Once I dreamt of a town at a turquoise sea with sailing vessels on it, of which I have learned that they have been invented in the Arabic world and are called Dhows. The air was warm and slightly salty, the palm trees along the seaside promenade were murmuring unheard words in the warm wind, […]
Kategorie: culture
Tsingy de Bemaraha
After a tropical night that had us soaked in sweat, we faced the fact that our car was still standing on the other side of the river with its hood wide open. So, we got on a pirogue and headed upstream Manombolo for the Petit Tsingy, which is the southern end of the karst scenery. […]
From Morondava to Tsingy de Bemaraha – Von Morondava zu den Tsingy de Bemaraha
We´ve almost made it – but only just! We´ve already managed to finish 200 Kilometres of something that is used to be called a dirt road, but in Madagascar it´s often no more than a swath in the forest and the landscape in general. That very swath had lead us from Morondava along Madagascar´s west […]
Vezo – Struggling with the sea – Die mit dem Meer ringen
Just like ghosts, the wraithlike figures are moving through the fog that dampens or fully absorbs few shouts and the noises of the nearby town. The beach, the sea, everything is grey, and the boats that are moving in and out the belt of fog are of dark grey. Such fog is very common along […]
Journey through a mouldering land – Reise durch ein zerfallendes Land
An important ressource rarely taken into account, often disdained and most of the time “tramped on” without bothering much is soil! But that is the surface of this planet, generating life and nutrients as well as keeping everything alive. Desertification – the ongoing spreading of deserts – and erosion are devastating enormous amounts of soil […]
Mozambique Channel – Der Kanal von Mosambik
Besides sharks, huge rays, and African skates as well as Orcas, there are many humpback whales in surrounding seas of Madagascar. In southern winter, they move from the Antarctic sea into the warmer water of subtropics to give birth to their calves. They need the warmer water to prevent a shock of hypothermia that could […]
Toliara (Tuléar)
Toliara (Tuléar) is the biggest and most important city in southwestern Madagascar. Once in the past, rebels had blown up a bridge on the way from the capital Antananarivo to it´s most significant port Toamasina (Tamatave) at the east coast. That was when the government bought Toliara a deepwater port as well as a 1.000-kilometre-long […]
The Manakara Suicide Bridge – Die Geschichte von der Manakara-Selbstmord-Brücke
Manakara is a drowsy postcolonial town on the south-eastern coast of Madagascar, sleeping a ruinous sleep after once having been an important port and trading centre since it had been connected to the central highland city of Fianarantsoa by railway tracks in 1936. Nowadays Manakara is suffering from Toamasina (Tamatave) being the major port on […]
“The Times They Are A-Changin´”
“…The line it is drawn, the curse it is cast The slow one now will later be fast As the present now will later be past The order is rapidly fadin‘ And the first one now will later be last For the times they are a-changin‘” (Bob Dylan, “The Times They Are A-Changin´”, 1964) One […]
Mitsinjo
The forest of Mitsinjo is part of the Andasibe area a 4 to 5-hours-drive east of Tana. Besides the eponymous Andasibe National Park and Mitsinjo forest, there are several other protected areas such as VOIMMA, a small community-based park, Mantadia National Park, Torotorofotsy Reserve, Maromizaha Reserve and Vohimana Reserve, all trying to protect chunks of […]
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