Geen wandelaars op Mount Fuji in Japan dit jaar

Mount Fuji, de bekendste vulkaan van Japan (3.776 meter), wordt deze zomer gesloten voor wandelaars om de verspreiding van het nieuwe coronavirus te voorkomen. "De paden gaan normaal in de zomer open, maar dit jaar houden we ze gesloten van 10 juli tot 10 september", wat overeenkomt met het seizoen voor de beklimming van de Fujiberg, zei een ambtenaar van de prefectuur Shizuoka.

Het is voor het eerst dat de toegangspaden tot de beroemde vulkaan worden gesloten, sinds de prefectuur het beheer overnam in 1960.

Mount Fuji staat op de Werelderfgoedlijst van Unesco en ligt honderd kilometer ten zuidwesten van Tokio. Vorig jaar verwelkomde de berg volgens de officiële website ongeveer 236.000 klimmers.

Sourcre: vrtnws.be

Mount Fuji will be closed this summer for people wanting to walk up the mountain. This is the first time the paths will be kept closed since 1960, when the management was taken over by the prefecture.

Religious sites in Russia and Ukraine hit hard by coronavirus thanks to pilgrims and poor social distancing

Many Unesco World Heritage sites that are also working monasteries have been accused of reacting slowly to the pandemic

https://www.theartnewspaper.com/news/religious-unesco-world-heritage-sites-in-russia-and-ukraine-hit-hard-by-coronavirus

Hello all,
I'm new here though know and use this website for a fairly long time.
I just came back from 17 days in Croatia and of course also visited a few enlisted and tentative sites. I went there with the idea of leaving again should it be too crowded. All of which were completely deserted, though. Sibenik and Trogir felt like I had those towns all to myself, which was amazing for taking photos. Zadar was a bit more crowded, but still lots of of space. The same with Split. Off to isolate for 10 days now.

Welcome, Rodinia! Did you go to the Plitvice Lakes as well? They'd look awesome without the crowds.

Thanks a lot Els. No, I didn't. It was just a bit too far from where I stayed. I was in Krka NP. Again very empty. I did see some not so clever people, packed tightly on an excursion boat (I'd rented my own wee boat) and squeezing into cafes in Omis after some action sports tours. I decided to leave after climbing up to the fortress way above town.

Hard to imaging Dubrovnik without cruise ships, no film shoots, no mass tourism...

Dubrovnik was a bit too far away for me (I stayed between Zadar and Trogir), but it probably is a really fantastic place without all the masses of tourists. I'd originally planned to vacation in Montenegro and visit Dubrovnic and Mostar from there. Another time.

Seeing the world is closing down again ... Still have 17 unused vacation days and don't see any options. Are there any non European places that will take European travellers in?

If you are willing to follow many Scandinavians who are OK to pay 14 days quarantine hotel bill and expensive air ticket in November, THAILAND. :D

There are some. Looking at your missing map the best seem to be Mexico, Brazil or Tanzania. I myself plan to visit Brazil in November.

Brazil is a hot spot. Headaches I would have after returning to Europe aren't worth it.

What headaches? Am I not correct that in Germany you have a test at the arrival airport and if it is negative, no quarantine needed?

I had to abandon all of my plans to continue east (from Istanbul) after being denied boarding at the airport twice in Aug/Sept (to St. Petersburg and Tashkent). Both destinations had restarted some international flights weeks before and statements on the Web indicated that anyone could take the flights (with testing/quarantine upon arrival). Don't trust anything you read these days! Only citizens of countries involved could board.

I ended up going to West Africa, instead, much of which is open to anyone, with theses policies:

Benin
- no test before departure from home required
- PCR Test given at airport upon arrival, $US 92, results in 72 hours. Testing center at airport was surprisingly well-organized and efficient, picking up results--not so much, and online status of results not really working.
- no quarantine, but you are supposed to wait around until (negative) results are back, however, in reality you could move around a little if desired.
- Everything is open, masks are being worn, and lots of fairly pointless hand-washing stations.
- A second PCR test required 72 hours before departure, same cost, but slower at test center in the capital.

Land borders throughout the region are all closed, I had to take an 18-minute flight to get to Togo (!!!!), surprisingly costly.

Togo:

- PCR test required before (72 hrs) boarding flight to Togo, exit test I took in Benin was acceptable.
- PCR test given upon arrival $US 70, results in 24 hours, test center efficient, results e-mailed on schedule
- no quarantine, but you are required to use a mobile tracking app at all times while in the country. I was able to use a workaround to get that working, even though my tablet doesn't have cellular capabilities. However, I needed to do a factory reset yesterday, and haven't been able to reinitialize the app--hope that doesn't lead to problems later...
- Everything is open, same as Benin
- Another PCR test required before departure.

Ghana:

- Process sounds similar, but I haven't gotten there yet, so I don't know all the details yet.
- Land borders closed, so another short flight will be needed.
- I didn't think I would be able to go to Ghana, because all information on the Web states that you are still required to apply for a Visa in your home country. However, the Ghana Embassy in Lomé assured me that they are now doing visa-on-arrival at the airport in Accra. I hope that's correct!

So, not a great number of WHSs to be seen in this region, but it's nice to be somewhere different for a while.

I hope that I will be able to get to a few more African countries by the end of the year, which seems like it should be possible unless the policies change again.

Not if you are coming from a hotspot e.g. Brazil

Risk area (and there are plenty) means 14 day stay at home. You get a test after 5 days and may be able to terminate this early if it's negative.

In any case, if I travel to a risk area I am loads of other problems work etc. so I would rather not.