Articles und photos featuring UNESCO listed world heritage sites, natural heritage sites as well as cultural landscapes

Ice Caves and Fumaroles – South Kamchatka’s volcanic Soul

Mutnovsky and Gorely are the names of the volcanic protagonists in Kamchatka’s South; two places known to many tourists visiting Kamchatka as almost every tour makes a stop over there to bring humans in touch with the admittedly weaker appearances of the biggest force on our planet. South Kamchatka is more inhabited than the north, which is no surprise as it is home of the regional capital Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and its suburb Yelizovo, the airfield welcoming the big and small airplanes from coming from Moscow and elsewhere.… Read More

Klyuchevskoy and Tolbachik – The northern Volcano Giants

Kliuchevskoi – an impressive name reminding of a Russian poet and thinker. Actually the official name of Russia’s pyramid is Klyuchevskaya Sopka (Ключевская сопка) but even for the locals this title seems to be a little too long. The fire mountain stands for quite a bunch of superlatives, for example being with an altitude of about 4800 meters the highest volcano not only on Eurasian continental plate but also in northern hemisphere.… Read More

Giant Clams and Golden Jellyfish – Palau

The islands of Palau are an archipelago being located some 1500km to the east of the Philippines. Several thousand years ago a tectonic uplifting process elevated its 356 islands literally to the second storey making them now looking like as if a sloppy painter was at work somewhere amidst the turquoise waters of the Pacific Ocean and left dozens of green patches behind.… Read More

Built of eternal Love – The Taj Mahal

The way to a human’s heart is through its stomach; maybe that is why every second Indian restaurant is named Taj Mahal nowadays. The actual name giver is located in North Indian Agra and was built by Great Mogul Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal. His intensive and eternal love as well as the abilities of Persian architect Abu Fazel left the world a unique gem of Indo-Islamic architecture behind… Read More

Fatehpur Sikri – Ghost Town of the Great Moguls

Being located just an hour drive away from world famous Taj Mahal, the town of Fatehpur Sikri is providing an in-depth insight into India’s history as from 1571 to 1585 it has been the capital of Great Mogul Akbar’s empire. Quite a long time ago, though its buildings and chambers are looking still like as its inhabitants were checking out yesterday only.… Read More

Jaipur – Rajasthan’s Pink Panther

Retina tickling pink is traditionally Rajasthan‘s colour of hospitality. To the Rajputs this symbolic colour is so much important that their capital’s Old Town once got a Barbie-like coat of paint. Jaipur is like a panther on the jump: graceful, but full of energy that is waiting to get released.… Read More

On top of Africa – The Ethiopian Highlands

The Abyssinian highlands are the final stop for the cloudy water mass that finally feeds the source of the legendary Blue Nile. Its most dramatic region is the area around the Simien Mountains, whose volcanic origin is letting plants thrive and prosper that well that even baboons convert to vegetarianism.… Read More

Hewn into the bare Rocks – The Churches of Lalibela

Millions of years ago the Ethiopian highlands got unfolded by volcanic activity. There, at an altitude of 2500m, the village of Lalibela is located. It is home to unique churches that are originating from the idea to build a second Jerusalem and became hewn into the bare red hard basalt lava rock.… Read More