Ghana - Forts and Castles, Volta, Greater Accra, Central and Western Regions

"The remains of fortified trading-posts, erected between 1482 and 1786, can still be seen along the coast of Ghana between Keta and Beyin. They were links in the trade routes established by the Portuguese in many areas of the world during their era of great maritime exploration." 

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
Elmina Castle started as a Portuguese fort, later Dutch, then English trading center. It was a center for ivory, gold and later slaves. Thanks to James for sending this wonderful card from his travels in Ghana.

Postcard 2

Cape Coast Castle - the slave trade was administered through castles, forts and lodges all along the west and east coasts of Africa. Thanks to Leeli of Ghana.

Postcard 3
Cape Coast Castle, near Accra. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Ghana - Asante Traditional Buildings

"Near Kumasi, a group of traditional buildings are the last remaining testimony of the great Asante civilization, which reached its peak in the 18th century. The buildings include ten shrines/fetish houses (Abirim, Asawase, Asenemaso, Bodwease, Ejisu Besease, Adarko Jachie, Edwenase, Kentinkrono, Patakro and Saaman). Most are to the north-east of Kumasi, and Patakro, to the south.

Arranged around courtyards, the buildings are constructed of timber, bamboo and mud plaster and originally had thatched roofs. The unique decorative bas-reliefs that adorn the walls are bold and depict a wide variety of motifs. Common forms include spiral and arabesque details with representations of animals, birds and plants, linked to traditional “Adinkra” symbols. As with other traditional art forms of the Asante, these designs are not merely ornamental, they also have symbolic meanings, associated with the ideas and beliefs of the Asante people, and have been handed down from generation to generation...."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
Multi-view of traditional buildings of Ghana with the top right corner picture showing Asante Traditional Buildings. Thanks to Mike of Netherlands for arrangement for mailing from Ghana.

Postcard 2A

Asante Traditional Buildings is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Karolyn of USA. By mistake, I received two same postcards with different stamps used - double delight.

Postcard 2B

Azerbaijan - Cultural Landscape of Khinalig People and “Köç Yolu” Transhumance Route

"This cultural landscape is comprised of the high-mountain Khinalig village in northern Azerbaijan, high-altitude summer pastures and agricultural terraces in the Greater Caucasus Mountains, winter pastures in the lowland plains in central Azerbaijan, and the connecting 200-kilometre-long seasonal transhumance route called Köç Yolu (“Migration Route”). The village of Khinalig is home to the semi-nomadic Khinalig people, whose culture and lifestyle are defined by the seasonal migration between summer and winter pastures, and who retain the ancient way of long-distance vertical transhumance. The organically evolved network including ancient routes, temporary pastures and camping sites, mausoleums, and mosques illustrates a sustainable eco-social system adapted to extreme environmental conditions."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site Tentative List

Khynalyq Village and landscape is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Azerbaijan. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Rwanda - Memorial sites of the Genocide: Nyamata, Murambi, Gisozi and Bisesero

 Between April and July 1994, an estimated one million people were killed across Rwanda by armed militias called Interahamwe that targeted Tutsi, but also executed moderate Hutu and Twa people. The victims of the genocide are commemorated in this serial property composed of four memorial sites. Two of the component parts were scenes of massacres: a Catholic church built in the hill of Nyamata in 1980, and a technical school built in the hill of Murambi in 1990. The hill of Gisozi in Kigali City hosts the Kigali Genocide Memorial built in 1999, where more than 250,000 victims have been buried, while the hill of Bisesero in the Western Province hosts a memorial built in 1998, to remember the fight of those who resisted their perpetrators for over two months before being exterminated.

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Nyamata Church Genoricide Memorial in Rwanda - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Postcard was missent to India and damaged by water - but luckily it arrived. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Rwanda - Nyungwe National Park

"This serial property represents an important area for rainforest conservation in Central Africa. The property is home to intact forests and peat bogs, moors, thickets and grasslands, providing habitats to a highly diverse flora and fauna. The Park also contains the most significant natural habitats for a number of species found nowhere else in the world, including the globally threatened Eastern Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii), Golden Monkey (Cercopithecus mitis ssp. kandti) and the Critically Endangered Hills Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus hillorum). There are also 12 mammal and seven bird species that are globally threatened, and with 317 species of birds recorded, Nyungwe National Park is one of the most important sites for bird conservation in Africa."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Postcard 1
Nyungwe Forest has more than 200 species of trees and the forest floor is characterized by moss and fungi growths. Mailed on February 16, 2013 and arrived in Penang island on March 20, 2013. Thanks to Sionnan of Canada who visited Rwanda.

Postcard 2
Waterfalls at Nyungwe National Park of Rwanda - the largest montane forest and home of chimpanzees. Thanks to Michael of South Africa who visiting Rwanda.

Postcard 3
Nyungwe National Park, Rwanda is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This postcard was missent to India and water damaged during its postal journey - fortunately it arrived. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Denmark - Aasivissuit – Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea

"Denmark - Greenland Aasivissuit – Nipisat. Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
Assivissuit - Nipisat, Greenland. Thanks to Chen of China for mailing this from China. Received in October 2018.

Postcard 2
Aasivissuit - Nipista is the Inuit Hunting Ground between Ice and Sea - a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Karolyn of USA.

Australia - Royal Exhibition Building and Carlton Gardens

"The Royal Exhibition Building and its surrounding Carlton Gardens were designed for the great international exhibitions of 1880 and 1888 in Melbourne. The building and grounds were designed by Joseph Reed. The building is constructed of brick and timber, steel and slate. It combines elements from the Byzantine, Romanesque, Lombardic and Italian Renaissance styles. The property is typical of the international exhibition movement which saw over 50 exhibitions staged between 1851 and 1915 in venues including Paris, New York, Vienna, Calcutta, Kingston (Jamaica) and Santiago (Chile). All shared a common theme and aims: to chart material and moral progress through displays of industry from all nations." 

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Postcard 1
I bought this prepaid postcard in Melbourne and mailed to myself in April 2014.

Postcard 2

Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, Australia inscribed in 2004. Many thanks to Alison of Australia for beautiful colorful stamps used.

Postcard 3 

Carlton Gardens.Thanks to Alison of Australia.

Postcard 4
The Royal Exhibition is the venue of boxing, fencing, judo, wresting and Modern Pentahlon Fencing for Melbourne Summer Olympics 1996. It is also inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thanks to Jean-Pierre of France.

Malaysia - The Archaeological Heritage of Niah National Park’s Caves Complex

"This complex of colossal, interconnected caverns is located near the west coast of Borneo Island at the centre of Niah National Park. It contains the longest known records of human interaction with rainforest, spanning at least 50,000 years, from the Pleistocene to the Mid-Holocene periods. The rich archaeological deposits, prehistoric rock paintings and boat-shaped burials found at the northern edge of the massif illustrate biological and human life during this time, and contribute greatly to the knowledge of human development, adaptation and migration in southeast Asia, as well as in a global context. Local communities still observe an ancient tradition of molong – ‘take only what you need’— when harvesting guano and valuable edible bird’s nests from the caves."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Postcard 1

First Day Cover cnancellation a matching Niah Cave miniature sheet stamp.

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Niah Cave is located south of Miri, Sarawak.

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Archaelogical site of stone age human habitation in Niah Caves.

Postcard 4
A shaft of sunlight beam in the Moon Cave of Niah Cave.

Postcard 5

Russia - Cultural Landscape of Kenozero Lake (2024 Inscription)

"Located in Kenozero National Park in the north-western area of the European region of the Russian Federation, the property depicts the local cultural landscape that evolved here from the 12th century, following the gradual Slavic colonization. It incorporates a number of traditional rural settlements with vernacular wooden architecture and reflects the communal management of agriculture and nature that developed when the indigenous Finno-Ugric forest culture merged with the traditional Slavic field culture. Wooden churches and other religious buildings, originally decorated with painted ceilings, or “heavens”, are the key social, cultural, and visual landmarks of the area. Their spatial organization, together with sacred sites and symbols, highlight the residents’ spiritual connection with this environment."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Landscape of Kenozero Lake is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Thanks to Leonid of Arkhangelsk, Russia.

Georgia - Colchic Rainforests and Wetlands

"The site comprises seven component parts, within an 80km long corridor along the warm-temperate and extremely humid eastern coast of the Black Sea. They provide a series of the most typical Colchic ecosystems at altitudes ranging from sea level to more than 2,500 metres above it. The main ecosystems are ancient deciduous Colchic rainforests and wetlands, percolation bogs and other mire types of the distinct Colchic mire region. The extremely humid broad-leaved rainforests comprise a highly diverse flora and fauna, with very high densities of endemic and relict species, with significant numbers of globally threatened species and relict species, which survived the glacial cycles of the Tertiary. The site is home to approximately 1,100 species of vascular and non-vascular plants, including 44 threatened vascular plan species, and almost 500 species of vertebrates, and a high number of invertebrate species. The site also harbours 19 threatened animal species including sturgeon, notably the critically endangered Colchic Sturgeon. It is a key stopover for many globally threatened birds that migrate through the Batumi bottleneck."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage

Two nice postcards of Kelkheti National Park, Guria, Georgia. Thanks to Jean-Pierre of France for mailing them inside an envelope from Tblisi, Georgia.

Japan - Amami-Oshima Island, Tokunoshima Island, the northern part of Okinawa Island and Iriomote Island

"Encompassing 42,698 hectares of subtropical rainforests on four islands on a chain located in the southwest of Japan, the serial site forms an arc on the boundary of the East China Sea and Philippine Sea whose highest point, Mount Yuwandake on Amami-Oshima Island, rises 694 metres above sea level. Entirely uninhabited by humans, the site has high biodiversity value with a very high percentage of endemic species, many of them globally threatened. The site is home to endemic plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, inland water fish and decapod crustaceans, including, for example, the endangered Amami Rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi) and the endangered Ryukyu Long-haired Rat (Diplothrix legata) that represent ancient lineages and have no living relatives anywhere in the world. Five mammal species, three bird species, and three amphibian species in the property have been identified globally as Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species. There are also a number of different endemic species confined to each respective island that are not found elsewhere in the property. "

Source: UNESCO World Heritage


Map of Okinawa showing the northern part Okinawa Island. Smaller map on the left shows the Iriomote Island in the south near Taiwan as well as AnamiOshima Island and Tokunoshima island in the north near Kyushu island. where . Thanks to YL of Singapore.

Thailand - The Ancient Town of Si Thep and its Associated Dvaravati Monuments

"This is a serial property of three component parts: a distinctive twin-town site, featuring an Inner and Outer Town surrounded by moats; the massive Khao Klang Nok ancient monument; and the Khao Thamorrat Cave ancient monument. Together these sites represent the architecture, artistic traditions and religious diversity of the Dvaravati Empire that thrived in Central Thailand from the 6th to the 10th centuries, demonstrating the influences from India. The local adaptation of these traditions resulted in a distinctive artistic tradition known as the Si Thep School of Art which later influenced other civilizations in Southeast Asia."

Source: UNESCO World Heritage