The good people over at UNESCO have been like the modern-day equivalent of the Knights Templar: a protective order with a sacred duty. Bound to safeguard the natural and architectural treasures of the world, the international body has a ceaseless mission.
Every new member of the World Heritage club is special in a singular fashion. Here are 20 recent additions however, that are spectacularly unusual.
20. Chief Roi Mata’s Domain, Vanuatu
Roi Mata, a legendary 17th century chief of the South Pacific archipelago nation Vanuatu, whose reign was marked by landmark social reforms and a relative era of peace and prosperity, spawned a rich oral tradition that endures to this day. His domain complex spans three islands and is one of the best examples of Pacific tribal systems left.
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Inland from the Taiwan Strait in China is a curious network of 46 earthen homes built between the 12th and 20th century that span over 120 km. Part agrarian communal quarters and part defensive fortifications, the unusual homes blend seamlessly with a landscape that includes rice, tea and tobacco plantations.
18. Historic Centre of Camag?ey, Cuba
One of the first Spanish settlements in Cuba, the town of Camag?ey was built in 1528 to support the cattle and sugar industry. The exceptional and unorthodox urban plan features small and large plazas, labyrinthine promenades and alleys and architecture from various periods. The historic heart of Camag?ey is the focal point for cultural events in the town to this day.
17. Rhaetian Railway in the Albula/Bernina Landscapes, Italy and Switzerland
Not many railways around the world draw the attention of UNESCO. But when you bridge two historic lines in the Swiss Alps, exceptions are made. For sheer landscape obstacles overcome, the Rhaetian Railway is superlative, with a wondrous network of tunnels, viaducts and covered galleries.
16. Sacred Mijikenda Kaya Forests, Kenya
On the coast of the Indian Ocean, the Mijikenda Kaya Forests of Kenya are a wonderful complex of sites that span 200 km. With traces of bulwark villages from as far back as the 16th century, the forests are venerated by local tribes as a sacred ancestral home and remain vital today for cultural and spiritual reasons.
15. The Archaeological Site of Al-Hijr, Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia’s first entry on the UNESCO World Heritage list is a network of sandstone tomb monuments that date back to the dawn of the modern age. Incredibly, the Al-Hijr site, at over two millenia old, is rather well-preserved, with Assyrian, Egyptian, Phoenician and Hellenistic design influences still in evidence.
14. Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran
Iran, no stranger to UNESCO, contains some of the most ancient treasures in the world. The Armenian Monastic Ensembles in the northwest of the country date as far back as the 7th century. Three distinct sites bear witness to the vitality of the Armenian Orthodox Christian faith, with Byzantine, Muslim and Persian influences.
13. Kuk Early Agricultural Site, Papua New Guinea
Perhaps the best example that to change the world for the better, we can learn from the past, the Kuk site in Papua New Guinea is a wetland reclamation project that has been worked over a period of 10,000 years. Excavation by archaeologists unearthed traces of agricultural development and advances that led to a seismic shift in practices over time.
12. Le Morne Cultural Landscape, Mauritius
Mauritius was once a major stopover in the eastern slave trade from Africa to India and Southeast Asia. From the 18th century to the early 19th century, runaway slaves hid out in the vast and rugged terrain of the island’s southwest. Known as the Le Morne Cultural Landscape, the site is a powerful symbol today of the brave resistance of slaves who were able to esape and their subsequent fight for freedom.
The Adriatic island of Hvar is part of Croatia but maintains a strong historic bond with Greece. Parts of the island were first colonized by Greeks from Paros in the 4th century, with fortress walls, stone abodes and other remains relatively pristine all these years later. People who dwell in the fertile Stari Grad plain still cultivate the same crops 2,400 years after the Greeks first built up the agricultural base on Hvar.
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Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Those village in Kenya look amazing to vacation at I love Africa