Schlagwort: city

Arua

The small town of Arua is situated in a far north-western corner of Uganda, right at the border to the DR Congo. In the past, Arua has gained a certain fame because of being the place where Id Amin has been born, a world-famous lunatic. We took some “Shared Taxis” from Pakwach to Arua, which […]

Pakwach

We reached Pakwach in the emptiest minibus in history. At the end of the ride, we had been the only two passengers on the complete rear bench seat, and I wondered if this could be an indication of the upcoming apocalypse. But the world decided to exist a little longer, and we got the opportunity […]

Gulu

We had planned to visit Gulu 2012 but back then, it had been a matter of time to decide either to visit Gulu or to climb Mount Elgon in the east. We have had some setbacks when it came to visiting Uganda’s unique nature reserves. Often, it was only possible to reach a national park […]

Fort Portal

Fort Portal the second. We´ve been in Fort Portal five years ago, and we´ve really liked it. Back then, it had its nickname “Fort Pothole” for a good reason but besides that, it was a nice, well-developed town amidst a montane region with a lot of coffee and tea plantations. Neighbouring Rwenzori mountains are the […]

Entebbe

The former colonial capital of Uganda, Entebbe, is situated only few kilometres north of the equator at the shore of Lake Victoria. It is still a significant town, with more than 70.000 residents, the only international airport in the country as well as its port for serving the islands of the Ssese archipelago and for […]

Kampala

Five years after our first visit to Uganda and its capital, we finally revisited Kampala in July – twice.  Of course, it´s a characteristic African capital, which means that it has got a modern town centre as well as sheds, huts and slums as far as the eye can see – for probably close to […]

Antsiranana (Diego-Suarez)

Antsiranana is the northernmost city of Madagascar, and beyond Antsiranana, there is only the Cap d´Ambre, the northern tip of the island. Its Malagasy name means port, and that is quite a striking name. The bay of Antsiranana is encircled by mountains and is said to be the largest natural port on earth, with a […]

Mahajanga (Majunga)

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, […]

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 […]