When celebrating African World Heritage Day this Wednesday, it is appropriate to emphasize, as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has reiterated, the need for the countries of the continent and the rest of the planet to preserve such wonders. .
For many experts and admirers of African culture, this geographical area, still underrepresented on the World Heritage Site list, with about 12 per cent of the sites listed worldwide, still does not display a little beauty for the enjoyment of future generations.
Among those wonders, created by nature or man, symbolic places are included, which have been declared a World Heritage Site, such as the thunderous Victoria Falls, which is considered the largest waterfall in the world, located on the borders of Zambia and Zimbabwe.
There are also other wonders of nature such as the Namib Desert, which is dominated by fossils and sand dunes, with exotic animal species such as flamingos and swans.
They were joined by the city of Carthage in northern Tunisia, founded by the ancient Phoenicians. The Atsinanana Tropical Forest in Madagascar, sparkling dense greenery, is in the middle of the rivers.
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Other destinations
The list of wonders in African countries also includes other, perhaps lesser known destinations, such as the forts and castles of Volta, Greater Accra, and the central and western regions, of Ghana.
A traveler can still appreciate the remnants of the fortified trading posts along the coast of that region, which were established by Portuguese colonialists between 482 and 786, according to history.
Within the Mopti region, in Mali, known as the Venice of Africa, are the slopes of Bandiagara (the territory of the Dogon ethnic group).
In this place, with plateaus where tiny homes of mud and thatch sparkle, along with exceptional landscapes, social traditions survive, including mask parties, rituals, and ancestral cults celebrations, Prensa found Latina at the site.
It is worth noting, on the other hand, that in order to save endangered sites, the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, in cooperation with artisans and other actors, restored the Malian mausoleums of Timbuktu, built from the thirteenth century, and which were damaged. In 2012 through the action of extremist armed groups.
According to the traditions prevailing in Mali, these shrines in Timbuktu are the place of pilgrimage every year by the inhabitants of that coastal country and neighboring countries, amid the belief that these cultural monuments protect the city from dangers.
The leaders of Africa, a relatively small continent with a population of more than 1.3 billion, are trying not only to preserve its monuments and places of exceptional beauty, but also its other valuable heritage: animals.
Large and wild species such as elephants, lions, buffaloes and rhinos, the population partially perished due to profitable poaching or other factors such as climate change, which causes extreme phenomena such as severe drought or heavy rains, take refuge in this geographical area.
Since UNESCO declared African World Heritage Day in 2015, every 5 May, the world, especially that continent, has been spreading awareness of the need to protect the cultural and natural heritage in the region.
At the same time, the United Nations system works to strengthen international cooperation to preserve the material and moral wealth accumulated in Africa, which is considered the cradle of humanity, and where the Babobab, a symbol of the identity and strength of societies, has a space of its own.
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oda / jcd / obf
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