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 […]
Kategorie: landscape
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 […]
Isalo
Deep in Madagascar´s south Isalo Mountains are located, a jagged ridge of soft sandstone just like the similar Makay Mountains northwest of Isalo. It comes with it´s distinctive rock formations, deep gorges as well as oases, where Parrots, Lemurs and the famous Fossa viverrid are living in dry deciduous forest and the palm trees of […]
Horombe
Horombe plateau between Ihosy and Isalo mountains in southwestern Madagascar is set on an altitude of approximately 800 m above sea level. It is the land of the Bara, an ethnicity of herdsmen crossing the vast plains of the plateau with their zebu cattle. Cattle theft is also an issue not to be underestimated in […]
The Andringitra massif – Das Andringitra-Massiv
Andringitra Mountains in south-eastern Madagascar, south of Finarantsoa at the drop to the east coast, are a granite massif. It is home to 2.657 m high Pic Boby, the second highest summit on the island. The climate is the same as in central highland with temperatures that are sometimes likely to drop below zero at […]
Ranomafana
Along Madagascar´s eastcoast are the remainders of rainforests that used to cover the whole east flank of the island´s central highlands. The humid clouds coming from the Indian Ocean supply the steep slopes with huge amounts of rain along with devastating Cyclones, which are regularily making a havoc of parts of the island in the […]
Andasibe
Because of its proximity to Tana and the good accessibility near the Route National to Toamasina (Tamatave), Andasibe National Park is the most visited in Madagascar. It is home to the famous Indris, the Eastern lesser bamboo lemur and other lemurs like the diadem sifakas that got translocated from nearby Mantadia National Park as well […]
