Also, the powerful Alaska quake. Plus, shucking oysters to help the planet; snakes near a plane; kid-free travel; dark sky tourism
|  | Friday, July 30, 2021 | | | | |
| In today’s newsletter, the most powerful U.S. quake in 50 years; dark sky tourism; climbing in Greece; framing the perfect surf shot | |
 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY SONG WEIWEI, XINHUA/GETTY IMAGES | |
| By George Stone, TRAVEL Executive Editor
Those athletes in Tokyo aren’t the only ones amassing accolades this week. In a gathering of another sort—this one honoring destinations of “outstanding universal value”—UNESCO is adding a number of new listings to its vaunted World Heritage List.
The Trans-Iranian Railway, the great spa towns of Europe, a lighthouse in France, 14th-century frescoes in Italy, adobe mosques in Côte d’Ivoire, an ancient solar observatory in Peru, and a “floating brick” temple in India are among more than 30 new inscriptions, based on nominations from 2020 and 2021. (Pictured above, another pick, the historical maritime trading city of Quanzhou, China.)
Nations work hard to get their wilderness areas, archaeological treasures, and cultural sites on the list, which includes some 1,153 properties around the world. Inscription brings prestige and public awareness, and it can lead to all sorts of good things: tourism revenue, renewed commitments to preserve irreplaceable assets, and public and private funding for restoration work. (Pictured below, this Russian Orthodox chapel and pavilion is part of another selection, the Darmstadt Artists’ Colony on Mathildenhöhe, in Germany.)
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY MAURITIUS IMAGES GMBH, ALAMY | |
| But what happens when a destination loses its World Heritage status, which happened recently when Liverpool was dropped from the list? As reported in Smithsonian, “the English city argued that redevelopment of its waterfront shouldn’t disqualify it from the list.” The argument didn’t sway a U.N. committee, which pointed to “the irreversible loss of attributes conveying the outstanding universal value of the property.”
That’s sort of like getting bumped off the winner’s podium! Turns out the 194 lands that have adhered to the World Heritage Convention are tasked not only with identifying future inscriptions, but also monitoring how an already-inscribed property is protected and managed. If a site begins to lose its integrity—through natural disaster, lack of funding, or aggressive redevelopment—penalties apply. To date, only three sites have been dumped: the Arabian Oryx Sanctuary in Oman, the Dresden Elbe Valley in Germany, and Liverpool’s port. But there are rising concerns that other sites—including Stonehenge and the Great Barrier Reef—might be delisted. (Below, another pick, Hawraman/Uramanat, Iran.)
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY IMAGE PROFESSIONALS GMBH, ALAMY | |
| Such rigor to standards has helped save sites in the past. Inscription on the list has exerted pressure to halt a highway near Egypt's Giza Pyramids, block a salt mine at a gray whale nursery in Mexico, and cancel a dam proposal above Africa’s Victoria Falls.
Threats to our global treasures are mounting, and sadly the list of World Heritage in Danger now includes 52 sites. Not all of them are as far-flung as the rainforests of the Atsinanana, in Madagascar, which are threatened by illegal logging and lemur hunting. In the U.S., Everglades National Park is on the list, due to serious degradation of its aquatic ecosystem.
Don’t assume that a preening bureaucrat somewhere is picking on Florida’s magnificent mangroves. The site was added to the endangered list at the request of the U.S., which suggests that international cooperation—more than competition—just might help solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. (Below, another selection, the Cordouan lighthouse, France’s oldest active lighthouse.)
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY SAMMY BILLON, SIPA/AP | |
| We'll leave you with this image (above) of another new Heritage selection, the Cordouan lighthouse, France’s oldest active lighthouse.
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| The powerful Alaskan quake: The temblor that shook the sparsely populated Aleutian Islands measured 8.2—the strongest earthquake to have hit the United States in more than 50 years. It gave scientists a fresh opportunity to study the Pacific’s volatile tectonic plates, Nat Geo’s Maya Wei-Haas reports. Subscribers can see this vivid representation of the Pacific Ring of Fire, which threatens millions of people.
Shuck to help the oysters: Bivalve tours and volunteer efforts are combining the joy of consuming oysters with ways to advance the survival of the shellfish. Restaurants are recycling their oyster shells to place back into waterways to add calcium and spur development of oyster beds. “The more oysters we have in the water, the healthier the water’s going to be,” Tanner Council, of the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance, tells Nat Geo.
Snakes near a plane: The reptiles are crawling around San Francisco International Airport, but there’s no need to call on Samuel L. Jackson. The endangered San Francisco garter snake is slithering around a blighted lot adjacent to the airport, as part of a concerted effort by environmental groups to save it, Atlas Obscura reports.
No kids allowed: After many months of together time with the family, more adults are seeking kid-free vacations. These trips aren’t just for Mom and Dad; some are for groups of friends. The Wall Street Journal features five resorts for grown-up diversions.
By the ‘sea’: Beyond the Danube, landlocked Hungary has another marine distinction—the biggest freshwater lake in Central Europe. While Lake Balaton was a Cold War hotspot for Germans from their then-divided nation seeking vacation-time “reunification,” it retains a kind of bygone charm, photographer Zsófia Pályi discovers in the August edition of National Geographic (subscribers can see it here). The lake is doing better than the onetime fourth-largest lake in the world, the disappearing Aral Sea, which Nat Geo covered in 2015.
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| Getting the framing right: Sometimes you have to work hard to frame all the elements in a photograph. Other times nature does the work for you. Here’s a view through the trees as a surfer slides under the lip of a breaking wave in Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands. Surfing’s profile has risen with its inclusion for the first time in the Summer Olympics. In March, we profiled how women are leading the way in the world’s next great surf spot.
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY LULIIA LEONOVA, ALAMY | | A pivot: Diving for sea sponges—a pursuit mentioned in Homer’s eighth-century B.C. epics—has been a mainstay for those on the Greek island of Kalymnos since the 1800s. But the decline of nearby sea sponges prompted the barren island to find a backup economic force. Now Kalymnos is one of the world’s top destinations for sport climbing, with 3,900 climbing routes, many with sea views (pictured above), Maria Atmatzidou writes.
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 | | In 1999 we noticed some strange guys, loaded with gear, then saw their figures hanging on the rocks. Soon, we started … opening new routes, maintaining them, organizing a climbing festival. | | | | George Hatzismalis | Tourism chief on the Greek island of Kalymnos
From: How sport climbing is revitalizing a Greek island
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| Come back tomorrow for Whitney Johnson on photography. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to also get Rachael Bale on animals, Victoria Jaggard on science, Debra Adams Simmons on history, and Robert Kunzig on the environment.
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 | | PHOTOGRAPH BY CHRISTIAN HEEB, LAIF/REDUX | | Dark sky tourism: During the pandemic, we’ve repeatedly been told to keep our distance from people. More and more families want to find night skies free of light pollution, as well—so they can stargaze, Cassandra Brooklyn reports. A growing list of Dark Sky Preserves in the U.S., like Grand Canyon National Park pictured above, help travelers find places with ideal celestial views.
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| This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard and Monica Williams, and Jen Tse selected the photographs. Have an idea, a link, or a stargazing story? We’d love to hear from you at david.beard@natgeo.com. Thanks for reading, and have a wonderful weekend! | | | |
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