Travel as an Interest
Maria's great interest in travel and tourism has brought her to more than 30 different countries (in Asia, Africa, North America and Europe). She constantly tries to learn more about different cultures but also similarities between all humans.
Tanzania
During a three weeks' trip in Tanzania. Maria experienced safari in Ngorongoro and Lake Manyara, hiking in the Usambara Mountains and swimming on the island of Pemba.
Unesco World Heritage Ngorongoro Conservation Area
The Ngorongoro Conservation Area spans vast expanses of highland plains, savanna, savanna woodlands and forests. Established in 1959 as a multiple land use area, with wildlife coexisting with semi-nomadic Maasai pastoralists practicing traditional livestock grazing, it includes the spectacular Ngorongoro Crater, the world’s largest caldera. The property has global importance for biodiversity conservation due to the presence of globally threatened species, the density of wildlife inhabiting the area, and the annual migration of wildebeest, zebra, gazelles and other animals into the northern plains. Extensive archaeological research has also yielded a long sequence of evidence of human evolution and human-environment dynamics, including early hominid footprints dating back 3.6 million years.
Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/39
United Arab Emirates
In the United Arab Emirates, Maria visited four of the seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai and Sharjah.
Unesco World Heritage: Cultural Sites of Al Ain (Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas)
The Cultural Sites of Al Ain (Hafit, Hili, Bidaa Bint Saud and Oases Areas) constitute a serial property that testifies to sedentary human occupation of a desert region since the Neolithic period with vestiges of many prehistoric cultures. Remarkable vestiges in the property include circular stone tombs (ca 2500 B.C.), wells and a wide range of adobe constructions: residential buildings, towers, palaces and administrative buildings. Hili moreover features one of the oldest examples of the sophisticated aflaj irrigation system which dates back to the Iron Age. The property provides important testimony to the transition of cultures in the region from hunting and gathering to sedentarization.
Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1343
Iceland
Unesco World Heritage Þingvellir National Park
Þingvellir (Thingvellir) is the National Park where the Althing, an open-air assembly representing the whole of Iceland, was established in 930 and continued to meet until 1798. Over two weeks a year, the assembly set laws - seen as a covenant between free men - and settled disputes. The Althing has deep historical and symbolic associations for the people of Iceland. The property includes the Þingvellir National Park and the remains of the Althing itself: fragments of around 50 booths built from turf and stone. Remains from the 10th century are thought to be buried underground. The site also includes remains of agricultural use from the 18th and 19th centuries. The park shows evidence of the way the landscape was husbanded over 1,000 years.
Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1152
Urriðafossi waterfall