pretty tiring book by the way, consisting for about 80% of quotes of other travellers as he "travels in the footsteps" of Bolivar, von Humboldt and many more)

At least it is remarkable that Peru shows some activity on the WHS front, I think it can get more sites in than it has now.

GUATEMALA T LIST
According to this report Guatemala has just developed a NEW T List of 17 sites.

http://www.plenglish.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=463306&Itemid=1

Interestingly it states that the previous T List of 18 sites was developed in 2001 (submitted 2002 according to UNESCO documents). The surprising aspect is that, as far as I can see, NOTHING has happened with any of them since that date -so Guatemala hardly needs to submit another list to replace the sites which have been inscribed (or rejected) in the subsequent 10 years! The fact that it has done so, presumably indicates that it is taking a hard look at what it has to offer and what can be learned from the experience of the last 10 years both inside Guatemala and what has been inscribed/rejected elsewhere.

The report doesn't identify all the 17 "new" T List sites but 5 are mentioned by name
a. "Kaminal Juyú, the Civic Center of this city" is new. It is a Mayan site "under" part of Guatemala city. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaminaljuyu
b. "Trifinio" is new. It is a biological reserve whose name arises from a shared frontier with parks in El Salvador and Honduras. At the moment Honduras has no T List and the El Salvador Park (Montecristo) isn't on its T List. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifinio_biosphere_reserve
c. "The Sierra de Las Minas Biosphere Reserves" is on the 2002 T List and was indeed deferred as long ago as 1993.
d. "The National Park Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo" is on the current T List as the "Cultural Triangle". See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Triangle_Yaxha-Nakum-Naranjo_National_Park
e. "The archaeological park Tak Alik" is on the current T List as part of a larger site titled "The Mayan - Olmecan Encounter". see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takalik_Abaj

So, if the new list has 1 fewer sites and there are at least 2 new ones, then some of the previous list must have been left off. It will be interesting to discover which. There were previously no fewer than 7 (SEVEN!) "Routes" - perhaps Guatemala has concentrated on fewer/better ones? The old T List also had 3 largely "ecclesiastical" sites including Franciscan and Dominican evangelisation - perhaps it has recognised that Mexico "got in" first and that this domain is rather over-represented now?

I hope this activity indicates that Guatemala is "getting its act together" on WHS matters. It is, in my opinion, considerably "under-represented" with only 3 sites but will have to "work hard" to differentiate itself. Still, if Nicaragua can get Leon Cathedral inscribed, then Guatemala must surely be able to increase its own tally!

Solivagant, have you heard anything about when the new UK T-List will be sent to Unesco? Or that it has already been sent but is still on a desk in Paris?

No news either way - but I suspect that it hasn't been sent.
Out of interest what was the elapsed time between The Netherlands announcing its new list and it appearing on the UNESCO Web site?

Announced November 2010, on the Unesco website September 2011.

So, around 10 months elapsed. The UK List was announced Mar 2011 - the fact that it isn't on the UNESCO Web site in Dec 2011 isn't "out of line" with the NL example.

It would be interesting to know where the delay occurs however - and why!!

One would think also that the UK must be making decisions about what its next nomination should be - and when. Perhaps it feels the need to publish that decision at the same time as sending the list to UNESCO? It has of course already clearly signalled that it will not necessarily be putting forward a site every year. It doesn't look as if anything is going to be put forward in Jan 2012 for consideration at the 2013 WHC but, if a site is to be put forward in Jan 2013 for the 2014 WHC, then work on its Nomination file should already be well advanced! Possibly Chatham could meet that requirement. The experience of Jarrow, however, is that Nomination files take an enormous amount of effort and elapsed time. There is of course the file for the Darwin nomination sitting, gathering dust........ but perhaps no one really wants to go down that road again!

So, it could be that UK will not have any new nomination ready before the 2015 WHC!!