Bazaruto, Mozambique

The Inverted Mirage of Mozambique


Dunes in the middle of the sea
Dunes like few others across the Indian Ocean gild and crown Bazaruto.
Bike 4 to 3
A native of Bazaruto walks along a sandy path in the interior of the island, with his family behind him.
vegetable gazebo
Blue Monkey inspects the outsiders from the top of a tree canopy.
Welcome Committee
Natives of one of the many hamlets that dot the interior of Bazaruto.
sailfish bay II
One of the rare coves on the east coast of Bazaruto where the sea crashes into the base of the island's great dune range
3b166ada-a3d7-4d4d-aab2-7d8c9793a28c
silhouette of a dhow which sails off the west coast of the island of Bazaruto.
sailfish bay
One of the rare coves on the east coast of Bazaruto, where the sea crashes into the base of the island's great dune range
gray dhow
Silhouette of a dhow< sailing off the west coast of the island of Bazaruto.
Anchorage
Commander anchors his dhow off the town of Asneira.
shelter
Inlet on the west coast of Bazaruto lined with fishing boats. The coast facing Mozambique has the calmest sea in Bazaruto.
The snack at hand
A boy eats a piece of fruit in his village at the end of the afternoon.
trio on board
Crew members of a dhow just anchored on the long beach in front of Asneira.
Shapes & Silhouette
Girl from a hamlet near Asneira, on the west coast of Bazaruto
Fresh water
Wild lake bordered by dunes, a typical Bazaruto scenery. Several of these lakes are inhabited by Nile crocodiles.
wet walk
Bazaruto women walk a soaked road for a morning; of heavy rain.
sand out of sight
Mountain range of dunes on the east coast of the island, yellowed by sunset.
Earth vs Heaven
A small shrubby palm stands out against the golden sunset sky.
woman-picks-grass-in-lake-bazaruto-Mozambique
Native harvests grass in Lake Bazaruto
Just 30km off the East African coast, an unlikely but imposing erg rises out of the translucent sea. Bazaruto it houses landscapes and people who have lived apart for a long time. Whoever lands on this lush, sandy island soon finds himself in a storm of awe.

Time to set sail for the Channel

The Channel of Mozambique. Its tides and currents, the greater or lesser flow of the sea, dictate the hours when the dhow and the launches are made to it and they can navigate in it. At 14 pm on a windy afternoon that ruffled the shallow Indian Ocean, we finally set sail for Bazaruto.

Neither the wind nor the small waves generated by the breeze seemed to affect the latest generation boats, equipped with powerful engines that ensured the route at high speed.

Along the way, the sea took on different shades of greens and blues, fascinating indicators of the shallowness of the bed and a kind of chromatic recreation of the dolphins and dugongs that inhabit the fruitful waters between Mozambique e Madagascar. The first ones did not take long to appear and welcome us with their leaps and unrestrained escorts in front of the vessel.

Even though there are more than three hundred, in those parts – considered the only prolific colony on the east coast of Africa – the sea cows never gave a sign of themselves. They have kept to distant sandbanks, safe from the engines and the inconvenience they cause them.

Sand and respective banks is not lacking. With warm waters, facing south, the Current of Mozambique, drags with it sediments that it continuously deposits wherever the ocean narrows or encounters obstacles. In the right sense, it also drives the many dhows that travel there.

Dhow on the Mozambique Channel

Silhouette of a dhow< sailing off the west coast of the island of Bazaruto.

The Majestic Vision of the Bazaruto Archipelago

After almost an hour of walking, the supreme monumentality of this phenomenon leaves us awestruck. We abandoned the front of the big island of Benguerra. As soon as its narrow northern peninsula ends, the domains of Bazaruto are inaugurated, the much larger island that lends its name to this archipelago in the province of Inhambane.

The boat continues along its west coast, turning to the mainland. Even so, hyperbolic dunes insinuate themselves well above this immediate coastline and vegetation, a mountain range of them, linked by these and other wind-shaped gestures.

However, the coast and the green bushes that line it increase in height. The island also becomes wider. The two factors make the dunes from us to move away until the glimpse. We quickly face the cove and the populated area of ​​Asneira. The boat goes to the beach.

At 15:30 pm we are installed in Bazaruto. Half an hour later, we were led by James to discover the sand empire we had seen in the east of the island. The path to get there turns out to be almost as sandy as the ergs themselves. Only the sturdy jeeps in it advanced.

Bazaruto: discovering Ilha das Dunas and Lagos

Experienced, James, lead us without a hitch. Until he and a resident on a ATV find each other face to face, both with their passage blocked. Using a lot of gymnastics on the big wheels, the native there gets around the unexpected obstacle we had become and follows his destiny.

Residents of Bazaruto Island in Moto 4, Mozambique

A native of Bazaruto walks along a sandy path in the interior of the island, with his family behind him.

Just a few hundred meters further, a descent reveals Maubue, the first of the lakes that dot Bazaruto. We begged James to get closer to the water. “It's not possible, replies the guide. The terrain down there is marshy. It also hides crocodiles”.

We were on an island far from other Mozambican bags where those reptiles subsisted: Sofala, Zambezi, Gorongous, others. In the brief moment, we didn't know if he was talking jokingly or if he was serious. In any case, the short winter in the Southern Hemisphere made early sunset.

Dunes of Bazaruto Island, Mozambique

Dunes like few others across the Indian Ocean gild and crown Bazaruto.

Accordingly, James reminded us that we should hurry up to the dune zone. By giving in to his appeal, we put the matter to sleep.

James makes the jeep snag and win a last slope. We leave the vehicle and go up, on foot, the irregular and vegetated slope of the dune, soon among dwarf palms and other shrubs that emerge irrigated by the frequent rain (850 mm annually, especially between December and March) despite the porosity of the ground.

The sunset among the Ergs

We reach, panting, the intermediate level of the sand mountains. The magnificence and exoticism of the scenery do little to help us catch our breath. Below, we found Lake Maubue ​​again. Instead of the opposite bank that we had seen firsthand, it was bounded by the steep slope of a dune that stretched northward until we were out of sight.

To the opposite side, the high foothills that supported us dipped into a valley hollowed out towards the east coast. Along its entire length, ridges were repeated with sinuous shapes, streaked by the morning rain and flown over by small lilac clouds.

Minutes later, the sun dipped into the Canal de Mozambique and gilded the near west. At three other times, he delivered it to the night pitch.

Sun sets east of Bazaruto, Mozambique

A small shrubby palm stands out against the golden sunset sky.

Only the dawn, damp at first, and soon drenched, rescued the great star. We're back to relying on James to explore as much of Bazaruto as possible. We left with a blanket of dark clouds threatening to make theirs. The showers began mild. It didn't take long to alternate with deluge periods from which not even the jeep's canvas cover adequately protected us.

The sand road took us north and inland, between a new constellation of lakes that the rain increased and renewed. On the edge of the Lengue, the largest of all, a native of old age was cutting papyrus from an extensive adjacent cane field. "Remember the crocodile conversation yesterday?" asks us James.

Fatal Crocodiles and the Remaining Fauna of Bazaruto

“We didn't have time to finish it but, by the way, you know: some time ago, another lady was doing exactly the same thing as this one and was caught by a crocodile. It seems that people here don't learn.”

Native harvests grass in Bazaruto, Mozambique

Native harvests grass near Lake Bazaruto

We are intrigued by how crocodiles have proliferated on a relatively small, sandy island and in lakes like these, so far from the rivers and swamps of vast continental Africa. In the absence of a more scientific and ancestral explanation, we found that, at least, during the 80s, Bazaruto hosted a production of reptiles that was expected to be profitable.

But, the Mozambican Civil War broke out. The fauna of several natural parks and reserves in the country – a glaring case of the NP Gorongosa – was decimated. The context proved anything but propitious and animal husbandry was abandoned.

How many specimens would have been that, instead, found ideal conditions for their subsistence and reproduction in lakes full of fish, also inhabited or frequented by most mammals and birds on the island.

We bypassed the Lengue. Colonies of cormorants dry their feathers in the intermittent sun, on branches of coconut palms along the riverbanks. A new downpour drenches them and us.

Blue Monkey in Bazaruto, Mozambique

Blue Monkey inspects the outsiders from the top of a tree canopy.

Returning to calm, we come across a family of rare blue monkeys contemplating our incursion into their territory from the top of a leafy canopy, half-walls with the base of another huge dune.

The road on which we almost reached the next stop took advantage of one of the rare areas of the island where, due to a freak of the relief, the width of the dunes was reduced and allowed an approach to the east coast through the huge ergs.

Curve after curve, in this coming and going of rain showers and summer breaks, we go around a new sandy slope. It was noon. On the other side, we finally bumped into the east of the Canal de Mozambique.

Sailfish bay, Bazaruto Island, Mozambique.

One of the rare coves on the east coast of Bazaruto, where the sea crashes into the base of the island's great range of dunes.

Sailfish Bay, an Eccentric Cove

The ebb tide made the sea retreat far away, as did the clouds, stampeding under the pressure of the plunging sun. “Well, we arrived at Sailfish Bay. This place is special. I come here time and time again with guests, but now, I stick with the jeep. Explore at will."

We walked along the inlet to a cape that separated it from the next beach, which extended to the last southern meters of the 8 km length of Bazaruto.

In this Sailfish Bay, tiny waves unfolded as if in slow motion, with almost timed intervals between them. They crumbled against a sandbank artfully jagged by the tide. Next to it, an ephemeral marine pool filled the depths that extended all the way to the shore.

Two fishermen with few speeches were extending a net so long that it allowed them to dream of catching all the fish they kept there. We follow your toil for a few minutes.

Instead of going back along the bottom of the dune that closed the cove, we took a trail opened by fishermen. We followed it through its heights, dazzled by the unconditional feeling of freedom that that yellow and blue vastness gave us.

Back at the seaside, before getting into the jeep, we bathed in the warm waves, there, warring, of Sailfish Bay. Pressed by the urge to resume the journey James had been leading us on for hours, we didn't even get to dry.

We went into the shallow area adjacent to the Zingo Lagoon, which is semi-flooded and into which a mangrove swamp penetrated from the western marine boundary. The morning rain had given much of this section to shallow rivers and streams with mere hours to live.

Natives walk in Bazaruto, Mozambique

Bazaruto women walk a soaked road for a morning; of heavy rain.

We come across three women who, at intervals, find themselves forced to walk on one of them. Around the time we got rid of the flooded road, the first hut villages that we would have seen on the island appear.

Thereafter, as we approached Asneira and the Bazaruto area occupied by its two large resorts, more and more communities emerged.

The island's new tourist reality dictated that hotels, instead of fishing or migration to the mainland or further afield, ensured the subsistence of dozens of families. We quickly realized this benefit, as guests of the resort and as unexpected visitors to its employees.

The Picturesque Tsonga Villages

We stop at Anantara Bazaruto. James gives an off-shift maid a lift on her way to her village. We pass among several others, formed by huts or mud houses, many already reinforced by modern materials that undo the visual harmony and genuineness of the villages.

Residents of a village on the island of Bazaruto, Mozambique

Natives of one of the many hamlets that dot the interior of Bazaruto.

Upon arrival, a group of children of different ages receive the lady, in the house that Anantara's salary helped to complete.

In the midst of papayas and other fruit and shade trees, fresh water pumps and pestles in which the too, the manioc porridge that feeds the island, the archipelago and the nation.

Girl from Bazaruto, Mozambique

Girl from a hamlet near Asneira, on the west coast of Bazaruto

Most of the natives who inspect and greet us there are of the Tsonga ethnic group. They speak Shitsu (a common dialect in the province of Inhambane), Xitsonga (the dialect of the Tsongas) and some Portuguese.

Many others of the approximately 2000 residents of different villages never got to familiarize themselves with Portuguese.

boy from Bazaruto, Mozambique

A boy eats a piece of fruit in his village at the end of the afternoon.

During the colonial period – but not only – Bazaruto saw itself for a long time without schools, or at least without teaching in Portuguese.

He also spent the years that passed on the sidelines of the violence and destruction of the War of Independence and the Civil War that ravaged the continental country. It's another reason why the island and the incredible archipelago around it gained the status of a Marine Reserve.

And because its scenery, its fauna, flora and people form one of the strongholds of Mozambique as surreal as real.

Bazaruto Island inlet in the Mozambique Channel

Inlet on the west coast of Bazaruto lined with fishing boats. The coast facing Mozambique has the calmest sea in Bazaruto.

More information about Bazaruto on the respective page of Wikipedia

Damaraland, Namíbia

Namibia On the Rocks

Hundreds of kilometers north of Swakopmund, many more of Swakopmund's iconic dunes Sossuvlei, Damaraland is home to deserts interspersed with hills of reddish rock, the highest mountain and ancient rock art of the young nation. the settlers South Africans they named this region after the Damara, one of the Namibian ethnic groups. Only these and other inhabitants prove that it remains on Earth.
Ibo Island, Mozambique

Island of a Gone Mozambique

It was fortified in 1791 by the Portuguese who expelled the Arabs from the Quirimbas and seized their trade routes. It became the 2nd Portuguese outpost on the east coast of Africa and later the capital of the province of Cabo Delgado, Mozambique. With the end of the slave trade at the turn of the XNUMXth century and the passage from the capital to Porto Amélia, Ibo Island found itself in the fascinating backwater in which it is located.
Ilha de Mozambique, Mozambique  

The Island of Ali Musa Bin Bique. Pardon... of Mozambique

With the arrival of Vasco da Gama in the extreme south-east of Africa, the Portuguese took over an island that had previously been ruled by an Arab emir, who ended up misrepresenting the name. The emir lost his territory and office. Mozambique - the molded name - remains on the resplendent island where it all began and also baptized the nation that Portuguese colonization ended up forming.
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Heart of Mozambique's Wildlife Shows Signs of Life

Gorongosa was home to one of the most exuberant ecosystems in Africa, but from 1980 to 1992 it succumbed to the Civil War waged between FRELIMO and RENAMO. Greg Carr, Voice Mail's millionaire inventor received a message from the Mozambican ambassador to the UN challenging him to support Mozambique. For the good of the country and humanity, Carr pledged to resurrect the stunning national park that the Portuguese colonial government had created there.
Enxame Mozambique

Mozambican Fashion Service Area

It is repeated at almost all stops in towns of Mozambique worthy of appearing on maps. The machimbombo (bus) stops and is surrounded by a crowd of eager "businessmen". The products offered can be universal such as water or biscuits or typical of the area. In this region, a few kilometers from Nampula, fruit sales suceeded, in each and every case, quite intense.
Morondava, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar

The Malagasy Way to Dazzle

Out of nowhere, a colony of baobab trees 30 meters high and 800 years old flanks a section of the clayey and ocher road parallel to the Mozambique Channel and the fishing coast of Morondava. The natives consider these colossal trees the mothers of their forest. Travelers venerate them as a kind of initiatory corridor.
Fianarantsoa-Manakara, Madagascar

On board the Malagasy TGV

We depart Fianarantsoa at 7a.m. It wasn't until 3am the following morning that we completed the 170km to Manakara. The natives call this almost secular train Train Great Vibrations. During the long journey, we felt, very strongly, those of the heart of Madagascar.
Ibo Island a Quirimba IslandMozambique

Ibo to Quirimba with the Tide

For centuries, the natives have traveled in and out of the mangrove between the island of Ibo and Quirimba, in the time that the overwhelming return trip from the Indian Ocean grants them. Discovering the region, intrigued by the eccentricity of the route, we follow its amphibious steps.
Pemba, Mozambique

From Porto Amélia to the Shelter Port of Mozambique

In July 2017, we visited Pemba. Two months later, the first attack took place on Mocímboa da Praia. Nor then do we dare to imagine that the tropical and sunny capital of Cabo Delgado would become the salvation of thousands of Mozambicans fleeing a terrifying jihadism.
Goa island, Ilha de Mozambique, Mozambique

The Island that Illuminates the Island of Mozambique

Located at the entrance to the Mossuril Bay, the small island of Goa is home to a centuries-old lighthouse. Its listed tower signals the first stop of a stunning dhow tour around the old Ilha de Mozambique.

Machangulo, Mozambique

The Golden Peninsula of Machangulo

At a certain point, an ocean inlet divides the long sandy strip full of hyperbolic dunes that delimits Maputo Bay. Machangulo, as the lower section is called, is home to one of the most magnificent coastlines in Mozambique.
Vilankulos, Mozambique

Indian Ocean comes, Indian Ocean goes

The gateway to the Bazaruto archipelago of all dreams, Vilankulos has its own charms. Starting with the elevated coastline facing the bed of the Mozambique Channel which, for the benefit of the local fishing community, the tides sometimes flood, sometimes uncover.
Maputo National Park, Mozambique

The Wild Mozambique between the Maputo River and the Indian Ocean

The abundance of animals, especially elephants, led to the creation of a Hunting Reserve in 1932. After the hardships of the Mozambican Civil War, the Maputo PN protects prodigious ecosystems in which fauna proliferates. With emphasis on the pachyderms that have recently become too many.
Tofo, Mozambique

Between Tofo and Tofinho along a growing coastline

The 22km between the city of Inhambane and the coast reveal an immensity of mangroves and coconut groves, here and there, dotted with huts. Arrival in Tofo, a string of dunes above a seductive Indian Ocean and a humble village where the local way of life has long been adjusted to welcome waves of dazzled outsiders.
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Inhambane, Mozambique

The Current Capital of a Land of Good People

It is a fact that such a generous welcome led Vasco da Gama to praise the region. From 1731 onwards, the Portuguese developed Inhambane until 1975, when they bequeathed it to the Mozambicans. The city remains the urban and historical heart of one of Mozambique's most revered provinces.
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 1

Through the Mozambican Lands of Tea

The Portuguese founded Gurué in the 1930th century and, from XNUMX onwards, flooded it with camellia sinensis the foothills of the Namuli Mountains. Later, they renamed it Vila Junqueiro, in honor of its main promoter. With the independence of Mozambique and the civil war, the town regressed. It continues to stand out for the lush green imposing mountains and teak landscapes.
Gurué, Mozambique, Part 2

In Gurué, Among Tea Slopes

After an initial exploration of Gurué, it is time for tea around the area. On successive days, we set off from the city centre to discover the plantations at the foot of the Namuli Mountains. Less extensive than they were before Mozambique's independence and the Portuguese exodus, they adorn some of the most magnificent landscapes in Zambézia.
Believers greet each other in the Bukhara region.
City
Bukhara, Uzbequistan

Among the Minarets of Old Turkestan

Situated on the ancient Silk Road, Bukhara has developed for at least two thousand years as an essential commercial, cultural and religious hub in Central Asia. It was Buddhist and then Muslim. It was part of the great Arab empire and that of Genghis Khan, the Turko-Mongol kingdoms and the Soviet Union, until it settled in the still young and peculiar Uzbekistan.
Host Wezi points out something in the distance
Beach
Cobue; Nkwichi Lodge, Mozambique

The Hidden Mozambique of the Creaking Sands

During a tour from the bottom to the top of Lake Malawi, we find ourselves on the island of Likoma, an hour by boat from Nkwichi Lodge, the solitary base of this inland coast of Mozambique. On the Mozambican side, the lake is known as Niassa. Whatever its name, there we discover some of the most stunning and unspoilt scenery in south-east Africa.
Lion, Elephants, PN Hwange, Zimbabwe
safari
PN Hwange, Zimbabwe

The Legacy of the Late Cecil Lion

On July 1, 2015, Walter Palmer, a dentist and trophy hunter from Minnesota killed Cecil, Zimbabwe's most famous lion. The slaughter generated a viral wave of outrage. As we saw in PN Hwange, nearly two years later, Cecil's descendants thrive.
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 5th - Ngawal a BragaNepal

Towards the Nepalese Braga

We spent another morning of glorious weather discovering Ngawal. There is a short journey towards Manang, the main town on the way to the zenith of the Annapurna circuit. We stayed for Braga (Braka). The hamlet would soon prove to be one of its most unforgettable places.
Itamaraty Palace Staircase, Brasilia, Utopia, Brazil
Architecture & Design
Brasilia, Brazil

Brasília: from Utopia to the Capital and Political Arena of Brazil

Since the days of the Marquis of Pombal, there has been talk of transferring the capital to the interior. Today, the chimera city continues to look surreal but dictates the rules of Brazilian development.
Totems, Botko Village, Malekula, Vanuatu
Aventura
Malekula, Vanuatu

Meat and Bone Cannibalism

Until the early XNUMXth century, man-eaters still feasted on the Vanuatu archipelago. In the village of Botko we find out why European settlers were so afraid of the island of Malekula.
The Crucifixion in Helsinki
Ceremonies and Festivities
Helsinki, Finland

A Frigid-Scholarly Via Crucis

When Holy Week arrives, Helsinki shows its belief. Despite the freezing cold, little dressed actors star in a sophisticated re-enactment of Via Crucis through streets full of spectators.
Registration Square, Silk Road, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Cities
Samarkand, Uzbequistan

A Monumental Legacy of the Silk Road

In Samarkand, cotton is the most traded commodity and Ladas and Chevrolets have replaced camels. Today, instead of caravans, Marco Polo would find Uzbekistan's worst drivers.
Obese resident of Tupola Tapaau, a small island in Western Samoa.
Lunch time
Tonga, Western Samoa, Polynesia

XXL Pacific

For centuries, the natives of the Polynesian islands subsisted on land and sea. Until the intrusion of colonial powers and the subsequent introduction of fatty pieces of meat, fast food and sugary drinks have spawned a plague of diabetes and obesity. Today, while much of Tonga's national GDP, Western Samoa and neighbors is wasted on these “western poisons”, fishermen barely manage to sell their fish.
Treasures, Las Vegas, Nevada, City of Sin and Forgiveness
Culture
Las Vegas, USA

Where sin is always forgiven

Projected from the Mojave Desert like a neon mirage, the North American capital of gaming and entertainment is experienced as a gamble in the dark. Lush and addictive, Vegas neither learns nor regrets.
4th of July Fireworks-Seward, Alaska, United States
Sport
Seward, Alaska

The Longest 4th of July

The independence of the United States is celebrated, in Seward, Alaska, in a modest way. Even so, the 4th of July and its celebration seem to have no end.
Braga or Braka or Brakra in Nepal
Traveling
Annapurna Circuit: 6th – Braga, Nepal

The Ancient Nepal of Braga

Four days of walking later, we slept at 3.519 meters from Braga (Braka). Upon arrival, only the name is familiar to us. Faced with the mystical charm of the town, arranged around one of the oldest and most revered Buddhist monasteries on the Annapurna circuit, we continued our journey there. acclimatization with ascent to Ice Lake (4620m).
Barrancas del Cobre, Chihuahua, Rarámuri woman
Ethnic
Barrancas del Cobre (Copper Canyon), Chihuahua, Mexico

The Deep Mexico of the Barrancas del Cobre

Without warning, the Chihuahua highlands give way to endless ravines. Sixty million geological years have furrowed them and made them inhospitable. The Rarámuri indigenous people continue to call them home.
Sunset, Avenue of Baobabs, Madagascar
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio

days like so many others

Serra do Mar train, Paraná, airy view
History
Curitiba a Morretes, Paraná, Brazil

Down Paraná, on Board the Train Serra do Mar

For more than two centuries, only a winding and narrow road connected Curitiba to the coast. Until, in 1885, a French company opened a 110 km railway. We walked along it to Morretes, the final station for passengers today. 40km from the original coastal terminus of Paranaguá.
Cathedral, Funchal, Madeira
Islands
Funchal, Madeira

Portal to a Nearly Tropical Portugal

Madeira is located less than 1000km north of the Tropic of Cancer. And the luxuriant exuberance that earned it the nickname of the garden island of the Atlantic can be seen in every corner of its steep capital.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Winter White
Hailuoto, Finland

A Refuge in the Gulf of Bothnia

During winter, the island of Hailuoto is connected to the rest of Finland by the country's longest ice road. Most of its 986 inhabitants esteem, above all, the distance that the island grants them.
Visitors to Ernest Hemingway's Home, Key West, Florida, United States
Literature
Key West, United States

Hemingway's Caribbean Playground

Effusive as ever, Ernest Hemingway called Key West "the best place I've ever been...". In the tropical depths of the contiguous US, he found evasion and crazy, drunken fun. And the inspiration to write with intensity to match.
Tinquilco Lake in PN Huerquehue, Pucón, La Araucania, Chile
Nature
Pucón, Chile

Among the Araucarias of La Araucania

At a certain latitude in longline Chile, we enter La Araucanía. This is a rugged Chile, full of volcanoes, lakes, rivers, waterfalls and the coniferous forests from which the region's name grew. And it is the heart of the pine nuts of the largest indigenous ethnic group in the country: the Mapuche.
Sheki, Autumn in the Caucasus, Azerbaijan, Autumn Homes
Autumn
Sheki, Azerbaijan

autumn in the caucasus

Lost among the snowy mountains that separate Europe from Asia, Sheki is one of Azerbaijan's most iconic towns. Its largely silky history includes periods of great harshness. When we visited it, autumn pastels added color to a peculiar post-Soviet and Muslim life.
Seljalandsfoss Escape
Natural Parks
Iceland

The Island of Fire, Ice and Waterfalls

Europe's supreme cascade rushes into Iceland. But it's not the only one. On this boreal island, with constant rain or snow and in the midst of battle between volcanoes and glaciers, endless torrents crash.
In the middle of the Gold Coast
UNESCO World Heritage
Elmina, Ghana

The First Jackpot of the Portuguese Discoveries

In the century. XVI, Mina generated to the Crown more than 310 kg of gold annually. This profit aroused the greed of the The Netherlands and from England, which succeeded one another in the place of the Portuguese and promoted the slave trade to the Americas. The surrounding village is still known as Elmina, but today fish is its most obvious wealth.
Characters
Look-alikes, Actors and Extras

Make-believe stars

They are the protagonists of events or are street entrepreneurs. They embody unavoidable characters, represent social classes or epochs. Even miles from Hollywood, without them, the world would be more dull.
Sesimbra, Vila, Portugal, View from the top
Beaches
Sesimbra, Portugal

A Village Touched by Midas

It's not just Praia da California and Praia do Ouro that close it to the south. Sheltered from the furies of the West Atlantic, gifted with other immaculate coves and endowed with centuries-old fortifications, Sesimbra is today a precious fishing and bathing haven.
Police intervention, ultra-Orthodox Jews, Jaffa, Tel Aviv, Israel
Religion
Jaffa, Israel

Unorthodox protests

A building in Jaffa, Tel Aviv, threatened to desecrate what ultra-Orthodox Jews thought were remnants of their ancestors. And even the revelation that they were pagan tombs did not deter them from the contestation.
Flam Railway composition below a waterfall, Norway.
On Rails
Nesbyen to Flam, Norway

Flam Railway: Sublime Norway from the First to the Last Station

By road and aboard the Flam Railway, on one of the steepest railway routes in the world, we reach Flam and the entrance to the Sognefjord, the largest, deepest and most revered of the Scandinavian fjords. From the starting point to the last station, this monumental Norway that we have unveiled is confirmed.
Ijen Volcano, Slaves of Sulfur, Java, Indonesia
Society
Ijen volcano, Indonesia

The Ijen Volcano Sulphur Slaves

Hundreds of Javanese surrender to the Ijen volcano where they are consumed by poisonous gases and loads that deform their shoulders. Each turn earns them less than €30 but everyone is grateful for their martyrdom.
Women with long hair from Huang Luo, Guangxi, China
Daily life
Longsheng, China

Huang Luo: the Chinese Village of the Longest Hairs

In a multi-ethnic region covered with terraced rice paddies, the women of Huang Luo have surrendered to the same hairy obsession. They let the longest hair in the world grow, years on end, to an average length of 170 to 200 cm. Oddly enough, to keep them beautiful and shiny, they only use water and rice.
ice tunnel, black gold route, Valdez, Alaska, USA
Wildlife
Valdez, Alaska

On the Black Gold Route

In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker caused a massive environmental disaster. The vessel stopped plying the seas, but the victim city that gave it its name continues on the path of crude oil from the Arctic Ocean.
The Sounds, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand
Scenic Flights
Fiordland, New Zealand

The Fjords of the Antipodes

A geological quirk made the Fiordland region the rawest and most imposing in New Zealand. Year after year, many thousands of visitors worship the sub-domain slashed between Te Anau and Milford Sound.