Grande Terre, New Caledonia

South Pacific Great Boulder


Kanak Towers
The Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, a monument to Kanak culture created by architect Renzo Piano.
Bay of Tortues
One of Grande Terra's most famous and bustling coves, bordered by the characteristic Cook pine trees of New Caledonia.
Reckless Dive
Bather challenges the strong swell of the Baie des Tortues.
Tropical Clothesline
Dry clothes in a tribu (small village) on the northeast coast of Grande Terre.
blessed descent
Cyclist passes in front of the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, in the capital Nouméa.
Ferry from Ouaiéme
Balsa has just crossed the Ouaieme River, in a lush and sultry setting in the northeast of Grande Terre.
Earth Colors
Native in traditional Kanak dress.
Defensive Formation
Cows from caldoche breeders (French born in New Caledonia) examine the approach of strangers on the side of the road.
Surf without waves
Casal walks along the Baie des Citrons in Paddleboard.
Kanak art
Detail of a tribal sculpture at the Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, on the outskirts of Nouméa.
Kanak II Towers
Illuminated towers of the Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center set against the twilight sky over Magenta.
Uncertain destination
Resident walks towards one of the many peoples (tribus) indicated on the sign above.
Kanak Nation
A Kanak flag attached to a tree, on a tributary north of Grand Terre.
Indigenous Celebration
Tribal sculpture stands out in the garden surrounding the Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center.
Mangrove art
The towers of the Jean Marie Tjibaou Center seen from the air on a swampy Magenta peninsula.
Cascade river
Falling water flows from the mountains around the Ouaiéme river.
little church
Chapel on provincial road 10, north of Hienghene, northeast of Grande Terre.
silted mouth
Bar full of sand at the mouth of the river Ouaiéme.
Mangrove architecture
Bold buildings from the Jean Tjibaou Cultural Center integrated into the abundant mangrove swamps of Magenta.
rainforest
Mist hangs over the heated forest of the interior of Grande Terre.
James Cook thus named distant New Caledonia because it reminded him of his father's Scotland, whereas the French settlers were less romantic. Endowed with one of the largest nickel reserves in the world, they named Le Caillou the mother island of the archipelago. Not even its mining prevents it from being one of the most dazzling patches of Earth in Oceania.

Another weekend arrives and Nouméa switches to her decompression mode.

Early on Saturday morning, the city's long waterfront fills with sportsmen determined to sweat the punishment from Monday to Friday.

During the week, they can only feel the summer atmosphere from abroad through the windows of the offices, subject to the hours of the French branches on the island, or from the businesses and alternative lives in which they ventured to enrich themselves and escape the constraints of the distant metropolis.

The daring ones seem to achieve the first of the goals with relative ease.

Compensation from Tropical to Punishment from 9 am to 5 am

After jogging, inline skating and cycling, there is a quick passage through the house to the shower and then join the journey to the rounded sandy beaches of the Baie des Citrons and Anse Vata.

Paddle board, New Caledonia, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Casal walks along the Baie des Citrons on a Rowing Board

The distance from the apartments only in rare cases justifies a motorized trip, but the wear and tear of the morning effort combined with some need for ostentation complicates traffic parallel to the sea. There are common vehicles, small Peugeots, Citroens and Renaults that the mother country exports at inflated prices.

But among these, an unusual number of newly acquired cars, Audis Q7s, exuberant BMWs and the sumptuous Porsche Cayenne that, thanks to the homage paid by the German brand to the exotic capital of French Guiana, doubly seduce Gallic millionaires are looking for parking.

It is an urban coastline but this one shared by the meters, zoreilles ou jokes (French who were born in France), broths Caledonians (French born in New Caledonia descendants of criminal prisoners or free emigrants) and Kanak (the indigenous Melanesians).

It doesn't offer the tropical color or glamor of others that the South Pacific hides offshore, but it's three or four minutes from downtown.

Saint Joseph Cathedral, New Caledonia, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Cyclist passes in front of Saint Joseph Cathedral in the capital Nouméa

As in most colonial realities, the Kanak they are reduced to their immigrant survival in the expensive capital. Instead, a surprising number of meters, broths city ​​dwellers and inhabitants of Asian origin resort to the sailboats and yachts that clog the city's marina to sail to the dream islands of New Caledonia.

Or they boost the territory's emerging economy by spending on Nouméa's sophisticated shops and terraces.

Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center: a monument to Kanak identity

In the middle of the afternoon, the weather betrays the population's leisure activities. Pitch-black clouds are approaching from the sides of Vanuatu and release a withering deluge that the uninterrupted thunder and lightning give the air of an unforeseen apocalypse.

Jean Marie Tjibaou Center, Great Pebble, South Pacific

The towers of the Jean Marie Tjibaou Center seen from the air on a swampy Magenta peninsula.

Around that time, we entered the Tjibaou Cultural Center. Seconds before we took refuge under the eccentric structure of the kanak complex designed by Renzo Piano, from far away, the architectural structure most creative in the city, just a few heavy drops hit us.

A photography exhibition displays historical images from Melanesia (the South Pacific region that includes the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji) found by adventurous anthropologists of the early XNUMXth century.

To the sound of rain, thunder and musicians' rehearsals Kanak that will perform at night, these images allow us to go back in time.

Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, New Caledonia, Greater Calhau, South Pacific

The Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, a monument to Kanak culture created by architect Renzo Piano.

From the Inevitable James Cook to the Controversial French Annexation

As with so many other parts of the Pacific, it was the inevitable James Cook the first European navigator to come across the island of Grande Terre, in 1774. Although already tropical, in his view, the rugged and mountainous coast was similar. , to that of Scotland, where his father was originally from.

Cook therefore decided to give it the Latin name of that territory.

In the XNUMXth century, whalers began operating from the coast of the main island of the archipelago, as well as sandalwood traders. The raw material has run out in the meantime, but as other islands around were colonized by the British, the latter increased the blackbirding.

They dedicated themselves to kidnapping Melanesian natives to use as slaves on the sugar cane plantations of Fiji and the Australian province of Queensland. In time, the victims and all native peoples of Oceania would be called the Kanaka, according to the Hawaiian word for “man”.

Hunter, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Hunter in camouflage outside Hienghene.

After the French annexation of New Caledonia, achieved by Napoleon III in fierce competition with the English, the term would come to be shortened to kanak and began to be used in a pejorative way by the colonists. In reaction to prejudice, the indigenous population proudly adapted it to define themselves and their nation.

The Afrancesamento de Grande Terre, by Opposition to Neighbor Vanuatu

"Bonjour monsieur, madam" the Melanesian employees at the reception of the Jean Tjibaou Cultural Center greet us. The greeting is formally polite. It sounds like the delicate and often forced Gallic composure rather than the timidity typical of the natives and speaks volumes of the dilemma in which the Kanaks currently live.

Two years earlier, we had visited Vanuatu, a vast island stronghold also colonized by the French, in condominium with the British, until 1980.

And, just some time after we landed in Nouméa, we are already amazed at the civilizational distance that separates that archipelago from New Caledonia, despite the geographical and ethnic proximity of its peoples, both savages and cannibals a few centuries earlier.

For historical and political reasons, the French influenced the landscape and culture of New Caledonia much more strongly.

They were present with a growing community of broths e meters and, later, with companies and institutions imported from the metropolis. Today, as in the past, many kanaks doubt or disagree with the benefits of the French presence and the French special collectivity status accorded to their nation.

They re-examine the ideals and contestation of the martyr-priest Jean-Marie Tjibaou who left his studies in sociology at the Catholic University of Lyon and returned to New Caledonia to lead a process of cultural revolution aimed at regaining the dignity of the Kanak people and pursuing independence.

Tribal sculpture, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Tribal sculpture stands out in the garden surrounding the Jean Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center.

Jean-Marie Tjibaou, an Emblematic Leader of the Kanak People

Tjibaou abandoned his religious vocation considering that, at the time, “it was impossible for a priest to take a stand, for example, in favor of the restitution of land to the Kanak people.

Among other later forms of struggle, he led, in 1975, the Melanesia Manifestation 2000, which brought together, in the place of the center that honors him, all the tribes of New Caledonia.

Having ultimately avoided an imminent civil war between the natives and the settlers, he signed, in Paris, in 1988, the Matignon Agreements who established a ten-year development period with economic and institutional guarantees for the Kanak community, before the neo-Caledonians pronounced on independence.

After this period, a new agreement was approved by the population and signed in Nouméa, under the aegis of Lionel Jospin. It provided for the transfer of sovereignty, in 2018, and independence in all areas except defence, security, justice and currency.

Jean-Marie Tjibaou was no longer present in any of the post-Matignon agreements. was murdered in the Ouvéa island by a radical independentist, who opposed the leader's concessions.

Discovering the Grande Terre, the Great Pebble of the South Pacific

Before leaving Nouméa, we went through the airport to deal with bureaucracy related to car rental. And the employee at the counter, who has an eternally youthful look reminiscent of Jean-Paul Belmondo, doesn't hide his curiosity: “And what are two Portuguese people doing in New Caledonia, something so rare?”

Then he exults with the answer: “Reporters? Look how wonderful! It's great that they promote us there in Europe. They know the French don't care much about it. To give you an idea, when French TV broadcasts images of New Years Eve in the Pacific, they always show Sydney and they ignore us, when our party even happens before Sydney's.”

We take the highway heading north. We unveil the first green plains and hills of La Brousse, the rural vastness of the Grande Terre from which the broths have seized and continue to explore.

On the way to La Foa and Sarraméa, the impenetrable jungle that still covers most of the neighboring Vanuatu archipelago, was replaced there by endless pastures covered by large herds of cows. To drive them, Caledonian cowboys are increasingly turning to pick-up trucks and quads instead of classic horses.

Cows, New Caledonia, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Cows from caldoche breeders (French born in New Caledonia) examine approaching strangers on the side of the road

The highway gives way to conventional, well-maintained roads, which locals, annoyed by the distances, travel at enormous speed.

The name is not deceiving. Grande Terre is really big.

After all, it appears in the geographical ranking as the 52nd island in the world, 22nd in the Pacific and is twice the size of Corsica.

Voh's Heart That Shatters Ours

Wary, we continue north, hoping to glimpse the heart of Voh – the cover of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's illustrious book “Earth Seen from Heaven” – and explore the surrounding scenery. But reality quickly undoes any romanticism.

Another of the names given by the French to Grande Terre is Le Caillou, in Portuguese, O Calhau. In Voh, we had the opportunity to see why.

The island's soil contains an enormous wealth of critical industrial elements and minerals, including a quarter of the world's nickel. Prospecting and mining are visible all over the place but the Voh region concentrates the activity and its landscape was inevitably overturned and injured.

The vegetal heart, that one, appears in a small mangrove near the mines, but, as the book by Arthus-Bertrand indicates, it is only detectable from the air and in specific meteorological conditions.

So we return to the south, with Bourail in sight. A green valley leads to a wide beach where the coast, due to geological whims, rises slightly below sea level.

Reckless Dive, New Caledonia, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Bather challenges Baie des Tortues' strong swell

The danger warnings are repeated in the event of a tsunami, but none of the owners of the houses installed there seem to care, busy with the gardens and barbecues.

The Mar Rude Beach and Elegant Pines of Baie des Tortues

Right next door, the Pacific punishes Baie des Tortues with the first real waves we've seen on Grande Terre, which, like all of New Caledonia, is protected by the largest enclosed lagoon in the world.

Baie des Tortues, New Caledonia, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Casal bathes in the dangerous sea of ​​the Baie des Tortues, near Bourail.

We travel a few additional kilometers in the forest of La Brousse and we arrive at Pouembout, a village where one of the possible longitudinal crossings of the island begins. We go inside and skirt the mountains to revalidate the vision of nature with avoidable blemishes.

Along the way, small armies of kanak work at the side of the road, cutting through the resilient vegetation that the tropical climate renews. In the middle of the monsoon season South Pacific, the rain settles and disappears depending on the slope along the route and makes the most precious contribution.

An hour later, we arrive in Touho, on the east coast of Grande Terre.

rainforestOn that side, the atmosphere cooks moisture and heat like a pressure cooker, a phenomenon reinforced by the retention of the now compact jungle and by the absence of wind that makes the inner Pacific offshore (enveloped by a far reef barrier) a kind of sea dead.

We continue along a dark and narrow road in which new tribes – hamlets or Kanak villages – appear, peaceful, or just their houses, identified by poorly populated sales stalls or by clotheslines that display the gaudy ethnic patterns of indigenous clothes.

Tropical Clothesline, New Caledonia, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Dry clothes in a tribu (small village) on the northeast coast of Grande Terre.

Hienghéne, the Last Really City of the Northeast

Hienghène is the first town worthy of the name to be found in the northeast of the island. And, if the population proves itself, there, mostly kanak, the intrusion of French modernity makes itself felt once again. Several women chatting together in the local market form a curious conglomerate of folk dresses.

The discussion flows animatedly under the shadow of the polished white building, but one does not glimpse or feel a true atmosphere of tribal commerce, such as that which once animated the region.

Instead, kanaks, broths and meters buy baguettes from the small adjacent grocery stores. In this way, the functional predominance of Francophonie throughout Grande Terre is proved.

Dress of the Earth, New Caledonia, Great Pebble, South Pacific

Native in traditional Kanak dress.

The northeast extends, on the map, above Hienghène, adorned by imposing coastal mountains that only Mont Panié beats in altitude.

And broken by dark rivers lost in the jungle, like Ouaiéme, which, in the modernized way of the Camel imagination, is regularly crossed by a motor raft.

Ferry on the Ouaiéme River, New Caledonia, Grande Calhau, South Pacific

Balsa has just crossed the Ouaieme River, in a lush and sultry setting in the northeast of Grande Terre

Ouaiéme marks the northern boundary that we had drawn to explore the Grande Terre. After investigating one or another of its exotic views, we reversed our march to return to Noumea.

Somewhere in the vicinity of the South Pacific, the Isle of Pines, one of New Caledonia's perfect idyllic playgrounds.

LifouLoyalty Islands

The Greatest of the Loyalties

Lifou is the island in the middle of the three that make up the semi-francophone archipelago off New Caledonia. In time, the Kanak natives will decide if they want their paradise independent of the distant metropolis.
Cilaos, Reunion Island

Refuge under the roof of the Indian Ocean

Cilaos appears in one of the old green boilers on the island of Réunion. It was initially inhabited by outlaw slaves who believed they were safe at that end of the world. Once made accessible, nor did the remote location of the crater prevent the shelter of a village that is now peculiar and flattered.
Tahiti, French Polynesia

Tahiti Beyond the Cliché

Neighbors Bora Bora and Maupiti have superior scenery but Tahiti has long been known as paradise and there is more life on the largest and most populous island of French Polynesia, its ancient cultural heart.
Pentecost Island, Vanuatu

Naghol: Bungee Jumping without Modern Touches

At Pentecost, in their late teens, young people launch themselves from a tower with only lianas tied to their ankles. Bungee cords and harnesses are inappropriate fussiness from initiation to adulthood.
Honiara e Gizo, Solomon Islands

The Profaned Temple of the Solomon Islands

A Spanish navigator baptized them, eager for riches like those of the biblical king. Ravaged by World War II, conflicts and natural disasters, the Solomon Islands are far from prosperity.
Guadalupe, French Antilles

Guadeloupe: a Delicious Caribbean, in a Counter Butterfly-Effect

Guadeloupe is shaped like a moth. A trip around this Antille is enough to understand why the population is governed by the motto Pas Ni Problem and raises the minimum of waves, despite the many setbacks.
Île-des-Pins, New Caledonia

The Island that Leaned against Paradise

In 1964, Katsura Morimura delighted the Japan with a turquoise novel set in Ouvéa. But the neighboring Île-des-Pins has taken over the title "The Nearest Island to Paradise" and thrills its visitors.
Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu

Divine Melanesia

Pedro Fernandes de Queirós thought he had discovered Terra Australis. The colony he proposed never materialized. Today, Espiritu Santo, the largest island in Vanuatu, is a kind of Eden.
Ouvéa, New Caledonia

Between Loyalty and Freedom

New Caledonia has always questioned integration into faraway France. On the island of Ouvéa, Loyalty Archipelago, we find an history of resistance but also natives who prefer French-speaking citizenship and privileges.
Jabula Beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa
Safari
Saint Lucia, South Africa

An Africa as Wild as Zulu

On the eminence of the coast of Mozambique, the province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to an unexpected South Africa. Deserted beaches full of dunes, vast estuarine swamps and hills covered with fog fill this wild land also bathed by the Indian Ocean. It is shared by the subjects of the always proud Zulu nation and one of the most prolific and diverse fauna on the African continent.
Yak Kharka to Thorong Phedi, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, Yaks
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit 11th: yak karkha a Thorong Phedi, Nepal

Arrival to the Foot of the Canyon

In just over 6km, we climbed from 4018m to 4450m, at the base of Thorong La canyon. Along the way, we questioned if what we felt were the first problems of Altitude Evil. It was never more than a false alarm.
Alaskan Lumberjack Show Competition, Ketchikan, Alaska, USA
Architecture & Design
Ketchikan, Alaska

Here begins Alaska

The reality goes unnoticed in most of the world, but there are two Alaskas. In urban terms, the state is inaugurated in the south of its hidden frying pan handle, a strip of land separated from the contiguous USA along the west coast of Canada. Ketchikan, is the southernmost of Alaskan cities, its Rain Capital and the Salmon Capital of the World.
Boats on ice, Hailuoto Island, Finland.
Adventure
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.
Ceremonies and Festivities
Apia, Western Samoa

Fia Fia – High Rotation Polynesian Folklore

From New Zealand to Easter Island and from here to Hawaii, there are many variations of Polynesian dances. Fia Fia's Samoan nights, in particular, are enlivened by one of the more fast-paced styles.
Fort de San Louis, Fort de France-Martinique, French Antihas
Cities
Fort-de-France, Martinique

Freedom, Bipolarity and Tropicality

The capital of Martinique confirms a fascinating Caribbean extension of French territory. There, the relations between the colonists and the natives descended from slaves still give rise to small revolutions.
Beverage Machines, Japan
Meal
Japan

The Beverage Machines Empire

There are more than 5 million ultra-tech light boxes spread across the country and many more exuberant cans and bottles of appealing drinks. The Japanese have long since stopped resisting them.
Culture
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.
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.
The Toy Train story
Traveling
Siliguri a Darjeeling, India

The Himalayan Toy Train Still Running

Neither the steep slope of some stretches nor the modernity stop it. From Siliguri, in the tropical foothills of the great Asian mountain range, the Darjeeling, with its peaks in sight, the most famous of the Indian Toy Trains has ensured for 117 years, day after day, an arduous dream journey. Traveling through the area, we climb aboard and let ourselves be enchanted.
Ethnic
São Nicolau, Cape Verde

Photography of Nha Terra São Nicolau

The voice of the late Cesária Verde crystallized the feeling of Cape Verdeans who were forced to leave their island. who visits São Nicolau or, wherever it may be, admires images that illustrate it well, understands why its people proudly and forever call it their land.
sunlight photography, sun, lights
Got2Globe Photo Portfolio
Natural Light (Part 2)

One Sun, So Many Lights

Most travel photos are taken in sunlight. Sunlight and weather form a capricious interaction. Learn how to predict, detect and use at its best.
Dark day
History

Lake Cocibolca, Nicaragua

sea, sweet sea

Indigenous Nicaraguans treated the largest lake in Central America as Cocibolca. On the volcanic island of Ometepe, we realized why the term the Spaniards converted to Mar Dulce made perfect sense.

Fajãzinha, Ilha das Flores, Confins of the Azores and Portugal
Islands
Flores Island, Azores

The Atlantic ends of the Azores and Portugal

Where, to the west, even on the map the Americas appear remote, the Ilha das Flores is home to the ultimate Azorean idyllic-dramatic domain and almost four thousand Florians surrendered to the dazzling end-of-the-world that welcomed them.
St. Trinity Church, Kazbegi, Georgia, Caucasus
Winter White
Kazbegi, Georgia

God in the Caucasus Heights

In the 4000th century, Orthodox religious took their inspiration from a hermitage that a monk had erected at an altitude of 5047 m and perched a church between the summit of Mount Kazbek (XNUMXm) and the village at the foot. More and more visitors flock to these mystical stops on the edge of Russia. Like them, to get there, we submit to the whims of the reckless Georgia Military Road.
Almada Negreiros, Roça Saudade, Sao Tome
Literature
Saudade, São Tomé, São Tomé and Principe

Almada Negreiros: From Saudade to Eternity

Almada Negreiros was born in April 1893, on a farm in the interior of São Tomé. Upon discovering his origins, we believe that the luxuriant exuberance in which he began to grow oxygenated his fruitful creativity.
Barrancas del Cobre, Chihuahua, Rarámuri woman
Nature
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.
Mother Armenia Statue, Yerevan, Armenia
Autumn
Yerevan, Armenia

A Capital between East and West

Heiress of the Soviet civilization, aligned with the great Russia, Armenia allows itself to be seduced by the most democratic and sophisticated ways of Western Europe. In recent times, the two worlds have collided in the streets of your capital. From popular and political dispute, Yerevan will dictate the new course of the nation.
Joshua Tree National Park, California, United States,
Natural Parks
PN Joshua Tree, California, United States

The Arms stretched out to Heaven of the PN Joshua Tree

Arriving in the extreme south of California, we are amazed by the countless Joshua trees that sprout from the Mojave and Colorado deserts. Like the Mormon settlers who named them, we cross and praise these inhospitable settings of the North American Far West.
khinalik, Azerbaijan Caucasus village, Khinalig
UNESCO World Heritage
Chinalig, Azerbaijan

The Village at the Top of Azerbaijan

Set in the rugged, icy 2300 meters of the Great Caucasus, the Khinalig people are just one of several minorities in the region. It has remained isolated for millennia. Until, in 2006, a road made it accessible to the old Soviet Ladas.
Correspondence verification
Characters
Rovaniemi, Finland

From the Finnish Lapland to the Arctic. A Visit to the Land of Santa

Fed up with waiting for the bearded old man to descend down the chimney, we reverse the story. We took advantage of a trip to Finnish Lapland and passed through its furtive home.
Glass Bottom Boats, Kabira Bay, Ishigaki
Beaches
Ishigaki, Japan

The Exotic Japanese Tropics

Ishigaki is one of the last islands in the stepping stone that stretches between Honshu and Taiwan. Ishigakijima is home to some of the most amazing beaches and coastal scenery in these parts of the Pacific Ocean. More and more Japanese who visit them enjoy them with little or no bathing.
shadow vs light
Religion
Kyoto, Japan

The Kyoto Temple Reborn from the Ashes

The Golden Pavilion has been spared destruction several times throughout history, including that of US-dropped bombs, but it did not withstand the mental disturbance of Hayashi Yoken. When we admired him, he looked like never before.
Train Fianarantsoa to Manakara, Malagasy TGV, locomotive
On Rails
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.
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.
Daily life
Arduous Professions

the bread the devil kneaded

Work is essential to most lives. But, certain jobs impose a degree of effort, monotony or danger that only a few chosen ones can measure up to.
Lake Manyara, National Park, Ernest Hemingway, Giraffes
Wildlife
Lake Manyara NP, Tanzania

Hemingway's Favorite Africa

Situated on the western edge of the Rift Valley, Lake Manyara National Park is one of the smallest but charming and richest in Europe. wild life of Tanzania. In 1933, between hunting and literary discussions, Ernest Hemingway dedicated a month of his troubled life to him. He narrated those adventurous safari days in “The Green Hills of Africa".
Napali Coast and Waimea Canyon, Kauai, Hawaii Wrinkles
Scenic Flights
napali coast, Hawaii

Hawaii's Dazzling Wrinkles

Kauai is the greenest and rainiest island in the Hawaiian archipelago. It is also the oldest. As we explore its Napalo Coast by land, sea and air, we are amazed to see how the passage of millennia has only favored it.