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Vanishing Places gives a snapshot of 100 extraordinary places that are all at risk. To explore these stories further, here’s where to get started. 

1. India's first Chinatown, Tiretta Bazaar, Kolkata, eastern India

2. Iceland's abandoned herring factory, Árneshreppur municipality, Westfjords

3. Space to heal: Kinchela's boys' home, New South Wales, Australia

4. Emperor Jahangir's tomb, near Lahore, Punjab, northeastern Pakistan

5. Spain's emptying villages, rural regions, central and northern Spain

6. Yemen's mud skyscrapers, Shibam, eastern Yemen

7. Africatown, Alabama, southern USA

8. Ghana's last ten Asante houses, central Ghana

9. England's fading seaside towns, English coast

10. Lapland's ruined reindeer habitats

11. Peru's woven histories, The Andes, southern Peru

12. Plymouth, Montserrat, Leeward Islands, West Indies

13. America's Native culture under siege, various US regions

14. Bolivia's fragile salt flat, Salar de Uyuni, southwestern Bolivia

15. The Congo Basin, spanning Central Africa

16. The Arctic's precarious polar bear habitats

17. The Ukrainian city frozen in time, Pripyat, near Chernobyl

18. England's crumbling coast, Hemsby, near Great Yarmouth, Norfolk

19. Cambodia's commodified homelands, Mondulkiri province, northeastern Cambodia

20. Cairo's bulldozed necropolis, City of the Dead (Al-Qarafa), eastern Cairo, Egypt

21. Japan's surreal scarecrow village, Nagoro village, Iya Valley, western Shikoku Island

22. Failure to freeze in southern Yukon territory, Canada

23. The Namibian town swallowed by sand, Kolmanskop, southern Namibia

24. Northern England's broken bridge, Tees Transporter Bridge, near Middlesbrough

25. Brazil's uncontacted rainforest communities, Javari Valley, western Amazon rainforest

26. Civita di Bagnoregio, near Lake Bolsena, Lazio region, central Italy

27. The dying art of eagle hunting in Kyrgyzstan, rural mountainous regions

28. Population pressure in Tanzania, Ngorongoro Conservation Area, northern Tanzania

29. The Solomon Islands' dead lagoon, Langa Langa Lagoon, west coast of Malaita Island

30. Chuuk Lagoon, Federated States of Micronesia, western Pacific Ocean

31. Mawson's Huts, Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica

32. Panama's evacuated island, Gardi Sugdub island, Caribbean coast of Panama

33. Tuvalu: the world's first Digital Nation? Central Pacific Ocean

34. China's only cave village, Zhongdong Village, southern China

35. Japan's sinking airport, Kansai International Airport, Osaka Bay

36. Sudan's stolen riches, Nile Valley, northern Sudan

37. Stick chart navigation in the Marshall Islands, central Pacific Ocean

38. Australia's culturally modified trees, First Nations territories, New South Wales

39. The ancient cleits of St Kilda, 66 km off Outer Hebrides, western Scotland

40. The Great Mosque, Porto-Novo, southern Benin, West Africa

41. Kazakhstan's aging spaceport, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Central Asia

42. Alaska's buckling highway, Dalton Highway, from Fairbanks to Deadhorse, USA

43. Uganda's thawing ice, Rwenzori Mountains, East Africa

44. Micronesia's secret city, Nan Madol, eastern coast of Pohnpei Island

45. Scotland's community cinema, Oban Phoenix Cinema, Oban, west coast of Scotland

46. Beirut's battered heritage buildings, Lebanon

47. Chad's contracting lake, Lake Chad, Central Africa

48. Europe's Island of Women, Kihnu Island, Baltic Sea, off western Estonia

49. Teahupo'o's endangered reef, southwestern coast of Tahiti, French Polynesia

50. Norway's last Arctic coal mine, Gruve 7 coal mine, Svalbard archipelago

51. Mexico's unstable underground world, beneath Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula

52. South Africa's stolen succulents, Succulent Karoo biome, Northern and Western Cape

53. Antarctica's collapsing ice shelves, surrounding much of Antarctica

54. Florida's sinkholes, Sinkhole Alley, central Florida, USA

55. Vietnam's derelict water park, Hồ Thủy Tiên water park, near Huế city

56. The besieged archives of Timbuktu, northern Mali

57. London's doomed art deco icon, Marks & Spencer's department store, Oxford Street

58. New Zealand's wounded wetlands, Whangamarino Wetland, Lower Waikato Basin

59. Indonesia's last treetop homes, Korowai treehouse villages, Papua rainforests

60. Russia's ravaged monotowns, primarily Siberia and Urals region

61. Honduras's nefarious narco-highway, Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, Mosquitia region

62. Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley, Hindu Kush mountains, central Afghanistan

63. Mauritania's disappearing libraries, Chinguetti, Sahara Desert, Northwest Africa

64. Mount Everest, Himalayas, Nepal-China border

65. Sharjah's Ghost Village, Al Madam "Ghost Village", northeastern UAE

66. Switzerland's melting glaciers, Swiss Alps

67. Australia's forgotten gold mines, Llanelly and Tarnagulla towns, central Victoria

68. Greenland's frozen city, Camp Century, beneath Greenland's northwestern ice sheet

69. Berlin's repurposed runways, Tempelhof Field, Berlin, Germany

70. Africa's vanishing habitats, Sub-Saharan Africa

71. Venezuela's town in turmoil, Coro and La Vela de Coro, Puerto La Cruz, Anzoátegui

72. Papua New Guinea's sacred bark cloth, Oro Province

73. The last Blockbuster on earth, Revere Avenue, Bend, central Oregon, USA

74. The Kenyan hotel lost to the ocean, Kipini Village, Tana River County, Kenya

75. Easter island's vulnerable icons, Rapa Nui, southeastern Pacific Ocean

76. Angola's unfinished modernist cinema, Cinema Studio Namibe, Moçâmedes

77. South America's overgrown Incan roads, spanning six countries

78. Humanity's heritage on the Moon, Apollo 11 landing site, Tranquility Base

79. China's viral sinkhole forests, Guangxi province, southern China

80. Mongolia's suffocating capital, Ulaanbaatar city

81. India's blue city, Jodhpur, Rajasthan

82. The Maldives' dynamic islands, central Indian Ocean

83. The shrinking Dead Sea, Jordan-Israel border, Middle East

84. Coral bleaching at the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland coastline, northeastern Australia

85. Machu Picchu in peril, Andes Mountains, southern Peru

  • Book: Duram, Leslie A. (2025) Endangered Places

86. Venice, northeastern Italy

87. Tunisia's Medieval reservoirs, historic quarter of Tunis

88. Santorini's crushed vineyards, southern Aegean Sea, Greece

89. Puerto Rico's bioluminescent bays, southwestern Puerto Rico

90. Ethiopia's eroding stone churches, Lalibela rock-hewn churches, northern Ethiopia

91. Denmark moving lighthouse, Rubjerg Knude Lighthouse, Jutland Peninsula

92. South Africa's overlooked ruins, Blaauboschkraal stone ruins, northeastern South Africa

93. The unlikely hero of Louisiana's coast, Grand Bayou village, southern USA

94. France's Ice Age cave paintings, Dordogne region, southwestern France

95. Saudi Arabia's changing oasis, Al-Ahsa Oasis, Rub' al Khali Desert (Empty Quarter)

96. The half-built National Art Schools of Cuba, western Cuba

97. Seoul's eerily empty pubs, Nokdu Street, Sinchon district, Seoul, northern South Korea

98. Poland's crooked forest, Nowy Czarnów village, near Gryfino, northwest Poland

99. Zambia's faltering floodplain, Barotse Floodplain, along the Zambezi River, Southern Africa

100. Los Angeles County's scorched landscape, Southern California, United States

Amy Hopkins

written by
Amy Hopkins

updated 04.06.2025

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