My heart is in the highland

The central highlands are Madagascar’s backbone, stretching along the eastern part of the island from the Massif du Tsaratanana – south of Ambilobe – all the way down south to the Andringitra Massif west of Manakara. In the southeast it is linked to the Massiv d´Antaivondro, a mountain range almost reaching Taolagnaro (Fort Dauphin) at […]

Antananarivo – Tana par plaisir

Antananarivo, Madagascar´s capital with two to three million citizens who just call it Tana, has been marked as the world´s third most polluted city just behind leading Baku/Azerbaijan and Dhaka/Bangladesh in a Forbes-ranking in 2008. But there must have been some improvements ever since then. When it comes to air pollution I´ve seen worse in […]

Mouila – A quiet place – Ein ruhiger Ort

Mouila is indeed a quiet place – not to say sleepy. It is the capital of the Ngounié region, named after the river which is the most important tributary of the Oogué. 30.000 inhabitants are living in Mouila that is linked to Lambaréné and Libreville in the north as well as Ndendé in the south […]

Libreville – No way out

When you get off the plane as a northern or middle European in Libreville, it is like walking against a wall. It is the extreme humidity that hits you like a weight packed upon your chest. At least I felt so when we arrived at Libreville at half past seven in the evening, after a […]

Harar

The legendary city of Harar is in Ethiopia´s east only a few kilometres from the border to Somaliland at 1.850 m at the outermost point of the Ahmar mountain range. Famous for its UNESCO World Heritage old town enclosed by a defence wall, modern-day Harar has around 200.000 inhabitants and is quite a typical African […]

Meet the Dorze – Zu Gast bei den Dorze

The Dorze live up in the Guge mountains north of Arba Minch, and they belong to the so called “Museum of tribes” in southern Ethiopia, ancient ethnic groups living just like their forefathers. Long ago, the Dorze had been a tribe of hunters and warriors, but when the regions big game disappeared, the people had […]

Bale mountains – Die Bale-Berge

The Bale mountains southeast of Shashemene rank among the most beautiful landscapes in the country. They are home to some decent peaks, including Mount Tulu Dimtu, with 4.377 m Ethiopia’s second highest mountain, rising out of the 4.000 m high Sanetti plateau, Africa’s largest area above 3.000 m. The lush montane rainforests on its slopes […]

Gambella

The city of Gambella as well as the eponymous region are oddities in Ethiopia, lacking the significant features of the rest of the country, especially the highland culture. The region is more linked to South Sudan because of the nearby border. The city has been established by Britain in 1907 as a port at Baro […]

Dessie

With more than half a million residents, modern Dessie is one of the biggest cities in Ethiopia. The town is set at an altitude of 2.600 m at the foot of local Mount Tossa right at the north-south link between Adigrat, Mekele, Weldiya, Dessie and Addis Ababa. Around Dessie, the ancient trading routes of the […]

Genna – Christmas at Lalibela – Weihnachten in Lalibela

Genna (or Lidet) is the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas that is celebrated on January 7th, according to the Julian calendar used by the Ethiopians. In leap years, the celebration is shifted for one day. But not in Lalibela where Genna has a special significance. Legend has it that king Lalibela had been born on the same […]