It feels just like being at the ocean standing at the shore of Lake Malawi. Besides Malawi, parts of the lake belong to Tanzania and Mozambique, but by far the largest piece belongs to the tiny southeast African country. Motorboats are rare on the lake, but innumerable dugout canoes as well as Dhows, traditional fishing […]
Schlagwort: culture
Lilongwe – The world´s largest Tobacco Auction House – Im weltgrößten Tabak-Auktionshaus
The world´s largest Tobacco Auction House is part of the Auction Holdings Limited, a group of companies offering the Malawian tobacco farmers a strictly limited and regulated trade platform for their tobacco. All the Malawian tobacco harvest goes to the auction house after drying, being sold in the few weeks of harvest. Either the farmer […]
Malawi on the road
Referring to the latest United Nation´s Human Development Index, Malawi is one of the world´s poorest countries, suffering from an uncontrolled increase of population, a population explosion, from an unstable food supply which leads to deficiency symptoms, from erosion because of widespread deforestation, from decades of exploitation and suppression, not only by its own dictatorial […]
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 […]
Joffreville & Montagne d´Ambre
Joffreville (Ambohitra) in the Montagne d´Ambre had been built by the French colonial rulers for strategic as well as climatic reasons. Today, the small town offers not much more than picturesquely decaying colonial architecture and the opportunity to go hiking in the nearby Montagne d´Ambre National Park. Around 5.000 people are living in Joffreville today, […]
Ankarana
The Tsingy limestone formations cover areas along Madagascars west coast, from the Tsingy de Bemaraha north of Morondava and the Tsingy de Namoroka south of Mahajanga all the way up to the Ankarana massif south of Antsiranana (Diego-Suarez), where the Tsingy finally meet the ocean. 182 square kilometres of the Ankarana massif are protected as […]
Cirque Rouge
For obvious reasons, that sediment formation north of port town Mahajanga in north-western Madagascar is called Cirque Rouge. Elements keep working on the colourful cliffs, which are holy to some locals. A well is pushing out the water just through the coloured sand in the middle of the valley. People use to pray there, and […]
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, […]
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 […]
