After 10 weeks of travelling, we arrived in Congo-Brazzaville.
We already read in literature that Congo is one of the richest (!) countries in the world for her natural resources. Yet her people are considered one of the poorest in the world, because of the second lowest nominal GDP per capita.
Over the years, but especially after the mid 80s, the economy dramatically declined. people are starving from famine, many war victims and diseases killed aproximately 5 million people. This resulted in a dramatically declined national output and the revenue for the government.
the economy relies on the mining businesses. Congo is a large supplier of industrial diamonds, cobbalt and copper.
Women are not safe in Congo. United Nations is not yet ready to change the situation as it is at the moment. lots of women are raped, abused and murdered.
Although Libya is a rather dangereous country at the moment, we still decided to leave for Libya in week 7.
Libya is a country in the north of Africa, next to Egypt and Sudan for example.
Muanmar Gadaffi reigned from 1969 until 2011, when he was killed after the movements in Tunisia and Egypt. This was hot news for a long time. During this period, it was nearly impossible to enter the country. Foreigners were evacuated to neirby countries or even back to Europe.
23 October 2011: the liberation of Libya, remembering and honoring the 30.000 deaths caused by the civil war. Now the National Transitional Council (anti-Gadaffi) represents the political body of this country since March 5.
We arrived at the Republic of Chad, week 8. We had some troubles passing the borders from Libya to Chad, but thankfully things turned out positive.
Chad is also a country with many diverse regions, such as desert in the north and savannah in the south. A little weird are the two national languages: French and Arabic. Well Arabic isn't that surprising actually. The country is bounded to Libya, Cameroon, Sudan, Central Africa and Nigeria.
Thomas and Sarah had a pretty hard time speaking French, as their Arabic was very poor. I speak some Arabic which I've learned in Jordan, Israel and Egypt. But speaking French wasn't a problem at all for me and Jessica.
Immediately, we noticed that people are very poor here. Probably one of the poorest countries I've ever seen before, besides Senegal. Above that, the vast majority of the people are Muslim and Roman Catholic. It is also a country where polygamy is forbidden by law, but yet it's very common. one third of the women live in unions where polygamy is common.
Week 9. The capital of Central Africa is 'Bangui'. National languages are French and Sango (which is spoken in Congo and Chad as well).
The climate is tropical, while we expected it to be very dry, even desert-like. This is the case in the northern areas, it is nearly impossible to stay there for a long period of time (especially at noon when the sun is high and the air is very hot and dry). It's exhausting. We're all dazed and knock-out by the continuous heat.. What we needed was a well deserved refreshment. We washed ourselves in the falls of Boali on the Mbali river, which were absoluty stunning and fresh.
When we visited the locals, we were shocked about their health conditions, as life expectancy is very low (this must be around 45 years old, imagine this in Europe...). HIV is a serious problem in these countries, and Central Africa is not an exception. People are poor and forced to work on dry landscapes, while agriculture is so important. A good thing is the free education in Central Africa. But still the largest part of the adults can't read nor are they able to write.
after 11 weeks of travelling, we arrived at my favourite destination all times: Madagascar.
Typical for the east coast is the rainforest. The same rainforest is also a big issue now: the largest parts of the forests already vanished.
In the center of the Island, we find dry savannahs (as seen in Africa), Baobab trees in the west, palm-tree beaches at the beautiful coasts. You can't imagine the beauty of these beaches, unless you've seen it yourself.
How to explore Madagascar?
You better go by jeep (safari, book via your touroperator) or rent a jeep on your own for a few days. That is what we did: for a short period of time, we rented two jeeps, crossing and cruising threw the fauna and flora of this big island. It's also possible to ask a local guide to go along with you. It's worth the price !
As we moved on threw the rainforests, we spotted a lot of extraordinary reptiles (geckos, chameleons) and tortoises (no shortage of these animals here!). Madagascar is also called the Island of Lemurs. We saw a lot of these creatures passing by.
Technically, Madagascar seems to be a mini-continent on it's own. it is the fourth largest island in the world, with a wide variety of flora and fauna.
We just arrived in Bulgaria, more specifically in the capital, Sofia. The sun was burning hot. We had to pull off our clothes.
The average temperature is 23 degrees and the climate is favorable for growing fruits, wines, vegetables,...After breakfast, we were ready and set to visit a local market. Agriculture plays an imporant rule in the Bulgarian economy and it's one of the few sectors which has a positive trade balance.
We were really curious about the main industries. When we finally arrived at the market, we saw a lot of market stalls and with different sorts of wines. It's no surprise, agriculture is one of the main industries, with his rich nature and continental climate. We had the oppurtunity to taste those generous Bulgarian wines :)...Bulgaria is a famous producer and exporter of wine to more than 70 countries. It's the second largest producer of wine, with France being number one.
There are many vineyards to be found throughout Bulgaria, except in the capital Sofia, because of the unfavorable climate over there.
For geographical reasons, the vineyards are widespread in five regions. Each region has his own quality to build up a vintage. In the centre of Bulgaria, we discoverd a lot of hilly areas with a fertile soil perfect for producing red wines such as Bulgarian Merlots and Cabernets.
In the Eastern region, they produce a lot of white wines because of its temperate climate around the Black Sea. Khan Krum and Varna are specialties of this area.
Some important Bulgarian labels are:
- Mavrud: it tastes like Bordeaux
- Gamza: It's a wine that is identical to the Kadarka in Hungary
- Melnik: This name traces back to his producing town 'Melnik. It is the smallest town in Europe. Its wine has a dark red colour and a thick taste.
There is a story that someone who wants to have a baby boy has to drink this wine a lot.
Bulgaria is not only famous for his wines but the country is ranked on top of the world for many other commodities such as anise, raspberries, sunflower seeds. The economy is a free market and can the country itself be classified as industrial and agrarian. Bulgaria's major products consists of refined petroleum, iron, copper, gold, coal and weapons. Accordingly, the most important industries are mining and energy.
Mining is one of the most important export earnings. Much of the production takes place in Kremikotsvi and Pernik.
Tourism is also one of the key sectors because this country is an attractive place for visiting historical museums, nature parks and other special places.The Bulgarian tourism shows an upward trend. The number of foreign tourists who visited Bulgaria is now over 2,7 million.
Greeces most well known building. Its a wholly temple, and its being restored. The Parthenon is one of the proves of the rich history Greece has. Greece has a big financial crisis now, but the Parthenon proves Greece wasnt always bankrupt. It was one of the richest cultures in the history of mankind. So of course, the second day (after resting one day from the trip) we started visiting the architecture of Greece. So we went to see the Parthenon. Its very impressive, there are illusions in the building, to increase the perfection of the building to the human eye. And with the restoration almost complete, itll have the honor it deserves to have. The third day, we stayed in the same area, to visit more architecture. More temples, of course, because there are lots of them in Greece. Of course, the trip wasnt all about the architecture, so we tried to combine lots of things on the same day. We also went to see the ancient theater of Epidaurus. Its amazing how these theatres of hundreds of years old, still manage to provide such a good range for hearing, without any technology. Just because of the special form and design of this architectural masterpiece, its possible to hear perfectly what the person far away is saying during the Greek play (which was played during our visit there, tickets were bought the first day already). During the play, we could also enjoy the wonderful nature scenes around the theatre. The special thing about the architecture of Greece is that scientific research proved that all these temples were painted in very flashy colors (blue, green, red, ). So even though the architecture is still very beautiful, I guess it was even more beautiful in the time Greece was the dominator of the world.
After 11 weeks of traveling we arrived at one of the world's poorest countries: Madagascar. It is a country that gets its income mainly from agriculture. On our journey through Madagascar, we met an organization that has been engaged for several years in numerous projects in that country. CMGDM ( Coopération MarGas pour le Développement Madagasikara) is the name of the organization. That organization has already achieved a great deal during the period 2008-2010. They have refurbished bungalows, created new tourism opportunities, improved water supplies, training, etc. Because we were very impressed by this organization, we decided to follow the organization for a couple of days. Rice is the main product of Madagascar but unfortunately because of the lack of modern machinery and obsolete irrigation systems Madagascar can only rely on rice from other countries. CMGDM explained to us and to the local population how they can use the ground on a more efficient way and to obtain a higher production. We helped with pulling the seeds out and planted new seeds that are much farther apart than originally had been done. We have also learned that it is not necessary for the plants that they are under water permanently. But thanks to the heavy rains of recent months the fields stood under water. Later that week we made a tour in a factory of sugar that CMGDM had built. This sugar is processed and made ready for export. Vanilla and coffee also makes a large part of the export. Along our many walks we saw many fishers and nomadic tribes. What we found strange were the few types of livestock. But the locals told us that livestock are not valuable to life from. They do not possess the necessary food to fatten the animals and the animals barely give milk. But most of the nomadic held Zebus. Zebus are held for religious reasons. They are not slaughtered and are not kept for the milk. The milk we drank in our hotel was almost sour because the milk truck came too late to collect all the fresh milk. The vegetables and fruits we saw on the locale markets were not always of equal quality. The rainy season was just over so a lot of harvest failed. When we returned to our hotel we saw regular trucks and jeeps stuck on the muddy road. When a truck got stuck we could not believe our eyes: Within a few minutes the truck was completely plundered. So Madagascar certainly needs more money and resources for the economy of to move forward.
After nine weeks of traveling, we arrived at one of the largest countries of Africa, but also one of the most dangerous countries namely Congo. Fortunately, since 2012, peace has more or less returned to the country. But our jeep was frequently stopped by police and checked for weapons.
Despite that, the local Congolese population was very happy with us as Belgian tourists. Congo is a formerly colony of Belgium and they still cherish that time because of the improved road network, nutrition, education and better medical care.
There was certainly no shortage of attractions in Congo. The first thing we visited in Congo was the mighty Congo River. It forms the border between Congo Kinshasa and Congo Brazzaville. In some places the river seems very quiet but that is not true, there unpredictable whirlpools are everywhere. Especially I had a lot of fear as the boat was old and looked unstable. We sat with many people on the side of the boat. We were very lucky that our boat did not overturn because in some places we were a few kilometers away from the river bank. We came back to the mainland after a few hours.
After a long jeep trip on a bumpy road we arrived at the waterfalls in Zongo. These waterfalls are 70 meters high and are surrounded by green. We arrived through a path at the bottom of the waterfall. Fortunately we had a raincoat on because we felt the water falling on the rocks that is coming from the waterfall. Later that day we visited the mangrove forests. The mangrove forests forms the border between water and land. During low tide we saw during the roots of the trees. Mangrove Forests protect the coast against the force of tidal waves.
We also visited the National Park Solanga by boat. This park is the largest nature reserve in the African rainforest and the second largest rainforest in the world. We walked through small streams and branches to come out in one of the many open spaces. Our guide told us we had to be very quiet so we would not disturb the bonobos. During our walk we encountered peacocks and crocodiles. An inhabitant was so happy to see us that we continued our trip on an elephant. Despite the fact that the park is listed on the list of endangered world state we saw evidence of poachers and plunderers.
The last day of our holiday we went to the port town of Matadi where we met with the local fishermen. They told us that fishing and the growing of crops are important sources of income. The Congo River is obviously very important for the freight to and from Congo.
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- Gemiddelde waardering: 0/5 - (0 Stemmen) Categorie:Week 10: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Week 6 from 25 until 2 April
We were about halfway in our trip and we were very curious to visit Greece. The country looked very beautiful on the internet but we wanted to see it with our own eyes. Although the temperature was around 20 degrees, there were already a lot of tourists in Greece. During that week we went from city to city or island by bus or by boat. During our long bus rides we could enjoy the mountains, nature and the abundance of water. The first thing we visited was the lake of Corinth. It is a narrow lake with six bridges. Five bridges are for cars and one bridge for the railway. The bridges are located approximately 70 meters above the water surface. So we had already suspected that Greece is not totally flat. The next day we visited the theater of Epidaurus. This theater is huge and to our surprise we could hear everything that a group of English speaking tourists was telling below in the theater. Because the bus could not drive to the excavations of Mycenae, we did a part of the trip on foot. Unfortunately there was on the outside not much to see. Normally there are several bodies in each grave. The bodies were buried with many artfully crafted objects: gold cups, goblets, masks and ornaments, beautifully decorated swords and daggers. But unfortunately we could not see that. Later that we week we visited another Greek island Olympia where we visited the Old Olympic stadium. It was not a round track as we had thought, but a long rectangle. A line showed us the start and finish. Athletes were not walking in circles, but returned at the end of the runway. In the past, there was seating for 45,000 spectators and a tunnel in which athletes would make their appearance from. Now there is nothing left from the tunnel and the stadium. We also visited Delphi and the temple of Apollo. During or trip back to Athens, we stopped at the Byzantine monastery. Thomas laughed with us because we were obliged to drag a long green skirt over our dresses. We bought a bracelet after the visit. The bracelet had drawings of several holy persons; the person who stays longest on your bracelet becomes your guardian angel. To finish the week in beauty we went to the Acropolis. There it was very windy but the view over Athens was very beautiful.
When we arrived in Bulgaria, we were amazed by the beautiful nature of the country. The temperature was for the time of the year very high; it was 20 degrees during the day. This was perfect to visit the numerous parks in the country. We decided to visit three nature parks, namely National Park Pirin, Rila National Park and National Park Central Balkan. The first park that we visited was the Rila National park (it comes from roula what means a lot of water) consisting of many springs, 28 lakes and two of the biggest rivers (Iskar and Bulgaria Msarista) . The biological diversity of the flora is large and we saw a lot of different sort of flowers species: freshwater plants, mosses, ferns, taxus, We made with our guide a bike ride over bumpy roads During that tiring ride, the guide told us that Bulgaria counts approximately 350 different bird species. We saw a lot of birds, but unfortunately we recognized only a few in contrast to our guide who knew most of them.
Later that day we visited the health center. After a day walking and cycling that was the best way to relax. We overnighted in one of the many mountain cabins. Fortunately there was extra linen provided, because at night the temperature can drop below the freezing point. The next day we decided to take it easier because this week there stood another two visits to national parks on our program. The second nature park we visited was the National Park Central Balkan. This park is located in the heart of Bulgaria, between the central and higher portions of the Balkan Range. During our walk we came face to face with endangered and rare species of wildlife such as wild boars, wolves and bears. We left the most beautiful and I think the biggest nature park of Bulgaria for the last 2 days. National Park Pirin has an area of 26,479.8 hectares and a lot of different trees such as chestnuts, ash, beech, oak and ash. We have even seen a fir of more than 1200 years old. The park also contains 70 glacial lakes, a lot of caves, waterfalls, magnificent canyons and cliffs. It is certainly worthwhile to visit 1 of those 3 nature parks!
The last day of the week we left very early in the morning to Sofia where we took the plane to Athens.
I read an article a few weeks before our trip around the world about the democracy in Hungary. I was very curious how their democracy will have an effect on the economy of the country. Because the new constitution is in conflict with the European legislation, Hungary can no longer rely on a new loan from the International Monetary Fund. The Fidesz government of Viktor Orban took numerous measures to reduce the budget deficit of his country. Soon we found that Hungarians are very hospitable people. We were welcomed into one of the many hotels that Hungary is rich of. Tourism is therefore a very important source of income for the country. We were lucky with the choice of the hotel because there are many hotels that need to be replaced or renovated. But because of the new measures for foreign investors, it is not all that attractive anymore for investors to invest in hotels or residences. The first day of our holiday in Hungary, we took a taxi to a nearby town. When we arrived and were about to pay, we realized that something went wrong. The numerator of the taxi was on a higher mileage than the distance we had really ridden. Apparently the taxi driver had forgotten to reset the meter. The rest of the week we took the bus and tram to move through the country. The Hungarians love to see tourists and I think thats because of the huge price we paid for drinks. We as girls also paid a different price for the same drink than Thomas. Moreover, the waiter expected a tip by the payment of our drinks. On the other hand, the Hungarian currency the forint is lower in value than the euro. But this problem is solved by the Hungarian government to raise VAT from 25% to 27%. The conclusion is that the Government and local communities let tourists pay and the population in many ways for the bad economic situation.
One of the
last stops on this fabulous journey, was Tanzania. Located in East Africa, next
to Kenya and Uganda, its one of hotter countries weve been. Arriving there, we were confronted with a
very special language. The Swahili language. The country has two official
languages; English is the first one, Swahili the second language. Swahili is
seen as the unifying language of the country between different tribes, so being
able to speak this language is very important for some of the inhabitants of
this country. Of course, we dont speak Swahili, so we hired a translator. He
was one of the locals, and could speak both English and Swahili very fluently.
It gave us the chance to have some conversations with these people, without
making fools of ourselves for trying to speak a language we cant. During the week in Tanzania, our translator
stayed with us all the time. The other locals knew him, and thus he could take
us with him to one of his tribes. They
told us, the tribe language is learned first, then Swahili and English. The younger people, like the students (who we
met during a short visit in one of the universities of Tanzania), mix both
these languages ( English and Swahili) to a new language. Its very strange to
hear them speaking. From one of the
teachers, we learned that lots of languages are spoken in Tanzania. During the
colonial period of Tanzania, even German was widely spoken. This practice
though is already forgotten. Not far
from the borders of Rwanda and Burundi, French is spoken. Even Portuguese is spoken. Its a variety of languages we could appreciate
a lot, during our visit in our 11th week. During the week, we learned to speak a word
or two in Swahili. Mimi nina utalii, for example. It means Im a tourist, in
Swahili.
Week 3, like you can see on the video on youtube, we went to Slovakia. The movie is a kind of promotion-film for Slovakia. It shows all kinds of beautiful things of the country; nature, people, culture, And the movie isnt lying. In our opinion, Slovakia has some very beautiful nature. When we visited Slovakia, we went out searching for what Slovakia is well known; its mountains. So the third day, we went for a long walk into the mountains, searching for landscapes. We climbed a mountain called Krivan. We didnt climb to the top of course, as this mountain reaches an astonishing 2500 meters. Krivan is situated to the north of the country, and amongst nature lovers, its ranked as the countrys most beautiful peak. The mountain was easily accessible, along maintained marked trails, so we were not the only hikers there. Krivan, one of the hikers told us, is derived from the root kriv- meaning crooked. It reflects the special angel the mountain appears to have when viewed from the west and south. You can even see these mountains on the Slovak euro coins (the 1,2 and 5 cents), so to the Slovakian people, this mountain is important. The next day, we took the bus to the Greater Fatra, which is a mountain range a bit more to the east. One of the largest ski resorts in Slovakia is located there. We had some amazing views. Lots of trees in this area; nearly 90% if the area is covered by forests. Its one of the countries where you can see no sign of people for as far as the eye reaches. Luckily, this area, so we heard, is protected by one of the national parks of Slovakia, preventing it from damage. Slovakias beautiful nature is one of the main reasons why people come to Slovakia, and tourism is important for economy. Its something the Slovakian people know where well.
Hungary was
the destination of the fourth week. Its bordered bySlovakiato the north,UkraineandRomaniato the east,SerbiaandCroatiato the south. Being situated next to Slovakia, the country
we visited the week before, it was the next logical country on the to do list.
It also means were staying in the same climate, and the same kind of beautiful
nature. We came across some information that most people dont know. Only seven
countries have won more Olympic medals than Hungary. The people of Hungary won
465 medals in total, which is a lot. One of the reasons why they won so many
medals, is because of their success in swimming. Hungarians are good swimmers.
To support that idea, we went swimming that week. Good for general health, but
also good to see what different habits they have in swimming. Theyre also better in football than you
would think. They won against Greece, Italy, Its why we went visiting (near
the end of our week in Hungary) the Ferenc Puskas Stadium. Its in Budapest,
and during our visit to see some culture in Budapest, we decided to check out
this stadium. Its pretty big, capacity of 39 000 people, but whats the most
amazing thing is how old it is. It was opened in 1953. We went to see a
football-game in the stadium, and had a really good time. The Hungarians are
very enthusiastic people, so there was a lot of singing during the game. It was
very warm during the game, so when it was finished, we went for a drink in the
pub. The day after, we went to take a look to a more futuristic stadion. The
Budapest Sports Arena. It was opened in 2003 and its really beautiful and modern. We liked the architecture of the
box office of the arena too, which was right beside the Sport arena, on the
same square. Because of all the medals, Hungary has been put on the map a long
time ago already.
The 10th
week, we arrived in The Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its the second
biggest country of the African continent, and its right in the middle of the
continent. Its the most populous officialy Francophone country, and people
speak French because of Congo was the Belgian colony from 1908 until 1960.
Before that, it was a free state. Colonists brutalized the local population to
produce rubber, used for making rubber tires in a growing international market.
The sale of rubber made a fortune to our king Leopold, who built several buildings in Brussels and
Ostend to honor himself and his country. During this period, which was around
1900, millions of Congolese died as a consequence of exploitation. Its the
reason why we didnt say a lot we where Belgian people. Some people there know
their history, and theyre not grateful to what our ancestors did with them. The last day we were in the country, we saw
in an old museum an old banknote of Zaire.
Mobutu renamed the country the Republic of Zaire, which was Congos 4th
name change in 11 years. We also visited
Kinshasa, which is the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its also the biggest city, and its located
on the Congo River. Kinshasa had the
earliest documented HIV-1 infection, which dates from 1959. In 2004, Kinshasa was rated as one of
Africas most dangerous cities in terms of crime. We knew this before we
arrived, so we hired two people who were always around. They protected us, if
necessary, and they told us what areas we better didnt enter. All of us didnt like this city very much,
because we didnt feel very safe. Luckily, we didnt stay in Kinshasa for the
whole week, so we still had time to enjoy the rest of the Congo without the
bodyguards. After seven days, we packed
our bags once again, and went on to the next country.
Congo - Economy
Libya (politics)
Republic of Chad
Central African Republic
The Nature of Madagascar
