My Science School

The opera house in Port Jackson or Sydney Port of New South Wales, Australia is an iconic building with a roof made of sail-shaped shells. This unique structure makes it one of the most photo-graphed buildings in the world. The design of the Opera House was chosen out of 233 designs received as a part of the Opera House international design competition conducted in 1956. The winning design was submitted by Jorn Utzon of Denmark who was given prize money of £5000. The Australian architectural team led by Peter Hall constructed the building. Initially estimated to cost 7 million Australian dollars, the structure’s final cost of construction was nearly 102 million, which was mainly paid for by the State Lottery. The opera house formally opened on 20th October 1973.

There are multiple performance venues in the Sydney Opera House. 1500 performances are conducted here every year, which are attended by over 1.2 million people.

The Sydney Opera House is located on Bennelong Point, named after Woollarawarre Bennelong. He was a senior Aboriginal man of the Eora clan when the British colonisers came to Australia in 1788.

The Sydney Opera House was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 2007. The building is managed by the Sydney Opera House Trust of the New South Wales state government.

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The continent of Australia includes mainland Australia, Tasmania and the island of New Guinea. Though New Zealand is often mistaken to be a part of the Australian continent it is actually a part of Zealandia, a continental crust that is almost completely underwater.

Spread across 344,400 square kilometres, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the largest coral reef system and the biggest living structure on earth. It is so large that it can be seen from outer space. UNESCO designated the Great Barrier Reef as a World Heritage Site in 1981. It is also one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

The reef is located in the Coral Sea near the coast of Queensland in Australia. It is home to an astonishing variety of marine plants and animals. Ancient sea turtles, reef fish, 134 species of sharks and rays are some of the sea animals found here. The reef also has at least 400 different hard and soft corals and a wide variety of seaweeds. The Great Barrier Reef marine park protects a large part of the reef from human impact. However, climate change, mass coral bleaching, dumping of sludge and cyclic population outbreaks of the crown-of-thorns starfish are some of the environmental concerns faced by the Reef.

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Twyfelfontein, designated in 2007, is the first UNESCO World Heritage Site of Namibia. Located in northwest Namibia’s Kunene Region, this site has over 5000 individual petroglyphs or rock engravings. Until Namib Sand Sea was designated in 2013, Twyfelfontein had been the only World Heritage Site in Namibia.

Twyfelfontein contains a spring with slopes of sandstone Table Mountains on both sides. This place receives very little rainfall and experiences a wide range of temperatures. Humans have lived in this site for 6000 years. It was first inhabited by hunter gatherers and later by Khoikhoi herders. There are over 2500 rock carvings and a few rock paintings in Twyfelfontein indicating that the inhabitants had used it as a place of worship and to conduct rituals of shamanism.

There are many engravings depicting animals like elephants, rhinos, giraffes and lions but these animals are no longer found in the area. Twyfelfontein’s connection with the coastal area located 100 km away is evident by the engraving of a sea lion.

The site became a National Monument in 1952 and was designated a natural reserve in 1986. By the time it received protection as a natural reserve, many petro-glyphs of Twyfelfontein had been damaged or removed.

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The Lake Malawi National Park in Malawi, south eastern Africa, is the first freshwater national park in the world. Located at Cape Maclear, towards the southern end of Lake Malawi, this National Park was made to protect fish and aquatic habitats. The Malawi government has made laws to protect the park and its management is under the Department of National Parks and Wildlife.

Hundreds of species of endemic aquatic animals live in these waters. The fish called mbuna, found abundantly in these waters is an important example of biological evolution. Lake Malawi is not connected to other water bodies. As a result of this isolation, its fishes have evolved into many different forms and species.

The mountains of the park are filled with animal and birds. Animals like baboons, antelope, hyrax and birds such as fish eagles, cormorants and hamerkops are found in the Lake Malawi National Park. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

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The Serengeti National Park is a large grassland range and an acacia woodland savanna in Tanzania. It is the only remaining place in Africa where large scale land-animal migrations still occur. The park was established in 1951 and covers an area of 14,763 square kilometres. The Serengeti National Park is located at the heart of the Serengeti Ecosystem which includes the Ngorongoro conservation area and the Maasai Mara National Reserve which borders Kenya. The park is home to threatened or endangered species like black rhinoceros, elephant, wild dog and cheetah and to herds of wildebeest, gazelles and zebras.

The Serengeti National Park was added to the NESCO World Heritage I in 1981. Increased tourism, poaching, wildfires and inadequate monitoring of resources are some of the challenges faced by the National Park. Water is also a concern in the management of the park. Though water sources are available during rainy season, the only perennial river is the Mara, which flows through the park.

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The Stone Town of Zanzibar, Tanzania combines elements from different cultures of Africa, the Arab region, India and Europe. UNESCO designated this East African city as a World Heritage Site in 2000.

The buildings and layout of the town are still preserved in its true form. The narrow winding streets and large seafront mansions of Stone Town reflect the cultural impact made by hundreds of years of trade between Asia and Africa.

The houses in Zanzibar have intricately carved wooden doors. Often, they would be fitted with brass studs showing the influence of Indian tradition. The Stone Town has also gone down in history as the place which marked the end of slave trade. Tourism in this Swahili coastal town is a main source of income for Tanzania. The new parts of the Stone Town are called Ng’ambo, meaning ‘the other side’ in Swahili.

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Memphis and its Necropolis: The Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur is a burial site that shaped the culture and history of Egypt. Located on the west bank of the River Nile, these pyramids are well- known for their outstanding construction methods.

The Pharaohs of Egypt believed that they would become gods after their death. To prepare for the afterlife, they built temples for the gods and huge pyramid tombs filled with treasures for themselves. The pyramids would be filled with things that each ruler needs to guide and sustain him in the next world. The pyramids of Giza in Northern Egypt are the most popular among these. They were one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

Pharaoh Khufu started the first Giza pyramid project in 2550 BC. The Great Pyramid he built is the largest in Giza, rising 147 metres above the rocky plateau. Pharaoh Khafre, the son of Khufu, built the second pyramid at Giza in 2520 BC. This included the limestone monument called the Sphinx which has the body of a lion and the head of a pharaoh.

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The city of Ghadames is located in Libya. The white buildings of Ghadames standing in contrast to the dark desert gave it the name, the ‘Pearl of the Desert.’ Ghadames was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986.

The buildings of this traditional settlement are made of mud. This keeps the heat out during the day and retains warmth during the cold desert nights. Another special feature of the buildings in Ghadames is their structure. The first floors are used for storage while families live on the next floor. Interestingly, the rooftops of all 1300 houses in Ghadames are connected to each other. This is probably due to certain religious beliefs.

People do not live in Ghadames anymore but the Libyan government has made efforts to make it a tourist attraction and a source of income for people living in nearby areas.

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The Virunga National Park created in 1925, is one of the first protected areas in Africa. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Covering an area of 8090 square kilometres, the park contains diverse habitats. It contains swamps, steppes, lava plains, savannahs and even snowfields of Rwenzori at a 5000-metre altitude. There are two volcanoes in Virunga: Mount Nyiragongo and Mount Nyamuragira. These volcanoes have played a major role in shaping the habitats and wildlife of the National Park. More than 3000 species of plants and animals have been found in Virunga. The inhabitants of the park include mountain gorilla, hippopotamus, okapis, antelope, warthogs and pelicans. Birds from Siberia spend winters in the Virunga National Park.

The number of humans living in the Park has increased considerably in the late 20th century. It was placed in the list of World Heritage in Danger in 1994 due to increasing human settlement. A large number of refugees escaping war in Rwanda had also moved into the park. It was closed for the public in June 2018 due to grave security issues including the murder of Park Rangers and kidnapping of tourists. It reopened in February 2019.

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The Victoria Falls is a magnificent waterfall spanning the width of the Zambezi River. The river is over 2 kilometres wide at the point where the waterfall begins its descent down the basaltic gorges.

The shining mist rising from the waterfall can be seen over 20 km away. Upstream from the falls, the Zambezi flows over a sheet of basalt through a low valley made of short sandstone hills. Many tree-covered islands including the Livingstone Island are scattered across the river as it nears the falls. Victoria Falls is almost double the width and depth of the Niagara Falls. As a popular tourist destination, construction of various buildings and tourism facilities are posing a threat to the ecology of the waterfall.

It is believed that Scottish missionary and explorer, David Living-stone, was the first European to view the Victoria Falls. He saw the waterfall on 16 November 1855 from a place now called the Living-stone Island. The island is in the middle of the Zambezi River, immediately upstream from Victoria Falls. Livingstone named the waterfall after Queen Victoria of England.

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The city of Timbuktu in the West African country of Mali was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1988. Timbuktu was founded by Tuareg nomads as their seasonal camp around 1100 AD.

As the meeting point of desert and water, the city became an important trading centre on the trans-Saharan caravan route. Timbuktu was a centre of Islamic culture that was added to the Mali Empire in the late 13th or 14th century. Called the City of Gold, Timbuktu is also an ancient centre of learning.

In 1960, Timbuktu became a part of the Republic of Mali. Due to armed conflicts the city was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage in Danger in 2012. Constant wars and neglect have caused significant damage to the city. Due to desertification and the lack of development, the city is almost turning to dust.

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The remains of Dougga city is at the peak of a hill, at an altitude of 571 metres. It overlooks the Oued Khalled valley in Northwest Tunisia.

Dougga was most likely the first capital of the Numidian kingdom. However, it was under Roman rule that the city really flourished and became an important Roman settlement in North Africa. Even today many remnants of Roman buildings such as temples, baths and theatres can be found here. Because of these reasons, UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it represents “the best-preserved Roman small town in North Africa”.

Dougga is mostly made of a yellowish stone which blends beautifully with the Oued Kalied valley. Unlike other cities of North Africa like Carthage, Dougga has not changed much through urbanisation. The Libyco-Punic Mausoleum, the Capitol, the Roman theatre, the temples of Saturn and Juno Caelestis are some of the attractions of Dougga.

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The Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Egypt. Monuments in this site include the famous Temples of Ramses II at Abu Simbel and the Sanctuary of Isis at Philae. Egyptian King Ramses II built two temples in southern Egypt’s Abu Simbel. Four huge statues of Ramses placed in the front is a notable feature of the main temple.

When the artificial water reservoir called Lake Nasser was being built in the 1960s, Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae were completely relocated to prevent them from being flooded. The site was moved to an artificial hill above Aswan High Dam on the River Nile in 1968.

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Mount Kilimanjaro and its surrounding montane forest are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Africa.

Kilimanjaro is the tallest mountain in Africa and the tallest freestanding mountain in the world. This snow-capped volcanic mountain has three peaks: Kibo, Mawenzi and Shira. The park is home to many endangered species, especially mammals. In 1973, the mountain and its six surrounding forests were named Kilimajaro National Park in order to protect its unique environment.

The park is spread over an area of 1688 square kilometres in Tanzania’s northern border with Kenya. Climate change, use of nearby land, pollution and invasive species are some of the threats currently faced by the park.

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The Manu National Park was established in South-western Peru on the orders of General Juan Velasco on 29 May 1973. UNESCO identified the park as a Biosphere Reserve in 1977 and as a World Heritage Site in 1987.

Manu National Park is located at the point where Tropical Andes joins the Amazon Basin. This vast stretch of land is a watershed that is extremely difficult for humans to reach. The Park has no roads and even today it remains almost untouched by humans.

The lack of human access has proved to be a blessing for the ecosystem of the Park. The lowlands rainforests and Andean grasslands protect the biodiversity of the area. There are thousands of plant and tree species within the park.

Five parts of the park have been opened for tourists. People can observe the biodiversity of the park along paths, and river banks. A research centre named Cocha Cashu Biological Station is located in the park.

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