Morne Trois Pitons - Dominica

Dominica was one of the countries Lídia visited a few weeks ago. This is my 1st card from there and at the same time a card from a new Unesco site, the only one in this country, Morne Trois Pitons National Park. This park is a Unesco WHS since 1997.

Luxuriant natural tropical forest blends with scenic volcanic features of great scientific interest in this national park centred on the 1,342-m-high volcano known as Morne Trois Pitons. With its precipitous slopes and deeply incised valleys, 50 fumaroles, hot springs, three freshwater lakes, a 'boiling lake' and five volcanoes, located on the park's nearly 7,000 ha, together with the richest biodiversity in the Lesser Antilles, Morne Trois Pitons National Park presents a rare combination of natural features of World Heritage value. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/814

Bridgetown - Barbados

I'm getting Unesco cards from a few very hard-to-get countries. I've traded again with Lídia and this time she sent me card from Barbados, Dominica, Puerto Rico and Sri Lanka.

This card is from Bridgetown, Barbados capital city, which was added to the Unesco World Heritage Site List last year.

Photo by Randall Banfield

Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison, an outstanding example of British colonial architecture consisting of a well-preserved old town built in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, which testifies to the spread of Great Britain's Atlantic colonial empire. The property also includes a nearby military garrison which consists of numerous historic buildings. With its serpentine urban lay-out the property testifies to a different approach to colonial town-planning compared to the Spanish and Dutch colonial cities of the region which were built along a grid plan. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1376

Colombian Coffee

The Colombian coffee is considered by some as the best coffee in the world. Last year, the Unesco classified the Coffee Cultural Landscape of Colombia as World Heritage Site.

An exceptional example of a sustainable and productive cultural landscape that is unique and representative of a tradition that is a strong symbol for coffee growing areas worldwide - encompasses six farming landscapes, which include 18 urban centres on the foothills of the western and central ranges of the Cordillera de los Andes in the west of the country. It reflects a centennial tradition of coffee growing in small plots in the high forest and the way farmers have adapted cultivation to difficult mountain conditions. - http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1121

© Humberto Castaño de Narváez - Pilar Jiménez Toquica

Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis (Spanish: Eje Cafetero), also known as Coffee Triangle (Spanish: Triángulo del Café) is a part of the Colombian Paisa region which is famous for growing and production of a majority of the Colombian coffee, considered by some as the best coffee in the world. There are three departments in the area: Caldas, Quindío and Risaralda.

© Humberto Castaño de Narváez - Pilar Jiménez Toquica

Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. It's one of the three that forms the Colombian Coffee-Growers Axis. - in: wikipedia
Both cards were sent by "thebluemorpho".

Purmamarca - Argentina

This card from Argentina, sent by Nicole, is another great Unesco acquisition for my collection. The card shows the Cerro de los Siete Colores, Seven Colours Hill, in Purmamarca, part of the Quebrada de Humahuaca, on the Unesco World Heritage List, for its cultural and historical and its stunning scenery, since 2003.

The word “quebrada” means deep valley or ravine. It’s famous for its multi-coloured mountains: each colour is the result of a different layer of sediments deposited over the last 600 million years. Successive tectonic plate movements gave them the shapes we see today.

One of the most important geomorphologic unit in Jujuy is EL Cerro de los siete Colores, located in Purmamarca. (The Seven Colours Hill) The Seven Colours Hill The multi-coulored sediments from the Mesozoic have been folded and eroded into strange shapes on this hill. Colour 1: light orange; composed with red clay, mud and sand; Age: 3 - 4 million years. Colour 2: white, composed with lime rock. Age: 400 million years. Colour 3: brown, purple and violet. The violet is composed with lead and the others are rich in calcium. Age: 80 – 90 million years. Colour 4: red, composed with clay & iron. Age: 3 – 4 million years. Colour 5: Green, composed with copper oxide. Colour 6: brown, composed by rock with manganese. Age: 1 – 2 million years. Colour 7: Yellow, composed with brimstone. Age: 80 – 90 million years. - http://www.quebradadehumahuaca.com/en

Island of Gorée - Senegal

Today i've received 3 new Unesco sites and reached the great number of 632 Unesco sites. I'll try to reach 700 sites this year. That won't be easy but i still have 363 days to arrange nice trades, to tag and buy cards.

One of the great cards i've got in the last days, was this one from Senegal, sent by Marie Morlon, my 2nd from this country and the 1st Unesco site from there.

Island of Gorée is a Unesco World Heritage Site since 1978.

Photo by Y. Delacourt

The island of Gorée lies off the coast of Senegal, opposite Dakar. From the 15th to the 19th century, it was the largest slave-trading centre on the African coast. Ruled in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French, its architecture is characterized by the contrast between the grim slave-quarters and the elegant houses of the slave traders. Today it continues to serve as a reminder of human exploitation and as a sanctuary for reconciliation. - in: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/26

Montagu - South Africa

Montagu is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, about 180 km from Cape Town in western Kannaland. Montagu is a tourist destination, known for its hot mineral springs and scenic beauty. Nearby rock formations make it one of the country's major rock climbing venues.

Photo by Wicus Leeuwner

Aasvoëlkrans in the Cogman's Kloof is home to a pair of resident Black Eagles.

Maldives

Happy 2012!! May this new year bring many new cards into our mailboxes :D I'm looking foward to see which cards i'll have tomorrow in my mailbox!! But for now, i still have lots of 2011 cards to show.

One of the last cards to arrived was this one from the Maldives, one of he many cards sent by Emerich.

Photos by Ismail

Maldives has deep blue seas, turquoise reefs, white sandy beaches and palm trees. It is also a place full of character, where its people have long spent their days languishing in the very essence of idyll living. While it is the perfect place to sit on a beach and watch a sunset with a cocktail balanced on your hand, it is also a geographical marvel, knowing that there are thousands of fish swimming around the vivid corals just a few feet away from where you sit. -in: http://www.visitmaldives.com/en/the-maldives/country-at-a-glance