Two Southern African sites added to UNESCO World Heritage List: Maputo National Park (Mozambique) & Mount Mulanje (Malawi)!

During its 47th session in Paris, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee has added two new sites in Southern Africa to the prestigious World Heritage List: Maputo National Park in Mozambique and the Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape in Malawi. This recognition marks a significant milestone for both countries and underscores the region's outstanding natural and cultural heritage.

Maputo National Park – Mozambique’s coastal jewel

Located in southern Mozambique, Maputo National Park is a breathtaking mosaic of coastal lakes, wetlands, sand dunes, and savanna. Formerly known as the Maputo Special Reserve, this conservation area is part of the Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area, which spans across Mozambique, South Africa, and Eswatini. The park is home to a rich diversity of wildlife, including elephants, hippos, antelope species, and more than 400 bird species.
Maputo National Park's inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage Site acknowledges not only its ecological significance but also the successful cross-border conservation efforts that have restored biodiversity and promoted community-led ecotourism. This designation is expected to bolster sustainable tourism in Mozambique, drawing global attention to the country’s protected natural areas.

Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape – Malawi’s sacred mountain

Rising dramatically above the plains of southern Malawi, Mount Mulanje is more than just a mountain – it is a cultural and spiritual heartland. Known locally as the “Island in the Sky,” the massif holds deep cultural and spiritual significance for local communities, who have passed down oral traditions, rituals, and sacred beliefs tied to the landscape for generations.
The Mount Mulanje Cultural Landscape combines rich biodiversity with cultural heritage, including sacred forests, ceremonial sites, and traditional knowledge systems related to forest management and conservation. Its addition to the World Heritage List highlights the importance of preserving intangible heritage and recognizes the harmonious relationship between people and nature.

The inclusion of these two sites reflects a growing recognition of Southern Africa’s ecological and cultural wealth on the global stage. It also opens new opportunities for sustainable tourism development, job creation, and community empowerment in both Mozambique and Malawi.
As part of the UNESCO World Heritage family, Maputo National Park and Mount Mulanje will benefit from international support for conservation, increased visibility, and heightened protection against environmental threats. 

UNESCO adds sites in South Africa to World Heritage List!

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recently added more sites in South Africa to its prestigious World Heritage List. On 26 July 2024, the 46th Session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee proclaimed World Heritage status for two serial properties in South Africa, namely "The Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites" and "The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa". The inscription of these two serial properties, increases South Africa's list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to 12.

"The Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites"
The serial property represents the legacy of the South African struggle for human rights, liberation and reconciliation. It consists of fourteen component parts located around the country, all related to South Africa's political history in the 20th century. The sites include the following:
- The Union Buildings
- Constitution Hill
- Liliesleaf
- Sharpeville (comprising three component parts)
- Walter Sisulu Square
- 16 June 1976: The Streets of Orlando West
- University of Fort Hare and ZK Mathews House (comprising two component parts)
- Mqhekezweni
- Waaihoek
- Ohlange

"The Emergence of Modern Human Behaviour: The Pleistocene Occupation Sites of South Africa"
This serial property contributes to the understanding of the origin of behaviourally modern humans, their cognitive abilities and cultures, and the climatic transitions that they survived. It is composed of three dispersed archaeological sites: the Diepkloof Rock Shelter close to Elands Bay, the Pinnacle Point Site Complex in Mossel Bay (Western Cape) and the Sibhudu Cave in KwaDukuza (KwaZulu Natal).

South Africa: The Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

The Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains in Mpumalanga is South Africa's 10th UNESCO World Heritage Site. The site was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site today (02 July 2018) at the 42nd World Heritage Committee Session of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) held in Manama, Bahrain. The Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains is a range of small mountains and hills that covers an area of 120 km by 60 km. It provides the world with evidence on life formation that dates back more than 3 billion years. The mountain range has the most remarkable geological evidence of rock layers that formed between 3.2 and 3.5 million years ago. Along with their exceptional geology, the Barberton Makhonjwa Mountains are rich in wild plants, animals and beautiful scenery.

South Africa: The ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape has been inscripted as a World Heritage Site!

At its 41st session taking place in Krakow, Poland (02-12 July 2017), the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee has inscripted the ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape in South Africa as a World Heritage Site. The landscape (959,100ha) is located in the Dawid Kruiper District Municipality in the Northern Cape. It covers the entire Kalahari Gemsbok National Park (KGNP) and forms part of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which is bordered by Botswana and Namibia in the east and west respectively.

The ‡Khomani and related San people are unique in that they descend directly from an ancient population that existed in southern Africa some 150,000 years ago, the ancestors of the entire human race.
The red dunes of the ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape are strongly associated with this unique culture stretching from the Stone Age to the present, thus making it a landscape that has changed little from a time long ago when humans were mainly hunter gatherers.  The ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape has been home to at most a few hundred people who have survived life in the extreme desert landscape of the southern Kalahari through their knowledge of the land. Particular to their practices is their ways of physically defining the land through designated uses of the different parts; how their movements were organised as well as other significant cultural practices. (via https://www.environment.gov.za)

The ‡Khomani Cultural Landscape is South Africa's ninth World Heritage Site. The other eight include the Fossil Hominid Sites of South Africa, Maloti-Drakensberg Park (Transboundary with Lesotho), Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, Vredefort Dome, Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, Robben Island Museum, iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the Cape Floral Region Protected Areas.

World Heritage Sites in Southern Africa >>

Botswana: Okavango Delta named 1,000th UNESCO World Heritage Site

update (23 June 2014): The Okavango Delta in Botswana became the 1000th site inscribed on the World Heritage List. It was inscribed as a natural site by the World Heritage Committee [more]

The 38th Session of the World Heritage Committee (15-25 June 2014 in Doha, Qatar) has agreed to inscribe the Okavango Delta on the list of World Heritage Sites. The Okavango Delta is Botswana's second World Heritage Site; the country's first World Heritage Site is Tsodilo Hills which was inscribed in 2001. In his acceptance speech following the announcement Botswana's Minister of Environement, Wildlife and Tourism, the Tshedkedi Khama, assured the committee that Botswana will continue to work with relevant stakeholders, most importantly the communities living in and around the Okavango Delta, and the riparian States of Angola and Namibia to maintain the integrity of the Okavango Delta. We'll update the post as soon as more details are available!

World Heritage Sites in Southern Africa >>

Tanzania: Selous Game Reserve now on List of World Heritage in Danger

One of the largest protected areas in Africa and one of the largest faunal reserves of the world, the Selous Game Reserve in Tanzania, is now inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger by the World Heritage Committee (38th session of the World Heritage Committee, 15-25 June 2014 in Doha, Qatar) due to widespread poaching which is decimating wildlife populations on the property. Selous Game Reserve is renowned for its populations of elephant, black rhinoceros, cheetah, giraffe, hippopotamus and crocodile, amongst many other species. The reserve is located in the south of Tanzania and covers a total area of 54,600 km².
The List of World Heritage in Danger is designed to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action. 

Tanzania: Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani & Ruins of Songo Mnara removed from List of World Heritage in Danger >>

Tanzania: Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani & Ruins of Songo Mnara removed from List of World Heritage in Danger

The Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Ruins of Songo Mnara in Tanzania have been removed from the List of World Heritage in Danger by the World Heritage Committee (38th session of the World Heritage Committee, 15-25 June 2014 in Doha, Qatar) due to an improved management and safeguarding. The site was inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2004, because of deterioration and decay leading to the collapse of the historical and archaeological structures for which the property was inscribed.
The Ruins of Kilwa Kisiwani and Ruins of Songo Mnara are located  on two islands close to each other just off the Tanzanian coast about 300km south of Dar es Salaam.

The List of World Heritage in Danger is designed to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.

Kenya: Lewa Wildlife Conservancy & Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve now part of World Heritage Site "Mount Kenya National Park"

The World Heritage Committee approved during its 37th Committee Session in Cambodia (16 June - 27 June 2013) to inscribe the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy and the Ngare Ndare Forest Reserve as extensions of the Mount Kenya National Park, which got declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. The area added to the World Heritage Site lies within the traditional migrating route of the African elephant population of the Mount Kenya National Park and consists of a core of nearly 20,000 hectares as well as a buffer zone of almost 70,000 ha.

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South Africa: World Heritage Site uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park extended into Lesotho

The World Heritage Committee decided during its 37th Committee Session in Cambodia (17 - 27 June 2013) to inscribe the Sehlabathebe National Park in Lesotho as an extension to the uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park in South Africa. The World Heritage Site's new name is Maloti Drakensberg Transboundary World Heritage Site.

Sehlabathebe National Park is covering 6,550 hectare and consists of a spectacularly beautiful watershed area that hosts flora and fauna of scientific importance, such as the Maloti Minnow, a critically endangered fish species only to be found in the Park, the Cape Vulture (Gyps coprotheres) and the Bearded Vulture (Gyps barbatus). The park's African Alpine tundra ecosystem with its 250 endemic plant species significantly enhances the value of uKhahlamba Drakensberg Park. It also features important rock paintings made by the San people who have been living on the site for 4,000 years.

Rwanda: Four genocide memorial sites now on the UNESCO World Heritage ‎List

The UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organisation, elevated four genocide memorial sites in Rwanda into the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. These sites and memorial centers include the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Site in Kigali, the Ntarama Genocide Memorial Site in the Bugesera District as well as the Murambi Genocide Memorial Centre in the Murambi district in southern Rwanda and the Bisesero Genocide Memorial Site in the Karongi District in the country's Western Province.
To be included on the World Heritage List, sites must be of outstanding universal value and meet at least one out of ten selection criteria. These criteria are explained in the "Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention". Please visit the UNESCO World Heritage Centre's website for more information about the critiria for selection.

Video: Why there should be no mining in Mapungubwe

update (05 Sept 2011): The South African Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA), South African National Parks (SANParks) and Coal of Africa Limited have signed Memorandum of agreement, which assures that Mapungubwe’s "integrity" will be maintained. For more info click on the link.

The Mapungubwe Cultural Landscape, one of South Africa's eight World Heritage Sites, is under severe threat. An Australian company, Coal of Africa Limited (CoAL), has recently been given the go ahead from the South African government to begin the construction of an opencast and underground coal mine just outside of the boundaries of the Mapungubwe National Park. The National Park is also part of the Greater Mapungubwe Transfrontier Conservation Area, which is shared by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana.
Please watch the video and listen to what Abraham Ramonwana, head guide at the Tuli Safari Lodge, has to say about the mining plans.

The Cradle of Humankind is turning 10

The Sterkfontein Caves, situated in Gauteng province, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1999 and the area is called the Cradle of Humankind because it is believed to be the place where man originated millions of years ago. Among the stunning discoveries made at these Caves are the oldest human fossil and a skull of pre-historic female, which anthropologists have dubbed Mrs Ples.

Maropeng at the cradle of humankind from murray ralfe on Vimeo.

Maropeng Visitor Centre nearby is a world-acclaimed tourist destination and an area of spectacular beauty. A visit to the state-of-the-art Maropeng Museum, spread over a 47,000 hectare valley, takes you on an incredible journey back in time, literally millions of years in evolution.

The Cradle Of Humankind Tour + Sterkfontein Caves >>
The Cradle of Humankind + Carnivore Restaurant >>
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