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 […]
Kategorie: people
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Brickmaking – Die Ziegelherstellung
As one travels the island of Madagascar, it gets quite clear that wood is somehow out of reach as construction material, because it is needed as combustible and there is not much left of it – in general. Where people at the south tend to live in huts made of palm leaves, bamboo, and some […]
Transport Malagasy
Transport facilities in Madagascar are quite quixotic, because there ain´t that many roads worthy of that name. Travelling Madagascar is a fascinating thing to do, but it´s also tough and time-consuming. Infrastructure would be too strong a word for the possibilities on the island. It´s mainly three so-called National Roads linking Antsiranana (Diego-Suarez) in the […]
Ambositra
Even if Ambositra (pronounced ambooshtre) might be no more than a halt in between for most Madagascar travellers, it´s definitely worth giving it a second glance. Ambositra is a small town halfway between Antsirabe and Fianarantsoa on the RN7 from Tana down south, and it got charms set in the middle of central Madagascan highland […]
