Photo Essay: 5 Man-Made Wonders In Danger of Disappearing
Feature photo by Jesus & Kristle
1. Venice, Italy. Photo by llamnudd
Known as “City of Water”, City of Bridges” or “The City of Light”, Venice is one of the most beautiful cities of the world. The place for romantic gondola rides or peacful walks in quiet backstreets, it should be seen before it disappears into the surrounding waters. Even though Venice has been sinking more and more with each passing century, it has now reached a critical level.
2. Great Wall of China. Photo by Jeremy Barwick
One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Great Wall of China could be reduced to ruins by vast sandstorms and erosion just 20 years from now. Tourism also threatens the Great Wall of China, as it is severely damaged by the thousands of visitors each year. In the most visited sections of the wall, almost every brick is carved with people’s names or other graffiti.
3. Luxor, Egypt. Photo by Bernt Rostad
Too much tourism and development is the principal threat to the 4,000 year old Valley of the Kings, where Luxor’s tombs and temples are at risk of disappearing.
4. Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Photo by Abbie Mood
Tourism is ruining this world wonder, too. The increasing number of hotels around Angkor Wat has increased drilling to extract water, making the ground beneath the temples unstable.
5. Dampier Rock Carvings, Australia. Photo by Sue Waters
The largest collection of rock carvings in the world, the Dampier carvings in northwestern Australia are predicted to disappear by about 2030. Since the 1960s, the damage has been steadily increasing thanks to industrialization, pollution, and tourists.
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9 Comments... join the discussion!
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I wonder:p how I can change my bio, because I left home 5 weeks ago for my ‘long term adventure’.
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Conflicted. I would love to see these sites, but part of the decay is from the tourism industry. How do you justify being part of the problem?
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I want to think that not all travelers or tourists have a negative impact to these places. For example if you visit The Great Wall of China, you don’t need to carve your name(nobody will recognize you there:p). For Angkor Wat, the increasing number of hotels is the problem, I don’t travel with a lot of money so I wo’t sleep in a hotel. With many places, the problem is all tourists go in the same place.
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When I traveled to Venice last year it was under about a foot of water – the city had flooded to the point that one man went wakeboarding through Piazza San Marco. There was a definite sense of looming doom amongst the Venetians.
I guess I need to bump the other four sites up my bucket list before they’re all gone!
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Xtrem,
Great seeing you here and you brought up some valid points about the tourism industry and its impact on the environment, cultures and landmarks around the world. Hope to see more of your work, real soon. Next, I hafta go Stumble, Tweet, Digg and whatever other magic I can find. Keep travelin’ and writin’; you’ll go places !Cheers,
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Thanks, I want to write more and I’ll definitely keep traveling.
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