Now we can all join Monty Python鈥檚 dead parrot in pining for the fjords. Two of Norway鈥檚 finest, Geirangerfjord (left) and N忙r酶yfjord, have been elevated to the list of 160 natural World Heritage Sites. Their narrow, steep-sided valleys, gouged by glaciers, stretch from 500 metres below the surface of the Norwegian Sea to 1400 metres above it. The fjords join seven other sites named last week by the World Heritage Committee, meeting in Durban, South Africa.
Others on the list are: Wadi Al-Hitan, a desert valley in Egypt that contains fossils of the last whales to have legs; marine ecosystems in the Gulf of California, the Gulf of Chiriqu铆 in Panama, and off the Japanese island of Hokkaido; a nirvana for alpine flora known as the Valley of Flowers National Park in India; and a mosaic of tropical forests in Thailand.
The prize has been a particularly long time coming for another new entry, Vredefort Dome near Johannesburg, South Africa. The dome, site of the Earth鈥檚 largest and oldest known meteorite impact, is all that remains of a lump of rock bigger than Mount Everest that collided with Earth two billion years ago. It is surrounded by a crater 380 kilometres across.
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According to UNESCO, the collision created 鈥渢he world鈥檚 greatest single known energy release鈥� and may have increased oxygen in the atmosphere enough for multicellular life to develop.
South Africa鈥檚 tourism minister immediately announced plans for tourist developments at Vredefort Dome.
