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.
Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique, Wildlife, lions
Safari
NP Gorongosa, Mozambique

The Wild Heart of Mozambique 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.
Thorong La, Annapurna Circuit, Nepal, photo for posterity
Annapurna (circuit)
Annapurna Circuit: 13th - High camp a Thorong La to Muktinath, Nepal

At the height of the Annapurnas Circuit

At 5416m of altitude, the Thorong La Gorge is the great challenge and the main cause of anxiety on the itinerary. After having killed 2014 climbers in October 29, crossing it safely generates a relief worthy of double celebration.
Music Theater and Exhibition Hall, Tbilisi, Georgia
Architecture & Design
Tbilisi, Georgia

Georgia still Perfumed by the Rose Revolution

In 2003, a popular political uprising made the sphere of power in Georgia tilt from East to West. Since then, the capital Tbilisi has not renounced its centuries of Soviet history, nor the revolutionary assumption of integrating into Europe. When we visit, we are dazzled by the fascinating mix of their past lives.
Adventure
Volcanoes

Mountains of Fire

More or less prominent ruptures in the earth's crust, volcanoes can prove to be as exuberant as they are capricious. Some of its eruptions are gentle, others prove annihilating.
cowboys oceania, rodeo, el caballo, perth, australia
Ceremonies and Festivities
Perth, Australia

The Oceania Cowboys

Texas is on the other side of the world, but there is no shortage of cowboys in the country of koalas and kangaroos. Outback rodeos recreate the original version and 8 seconds lasts no less in the Australian Western.
Itamaraty Palace Staircase, Brasilia, Utopia, Brazil
Cities
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.
Meal
Margilan, Uzbekistan

An Uzbekistan's Breadwinner

In one of the many bakeries in Margilan, worn out by the intense heat of the tandyr oven, the baker Maruf'Jon works half-baked like the distinctive traditional breads sold throughout Uzbekistan
Tombola, street bingo-Campeche, Mexico
Culture
Campeche, Mexico

200 Years of Playing with Luck

At the end of the XNUMXth century, the peasants surrendered to a game introduced to cool the fever of cash cards. Today, played almost only for Abuelites, a lottery little more than a fun place.
Reindeer Racing, Kings Cup, Inari, Finland
Sport
Inari, Finland

The Wackiest Race on the Top of the World

Finland's Lapps have been competing in the tow of their reindeer for centuries. In the final of the Kings Cup - Porokuninkuusajot - , they face each other at great speed, well above the Arctic Circle and well below zero.
extraterrestrial mural, Wycliffe Wells, Australia
Traveling
Wycliffe Wells, Australia

Wycliffe Wells' Unsecret Files

Locals, UFO experts and visitors have been witnessing sightings around Wycliffe Wells for decades. Here, Roswell has never been an example and every new phenomenon is communicated to the world.
Maksim, Sami people, Inari, Finland-2
Ethnic
Inari, Finland

The Guardians of Boreal Europe

Long discriminated against by Scandinavian, Finnish and Russian settlers, the Sami people regain their autonomy and pride themselves on their nationality.
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.
Heroes Acre Monument, Zimbabwe
History
Harare, Zimbabwewe

The Last Rales of Surreal Mugabué

In 2015, Zimbabwe's first lady Grace Mugabe said the 91-year-old president would rule until the age of 100 in a special wheelchair. Shortly thereafter, it began to insinuate itself into his succession. But in recent days, the generals have finally precipitated the removal of Robert Mugabe, who has replaced him with former Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa.
Terra Nostra Park, Furnas, São Miguel, Azores, Portugal
Islands
Vale das Furnas, São Miguel (Azores)

The Azorean Heat of Vale das Furnas

We were surprised, on the biggest island of the Azores, with a caldera cut by small farms, massive and deep to the point of sheltering two volcanoes, a huge lagoon and almost two thousand people from São Miguel. Few places in the archipelago are, at the same time, as grand and welcoming as the green and steaming Vale das Furnas.
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.
Lake Manyara, National Park, Ernest Hemingway, Giraffes
Literature
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".
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.
Hippopotamus in Anôr Lagoon, Orango Island, Bijagós, Guinea Bissau
Natural Parks
Kéré Island to Orango, Bijagos, Guinea Bissau

In Search of the Lacustrine-Marine and Sacred Bijagós Hippos

They are the most lethal mammals in Africa and, in the Bijagós archipelago, preserved and venerated. Due to our particular admiration, we joined an expedition in their quest. Departing from the island of Kéré and ending up inland from Orango.
Agua Grande Platform, Iguacu Falls, Brazil, Argentina
UNESCO World Heritage
Iguazu/Iguazu Falls, Brazil/Argentina

The Great Water Thunder

After a long tropical journey, the Iguaçu River gives a dip for diving. There, on the border between Brazil and Argentina, form the largest and most impressive waterfalls on the face of the Earth.
Earp brothers look-alikes and friend Doc Holliday in Tombstone, USA
Characters
tombstone, USA

Tombstone: the City Too Hard to Die

Silver veins discovered at the end of the XNUMXth century made Tombstone a prosperous and conflictive mining center on the frontier of the United States to Mexico. Lawrence Kasdan, Kurt Russell, Kevin Costner and other Hollywood directors and actors made famous the Earp brothers and the bloodthirsty duel of “OK Corral”. The Tombstone, which, over time, has claimed so many lives, is about to last.
Princess Yasawa Cruise, Maldives
Beaches
Maldives

Cruise the Maldives, among Islands and Atolls

Brought from Fiji to sail in the Maldives, Princess Yasawa has adapted well to new seas. As a rule, a day or two of itinerary is enough for the genuineness and delight of life on board to surface.
Vairocana Buddha, Todai ji Temple, Nara, Japan
Religion
Nara, Japan

The Colossal Cradle of the Japanese Buddhism

Nara has long since ceased to be the capital and its Todai-ji temple has been demoted. But the Great Hall remains the largest ancient wooden building in the world. And it houses the greatest bronze Vairocana Buddha.
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.
Tsukiji fish market, Tokyo, Japan
Society
Tokyo, Japan

The Fish Market That Lost its Freshness

In a year, each Japanese eats more than their weight in fish and shellfish. Since 1935, a considerable part was processed and sold in the largest fish market in the world. Tsukiji was terminated in October 2018, and replaced by Toyosu's.
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.
Jeep crosses Damaraland, Namibia
Wildlife
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.
Full Dog Mushing
Scenic Flights
Seward, Alaska

The Alaskan Dog Mushing Summer

It's almost 30 degrees and the glaciers are melting. In Alaska, entrepreneurs have little time to get rich. Until the end of August, dog mushing cannot stop.