Madagascar is the largest island in Africa. The largest island in Africa The largest island in Africa

27.09.2020

There is a water leak in the kitchen, a drain in the bathroom is clogged, do you need to install a toilet, sink and more? All these issues require urgent solutions. Professional plumbing services to help you! Calling a plumber at home in Moscow from our company means getting high-quality plumbing services inexpensively and on time.

Not sure how to call a plumber at home? Call us! A plumber on call will come to you in 30 minutes completely free of charge. Leave a request and expect a plumber.

How to solve plumbing problems?

There are three options for solving a plumbing problem: do it yourself, contact the housing office or call a plumber at your place of residence from our company. The first is, of course, the most a budget option... But he requires you to understand this area, to have free time, as well as the availability of special tools and spare parts. The second option implies a lot of inconvenience. A utility worker can only come to you at work time which may not match yours. And if you have a force majeure in the evening, at night, on a weekend or a holiday? For example, a drainpipe burst, a sewage system clogged, a toilet cistern does not work, and more? There is a way out - contact us and order plumbing services urgently! We work around the clock, without breaks and weekends, and within a short time our specialist will be at your door. Plumbing services are provided with careful observance of the relevant regulatory documentation. Calling a plumber at home in Moscow with a guarantee for the work performed. Urgent repair, installation and dismantling of plumbing from market leaders!

We are a team of professionals; we have been working in the plumbing services market for many years. Our staff is qualified specialists who thoroughly understand both the plumbing and sewerage systems, as well as the latest generation of plumbing. Our masters are equipped with everything necessary, which allows them to ensure the speed of service, diagnostics and repair of plumbing equipment. Our Moscow plumbing emergency service promptly comes to you and solves plumbing problems with high quality around the clock.

We provide plumbing services not only to the owners of apartment buildings, but also to the owners of the private sector. Arrangement of an autonomous heating system is also our profile. Taking into account the individual characteristics of the structure, we are ready to offer various solutions to the problem for the rational heating of housing.

Services we offer:

laying / replacement / cleaning of sewer pipes;
installation of a water heater, boiler and heating radiators;
installation of filter systems and pumping equipment;
wiring of plastic and metal-plastic pipes;
replacement of the siphon, fine or coarse filters;
installation of meters for hot and cold water supply;
connecting household appliances to water supply and sewerage;
dismantling of plumbing equipment and more.

Plumbing services from us is the best solution for you!

Plumbing services - the work of professionals

Any plumbing work requires a professional approach. As practice shows, amateurish actions can only aggravate the situation. You should not equip, for example, a water heater on your own. We install boilers and boilers in accordance with the safety and operation rules of this equipment.

Do you need to carry out collector wiring of polypropylene water supply pipes or change the battery at the height of the heating season? No problem, call us! With the help of a pipe freezer, we will carry out all the work quickly and efficiently, without draining the water.

We also install hot tubs and jacuzzis. These activities, as a rule, are associated with dismantling works, with connection to sewerage and water supply. Our experienced craftsmen, taking into account knowledge, new technologies and modern tools, will always find the most practical solution for your situation. The appearance of a blockage in the pipeline is a reason to call a plumber at home.

5 reasons why you should choose us:

provide full complex plumbing services;
we guarantee the quality and efficiency of work;
we fulfill our obligations;
we issue a guarantee and documentary reporting;
we approach each order individually.

Africa is still full of mysteries today. This continent is washed by the waters of the Red and Mediterranean seas, as well as the Indian and Atlantic oceans. Its area is more than 30 million km². But this figure includes those adjacent to Black It is about the islands of Africa that I want to talk in more detail. They are like fragments of paradise, scattered in the warm waters of the oceans. Each island is beautiful in its own way.

Madagascar island

Many have learned information about this bright exotic place from the children's cartoon of the same name. On TV screens, we saw funny fussy lemurs, greedy and gluttonous foss and other unusual heroes. The thing is that this island separated from Africa and India many millions of years ago, and a large number of endemic animals are concentrated here.

Madagascar, like many African islands, used to be a foreign colony. For a long time, the French ruled here. Today it is self-sustaining with a population of over 17 million.

Madagascar, like other islands in South Africa, is a unique holiday destination. After all, in fact, this is a huge zoo under open air... Here baobabs support the sky, and gentle waves tickle the golden sand of beaches, the total length of which exceeds 5 thousand km. The year here mainly consists of sunny days, and the water in the ocean is always warm. The winds have been blowing for only a few months. The dry season lasts from April to November.

Madeira Island

The island in the north of the Atlantic is also amazing. It is located on the African lithospheric plate and is geographically assigned to Africa. But it is so intertwined by cultural, ethnic and political roots with Europe that it has become a part of it.

The island is of volcanic origin with a subtropical and tropical climate. The air temperature here is 20-30 ° C, and the Gulf Stream provides warm water near the beaches. Madeira Island has a rich flora. There are also many endemics preserved here. About 20% island square occupied by relict forests of laurisilva. The Madeira pigeon and many endemic insects are found here.

Madeira Island is an autonomous part of Portugal.

Canary Islands is a volcanic archipelago in Atlantic Ocean... Geographically, these are the islands of Africa, and politically, the autonomous community of Spain. The largest of these is Tenerife.

The climate of the Canary Islands is characterized as a tropical trade wind. It is hot and dry here, the proximity affects the eastern lands of the archipelago in general arid.

The Canary Islands are popular resorts that gather wealthy tourists from all over the world.

Bazaruto Islands

It is a unique archipelago of five islands off the coast of Mozambique. Here, among the orange trees, there are very expensive resorts inscribed in the African flavor. Moreover, two of the five islands are considered uninhabited.

Archipelago Bazaruto - islands off the coast of Africa, declared a national natural park. Everything is guarded here: and salt lakes, and Coral reefs and unique beaches. Holidays on the islands are imbued with incredible beauty and tranquility.

Zanzibar archipelago

Zanzibar is located near mainland Tanzania in the Indian Ocean. The largest islands of the archipelago are Pemba and Unguja. The climate here is warm and humid. The archipelago is famous for its unique white sand on its numerous beaches. There are also many endemic plants and animals preserved here. On the islands you can observe giant turtles, colorful butterflies and red monkeys.

You can relax in Zanzibar all year round. The air and water temperatures are very comfortable. Numerous African islands that are part of this archipelago have convenient and well-developed infrastructure. Here you can find activities for every taste.

Unique natural objects- Madagascar island. Rwenzori Mountains in Congo. Canary Islands.

20.02.2017 / 10:06 | Varvara Pokrovskaya

Madagascar island

Most big Island Indian Ocean- Madagascar - geographers are often called "the continent in miniature." This is explained, firstly, by the extraordinary variety of its landscapes, and secondly, by the peculiar animals and flora distinguishing it from nearby Africa and from other parts of the world.

A combination of tropical rainforests, tall grass savannas and even semi-deserts, mountain ranges, plateaus and coastal plains, extinct volcanoes and coral reefs, swampy lagoons and mangroves, monsoon and trade winds determine the existence of a wide variety of landscapes on the island, and the animals and plants of Madagascar, three quarters of which are found only here, are not at all similar to African ones, and if they have relatives, it is usually in Indochina and Indonesia, and even in South America.

Madagascar is a mountainous country. Almost half of it is occupied by the High Plateau, which stretches across the entire island from north to south. On east coast where the trade winds bring moisture from the Indian Ocean, rains, stormy and abundant, occur almost every day. Because of the strong wind accompanying them, the storm jets are directed almost horizontally, and no umbrellas and awnings save them from them. Strictly speaking, a distinction is made between a wet season and a dry one. But the last one, lasting from May to November, differs only in that occasionally there are days without precipitation. In July, at the height of winter, the thermometer reads plus sixteen, and in February the temperature reaches thirty-four degrees.

Evergreen forests of ferns, tamarind, palms and other tropical trees entwined with vines and decorated with bright orchids grow on the steep slopes of the plateau. There are many valuable tree species in these forests. Different types of rosewood, for example, have lilac, pink and even black wood. There are also rubber plants here. And from the resin of the copal tree, varnish is made.

But of all the trees in Madagascar, the most famous is rabala. In appearance, it looks like a banana, only the banana leaves grow directly from the ground, and the Ravenala has a real trunk, from the top of which, like the spokes of a wheel, huge leaves, torn by the wind around the edges, diverge. Where the cuttings of the leaves gather towards the trunk, there are special containers containing several liters of water. Having met ravalala, a weary traveler can always quench his thirst. No wonder it is also called the "tree of travelers". The vines of Madagascar are unique. The pod of one of them, entada creepers, reaches two meters in length and one and a half in width! Several of these pods, split in half, serve as a perfect roof for a hut. Vines are used to make ropes, baskets and mats. And of some, especially durable ones, they build houses, since they are the only plants on the island that are not touched by termites.

In the west, where the mountains do not allow rain clouds, savanna reigns, and in some places, in the south - a hot semi-desert, since rainfall is rare here and falls only in winter. In the dry season, not a drop of moisture is spilled for months, and the temperature rises to forty degrees! Forests in the west are found only in river valleys, and the savanna is overgrown with brush-like grass, and only here and there small baobabs and fan palms rise. Trees in the western part of the island shed their leaves for the winter so as not to evaporate moisture during dry seasons.

The fauna of Madagascar in its originality can be compared only with the Australian one. The main treasure of the island's fauna is, of course, lemurs. These funny animals, reminiscent of a cross between a monkey and a cat, live in forests and are nocturnal. They have large, glowing eyes and a shrill voice reminiscent of the moody cry of a child.

The largest of the lemurs is the indri. They are easily tamed, and the inhabitants of the island - the Malgash - often use them for hunting instead of dogs. Another genus of lemurs, with a fox head and a long tail, are poppies. They are very lively and mobile, keep in flocks and often catch our eye in the evenings, when they jump through the trees in search of tasty fruits. The complete opposite is the fat loris. This clumsy and clumsy baby is slow, like an Australian koala. Aye-aye, or aye-aye, is also interesting - an evil flat-headed lemur with huge ears and a long tail. He lives in bamboo forests, feeds on the core of bamboo and sugarcane, and also does not disdain beetles and larvae. With its long fingers, the ai-ai easily extracts the contents from the trunks of bamboo and reeds. This gourmet is very afraid of light. As soon as the sun rises, he falls asleep, thrusting his head between his legs and wrapping it in his long tail.

The Malgashes consider lemurs to be sacred animals. There is a legend that once upon a time they were people, and then, living in the forest, overgrown with wool and turned into animals. Meeting a lemur in the forest, hunters always politely greet him, and animals that accidentally fall into a trap are certainly freed and set free.

Of the predators on the island, only the reddish-black fossa, the ferret cat, is found. It is about the size of a large dog, but is small in stature, since its legs are short. The Malgachs are very afraid of Fossa. There are many legends and hunting stories about her bloodthirstiness and strength.

It is found in Madagascar and the mongoose is the main fighter of snakes. And in the mountain forests live shy and timid eared hedgehogs - tenrecs. These rather large (rabbit-sized) animals emerge from their burrows only at dusk and busily start looking for food - small insects. In winter, they hibernate.

The bird world of Madagascar is bright and unusual. It is home to green parrots, bright red cardinals, blue doves and kingfishers, sultan chickens, ibises and guinea fowls. Once upon a time, the island was inhabited by huge, similar to giant cassowaries, epyornis birds. The growth of these giants reached five meters! They became extinct quite recently, since Marco Polo mentioned them in his book. And later, in the 18th century, sailors sailing to the island heard the cries of these birds. A giant epyornis egg in volume was equal to 150 ostriches. The Malgashes used them to make vessels that could hold eight liters of water each.

There are no venomous snakes in Madagascar, and the only truly dangerous animals here are crocodiles. They are literally teeming with the marshes and lakes of the island.

And European collectors give special honor to the amazingly beautiful butterflies of Madagascar. Goliath, the largest of them, can easily be mistaken for a bird. It is a brown butterfly with a pink belly. Urania is surprisingly picturesque, rightly considered the most beautiful butterfly in the world. Her wings seem to shimmer with all possible colors. The Madagascar butterfly is also striking with a bizarre pattern on the wings.

There are a lot of chameleons of various sizes on the island. Because of the unattractive appearance Malgash consider them evil and harmful creatures, although in fact they are of great benefit, exterminating flies and other annoying insects. The chameleon, in fact, is a relative of lizards, but nature clearly deprived him of his agility. Sometimes it seems that it is not blood in his veins, but wood glue - his movements are so viscous. And only the tongue of the chameleon is thrown forward with lightning speed when the prey is within reach. The chameleon is known primarily for its extraordinary ability to change color to match the color of the surrounding background, which makes it absolutely invisible in the forest.

The unusual animals and plants of Madagascar are widely known, but there is an amazing place in the west of which even the inhabitants of the island know little about the nature. This is the Bemaraja Plateau, located in the Manambolo River Basin off the coast of the Mozambique Channel. Everything is amazing here: fantastic relief, animals and plants, perhaps the last untouched corner has been preserved here. wildlife Madagascar.

The Bemaraha limestone plateau rises 400 meters above the Manambolo Valley. The river cut through it a grand gorge with white layered walls. And around the gorge is ... stone forest! Intricately carved by karst processes, rocky ridges - karr - bristled with thousands of sharp peaks, between which the water made deep cracks, and turned each boulder into a sharp jagged sword. A huge rocky labyrinth is practically impassable: limestone towers and walls, overgrown with thorns, formed a network of natural bastions throughout the plateau, reliably protecting it from newcomers.

The Bemaraha area is poor in rainfall: the dry season here lasts up to eight months. And in fractured limestones, even the moisture that was brought by rare rains quickly goes into the depths, so only plants that are well adapted to drought can survive here. Ebony, for example, turns green only during the rainy season, and stands naked the rest of the time, saving water. And the baobab, on the contrary, accumulates water in its clumsy and powerful trunk, up to nine meters in thickness, and thanks to this it survives in the dry season.

Bizarre creatures inhabit the stone forest of Bemarach. It is an armored chameleon that resembles a small dragon or dinosaur with its spiny spines on its ridge and pointed bumps on its head. There is also a kind of Madagascar rat with big ears. If you do not notice the long tail, it may well be mistaken for a rabbit. Aeons and poppies live on the trees that have grown in the crevices of the rocks, enlivening the desert rocky landscape with their funny jumps and shrill screams.

Groups of remnant rocks formed by karst processes are also found in other places in the world, for example, in the Qingling region of China or in Ha Long Bay in Vietnam. But there these limestone pillars and towers always have a rounded or flat top. And only here, in Madagascar, such an amazing spiky stone forest arose. The attractiveness of this corner also lies in the fact that not a single person has yet been in the depths of the plateau, and what discoveries await scientists there, one can only guess. The nature of Madagascar still keeps many secrets that will be revealed only to inquisitive travelers who managed to overcome all the difficulties that arise before the pioneers of the mountains, jungle and mysterious rock labyrinths of this unique island.

Rwenzori mountains

Between the Central African Lakes Edward and Albert, where the equator line crosses the border of Congo and Uganda, there is one of the most mysterious mountain ranges of our planet - Mount Rwenzori.

Until 1888, not a single European saw them. Yes and after famous traveler Henry Stanley discovered them for science, few were able to admire their sparkling snowy peaks. The fact is that three hundred days a year the Rwenzori massif is covered by clouds, and in the remaining two months it opens only briefly at dawn or at dusk to the gaze of travelers passing at its foot.

When in 1906 the Italian expedition made the first map of these places, it turned out that the Rwenzori mountains stretching for one hundred and twenty kilometers from the northeast to the southwest are the highest mountain range Africa. As many as nine peaks rise more than four kilometers, and the highest of them - the Margherita peak - reaches five thousand one hundred meters and is the third highest on the continent. (After the lonely Kilimanjaro volcano and Mount Kenya south of Rwenzori.)

Since the time of Ptolemy, European and Arab geographers have written about the existence of the mysterious Moon Mountains in the center of Africa. It was believed that it was in them that the sources of the Nile were located. However, it took almost two thousand years to confirm this assumption. Moreover, already in the 20th century, five well-equipped expeditions that visited lakes Albert and Eduard could not find Ruwenzori, although it would seem that from such a distance it is no more difficult than noticing the Eiffel Tower from the Seine embankment. Dense clouds interfered, completely hiding the gigantic mountain range from researchers.

And only Stanley's perseverance, patience and observation allowed him on the third attempt (!) To finally open the elusive ridge. This is how he himself describes this "hunt for Rwenzori":

"... Returning from Lake Albert in December 1887, we suddenly noticed that two huge truncated cones appeared on the horizon to the south of us. It seemed to us that their height should be from three to four kilometers. We christened them" Twins "and strongly became interested in them, believing that there should be a very picturesque area next to them.

Returning to the lake in April 1888, we did not see the Gemini, but on May 25, when we walked two hours from the lake, our eyes suddenly saw a huge snow-white mountain, with a central massif about fifty kilometers in length; on both sides of this mountain there were two mountain ranges, one and a half kilometers below it. On that day, all this was visible for several hours in a row. But the next day the vision disappeared, there were no tracks to be seen, neither the Twins, nor the snow ridge.

Returning to Albert for the third time, in January 1889, we stopped in a local village for two and a half months, but saw nothing during all this time. However, one fine day, as usual, looking at the place where the snow ridge should have been, we waited for it: all the mountain ranges at once emerged from behind their cloud cover, and dozens of pairs of eyes eagerly glared at this wondrous sight.

The upper part of the ridge, clearly divided into many pyramidal peaks, belted from below by a wide strip of milky-white fog, against the background of blue skies of extraordinary purity and transparency, seemed as if floating in the air, like that "Island of Bliss", hovering between heaven and earth, about which an old legend tells. As the sun tilted westward, the mist belt disappeared, and the ghostly vision was attached to a chain of mighty foothills. Although we were a hundred kilometers from the mountains, through binoculars it was possible to make out strips of forests and individual tree groups growing either on wide ledges or along the edges of a cliff overhanging a deep abyss. I thought that this must be the mountains of the Moon that Ptolemy once wrote about.

One must think that the transparency of the atmosphere is a rare phenomenon in the local area, and if we were here in passing, like other travelers, then, in all likelihood, Rwenzori would remain in obscurity for a long time. "

By the way, the Semliki river flowing at the foot of these "Moon Mountains" flows into Lake Albert, as well as main source Nile - Victoria Nile. From here, already under the name of Albert-Nile, the future great river rushes north to meet the Blue Nile. So the ancient geographers were right: one of the sources of the Nile is indeed located in this mountain range.

Unlike Kilimanjaro and Kenya, the Rwenzori Mountains are not volcanic in origin. This is a huge granite block, lifted four kilometers up along a giant fault in the earth's crust, called by geologists the Great African Rift. The long and deep African lakes of Nyasa, Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward and Albert are located along the line of this arc-shaped fault, and on its sides the mountain ranges of Kitengere, Malimba, Marunga and Mitumba, as well as the cones of the Sapitva and Karisimbi volcanoes, rise to a three-kilometer height.

In the language of the Bakongo people living here, Rwenzori means "Rainmaker". Indeed, the high mountain range stands as a mighty obstacle to the winds bringing moisture from the deep Congo basin. Climbing up the slopes of Rwenzori, humid air cools and clouds appear that rain down almost every day.

At the foot of Rwenzori there are vast savannas, overgrown with two-meter tall elephant grass. Here is the expanse of buffaloes, elephants and rhinos, herds of antelopes, giraffes and zebras graze here and cheetahs, lions and hyenas hunt for game.

From a height of two kilometers, lush rain forests begin, where, in addition to the usual forest inhabitants of equatorial Africa, there are also such rare animals as the pintail squirrel, which uses a sharp bone thorn on the lower surface of its tail when climbing trees, or the Ruvenzor otter shrew, in contrast to preferring to live in rivers and streams and having webbed feet.

There is also a huge Cape otter, almost one and a half meters long, and a forest boar - the largest living in Africa. This one meter tall animal weighs up to one hundred and sixty kilograms, and hunting it is far from a safe occupation. But the three-horned chameleon living on Rwenzori has the most unusual appearance. Superstitious blacks are afraid of him, considering him a messenger of misfortune.

The largest bats in the world - flying dogs - with a wingspan of more than a meter live in caves and tree hollows. And of the dangerous predators high in the mountain forests, only the leopard climbs, causing fear to the numerous monkeys inhabiting these places.

From three to three and a half kilometers on the slopes of Rwenzori there is a belt of semi-forests, strange in appearance, half-shrubs, densely covered with lichens. They are formed by thickets of treelike heather, reaching monstrous size in this humid and hot atmosphere. Here, in general, everything grows to gigantic proportions: grass, flowers, and ferns. Even earthworms on Rwenzori are finger-thick and a meter or more long.

Even higher, there is a zone of mountain meadows, where the traveler will meet with the main decoration of this fantastic botanical kingdom. The modest flowers of the senesia (wild rose), which reach a height of twenty to thirty centimeters in our country, here become real five-meter trees, striking with the whimsicality of their black stump-trunk, crowned with a bunch of half-meter leaves.

The modest northern lobelia reaches the same enormous size here, which has turned on the slopes of Ruwenzori into a giant green rosette lying on the ground, from which a two-meter, candle-like inflorescence rises upward.

These striking, unmatched plant giants rise among green meadows dotted with blooming violets, cuffs and lilies, and in some places animated by mighty thickets of two-meter horsetails.

Such a landscape, reminiscent of shots from films about the conquest of alien worlds, can be found only in two other places on Earth - on the slopes of Kenya and Kilimanjaro.

Climbing another half a kilometer, the traveler finds himself above a strip of continuous clouds. The bright sun floods with its rays a completely unusual alpine landscape for Africa, as if transferred here from somewhere from Mont Blanc. Above - jagged ridges, eaten away by glacial circuses, sharp pyramidal peaks, snow fields sparkling with pristine whiteness and bluish tongues of glaciers. Below are deep valley trenches plowed by glaciers and countless mirrors of small and large glacial lakes, which reflect the fanciful "candelabra" of giant Senetsia and slender "candles" of giant lobelias that perfectly complement this picturesque landscape.

Eternal snows and glaciers highest peaks Rwenzori is fed by many fast, cold streams. clear water... Merging, they form a little lower, in forest belt, swift noisy rivers rushing down the steep rapids and rolling along the bottom a mass of stone debris. Such streams are capable of cutting deeply into the slopes of the mountain range. The gorges up to a kilometer deep dissect the Rwenzori slopes into many separate blocks, giving the ridge a ribbed appearance. On the western side, where the massif drops off to the valley with a steep cliff, the rivers rush down onto the plain with foaming streams of waterfalls three or four hundred meters high.

However, to admire all this beauty, you will have to climb almost four kilometers. From below, he risks not seeing the mountains at all through the cloudy cloak in which Rwenzori wraps himself. But the difficulties of climbing are instantly forgotten when the view of the traveler opens up a majestic panorama of the transcendental ridge covered with eternal snows.

At one time, Stanley described the feelings of a person who saw Rwenzori:

"It happens that half an hour before sunset, the wind drives away clouds, and then one peak after another appears in the blue sky, one after another, powerful peaks, snow-white fields are exposed and the entire undulating mass shines in its full splendor until twilight deepens and the dark night will cover it with an even darker tent.

These short - too short - minutes, when you look at the magnificent "Rainmaker", as the Bakongo call their fog-shrouded mountain, fill the viewer with such a feeling as if he looked into the open skies. "

Canary Islands

To the west of the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean stretches for four hundred and fifty kilometers from west to east, a ridge of seven volcanic islands. This archipelago, friendly, picturesque and diverse, has been called the Canary Islands since ancient times. Such a not very pleasant name (canis in Latin - "dog") was given to the islands by the famous Roman scientist Pliny the Elder, who claimed that huge dogs were supposedly found there. Later it turned out that the great natural scientist was wrong, but the name has already stuck. And although the fertile islands off the coast of Africa were given at different times many other, more romantic names: "Islands of Eternal Spring", "Enchanted Islands", "Islands of the Blessed", " Champs Elysees"and even the" Gardens of the Hesperides ", nevertheless, these islands remain on the maps to this day under the first" doggy "name.

Inhabited and developed by people five thousand years ago, the archipelago became known to the Phoenicians in the XI century BC. A thousand years later, the Romans landed here, and in the XIV century, Spanish caravels appeared off the coast of the islands. A hundred years later, having broken the resistance of the local Guanches, Spain finally took possession of the archipelago, and to this time they belong to her.

It is clear that over the five hundred years of economic development of the Canary Islands by the Spaniards, the nature of the archipelago has changed a lot. mountainous terrain turned out to be inconvenient for the establishment of plantations, and their flora and fauna were not so badly affected.

The most famous, largest and most noticeable (in the literal sense of the word) island in the Canary Islands is Tenerife. Its main attraction - the Teide volcano, towering three thousand seven hundred meters above sea level - is visible from approaching ships almost two hundred kilometers away.

The vague outlines of a huge mountain, now appearing and then disappearing in the translucent haze of morning fog, have influenced the imagination of sailors since ancient times. Peak Teide was admired by Columbus and Cook, Bellingshausen and Humboldt. And in January 1832, the British ship "Beagle" approached the shores of the archipelago, on which he went to his famous trip around the world young naturalist and future creator of the theory of evolution Charles Darwin. This is what he wrote in his diary:

“On January 6th we reached Tenerife ... The next morning we saw the sun emerge from behind the bizarre cliffs of Gran Canaria and suddenly illuminate the Tenerife Peak, while the low parts of the island were still hidden behind curly clouds. It was the first of those delightful days that I will never forget. "

The first known eruption of Mount Teide occurred in 1492, exactly in the year Columbus visited Tenerife. The volcano then showed its activity more than once: its eruptions took place in 1706 and 1909. The funicular nowadays allows the traveler to easily climb to the edge of the crater and look into the black and gloomy volcanic hollow, on the edge of which a young cone that has grown in 1909 rises.

The hollow, bearing the expressive name of Caldera de las Cañadas ("caldera of abysses"), strikes with bizarre forms of solidified lava flows and minerals of various colors, among which tachinastes flowers rise here and there, similar to huge candles.

Although much of the island has long been turned into banana plantations and orange groves by the Spaniards, in the northeast of Tenerife, near its capital Santa Cruz, there is a large forest area that occupies the mountain slopes off the coast. In the dry and hot climate of the Canary Islands, this dense, gloomy and cool forest, in which the Canary pines, laurels and such native northern birches grow side by side, seems to be a green oasis next to the hot beaches and dry rocky slopes of Teide. At the edge of the forest, a serpentine mountain road leads to an open area, to a high coastal cliff - Pico de Inglés. From its kilometer height, the traveler has a view of endless ocean distances and golden beaches, high cliffs and green groves of the coast.

If Tenerife with its mild and warm climate is called "the island of eternal spring", then the easternmost of the Canary Islands, Lanzarote, would be rightly called the "island of fire-breathing mountains". On this small island, sixty kilometers long and fifteen kilometers wide, nature has brought together as many as three hundred volcanoes!

The last time the island erupted was in 1824. Then, along the fault line crossing the island, one after another, three volcanoes arose and began to eject ash and lava: Tao, Tinguaton and Negro. But this formidable picture could not be compared with the firestorm that raged in Lanzarote a hundred years earlier. In the fall of 1730, thirty craters simultaneously began spewing hot ash and rivers of liquid lava, sowing death and devastation in the vicinity. The monstrous eruption lasted for six years and covered a third of the island's territory with a gray lifeless cover of basalts.

The local priest then kept detailed records of what was happening. Here is an excerpt from this peculiar "chronicle of fiery years":

"Near Timfaya, the earth split and a huge fire-breathing mountain grew. The formidable performance lasted three weeks. A few days later, other craters opened and splashed out lava, which buried the villages of Timfaya, Rodeo and Mancha Blanca. On September 6, a high rock, deflecting a lava flow, changed it direction from north to north-west. This led to the destruction of the villages of Maretes and Santa Catalina. On September 11, new flaming crevasses opened. Liquid lava flooded the city of Maso, and six days later it reached the coast and poured into the sea with a roar, scattering terrifyingly beautiful cascades sparks ... "

After such a long rampage of the fire element, the appearance of the island has completely changed. Fields and vineyards, the richest villages were destroyed. In the center of the island a dark ridge of volcanic cones has grown, reminiscent of the mountains of the moon.

Nowadays, the entire central and western part of Lanzarote is referred to by residents as Mal-Pais ("Bad Country"). Dark colors dominate here, you will not hear bird singing, here the formidable volcanic ridge of Montaña del Fuego ("Fiery Mountains") rises above a lifeless valley. The landscape of these places makes a strong impression: destroyed volcanic cones, blue-black ash fields, rusty-red crater walls oxidized by volcanic heat and mountains of gray slag ...

Huge vents gape, but not a single crater smokes, breathes fire. Not a single cloud of steam or smoke rises over Montaña del Fuego. But quite shallow under the outer layer of volcanic rocks, the bowels of volcanoes still glow with heat, and a traveler who finds himself in Lanzarote can easily be convinced of this.

On the crest of one of the craters, an enterprising Canarian has set up a restaurant where the floor slabs are hot to the touch, and the chef fries eggs, placing a frying pan right on a pile of volcanic sand. For fun, the owner of the establishment throws an armful of brushwood with a pitchfork into a two-meter hole. Not even a minute passes before a fire flares up there. And nearby you can admire a man-made geyser. It is enough to pour a bucket of water into a pipe dug into the ground, and almost immediately steam bursts out of it, and then a stream of boiling water, soaring to a height of four meters.

Traveling around Lanzarote is not difficult by bus, but it is more interesting to do it on horseback on a camel. The road paved through the created here National park, leads along a frozen lava lake to a long chain of craters bordered by slag heaps and frozen lava fountains, which are called "chornitos" here.

Still, the main attraction of the volcanic island is the Cueva de los Verdes cave. This largest lava cave in the world stretches for six kilometers. Some of its halls reach fifteen meters in height and twenty-four in width. One of them even concert hall.

The cave is located in the north of the island, under the lava fields of the Korona volcano. The river of molten basalt continued to flow under the cooled and solidified outer layer of lava from the lateral Corona crater downhill into the sea, forming a natural tunnel with bizarre wall and roof shapes. From the Mal Pais plateau, a narrow path leads the traveler into a gloomy deep depression. Behind a high dark entrance, it first runs along a tunnel heading towards the sea, then turns west into a narrower passage and reaches the deepest part of the cave, which is forty meters below the surface.

All the way, the tourist is accompanied by soft electronic music, reminiscent of the ringing of glass drops. Searchlights illuminate the passages and halls, illuminate the oxide-painted vaults and hanging lava pillars - a kind of volcanic stalactites that cast intricate shadows.

The cave has two tiers, the upper one being wider and more spacious. After several ascents and descents, the traveler finally arrives at the concert hall. The impression from underground music exceeds all expectations: after all, the porous walls of the lava cave create ideal acoustics.

On the way back, the tourist will meet at the path small lake filled with sea water seeping through the cracks. Small crabs live in the underground reservoir, which have become absolutely white in the darkness of the cave. And in a wide funnel at the exit from a mysterious cavity, where the sun's rays fall from above, you can sit in a cozy cafe, thinking about the terrible cataclysms that have created this unusual underground volcanic world.

The other large islands of the Canary archipelago - Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Palma - have retained little of their pristine nature. The first of them is the kingdom of hotels and beaches, the second, thanks to the efforts of people, has become practically treeless, and its landscape does not please the eye of the traveler. As for the island of Palma, it was badly damaged by the eruption that happened quite recently, in 1971.

But the small mountainous island of Homera, located south of Tenerife, has hardly changed since the time of the Spanish conquest. There is not even an airport here, and most tourists come here only on excursions.

The mighty mountain range Garajonei rises above the island for one and a half kilometers. Six deep gorges radiate from it to the coast. Two-thirds of the entire territory of the island of Homer is covered with virgin forests of laurel, waxweed and tree heather. The laurel forests growing on the northern slopes are of particular value. Lush with a fringe of moss and lichens, the huge trees look “fluffy,” and a solid carpet of ferns complements the pristine look of these ancient forests that covered vast areas of the Mediterranean and North Africa millions of years ago.

In laurel forests live rare and cautious Canary pigeons, giving themselves away only with gentle cooing, as well as the most famous feathered inhabitants of the islands - canaries, whose singing is heard from all sides.

Once upon a time, the Guanches lived on Homer - the indigenous inhabitants of the archipelago, who appeared here thousands of years before our era. The island's rugged, rugged terrain has forced them to develop a unique way of communicating. Being on opposite sides of the gorge, the Guanches could converse in a special whistle language - silbo. This unique language made it possible to transmit messages over a distance of up to a kilometer.

Such an unusual language has been found on our planet only in one more place - in one of the mountain villages of Turkey. Silbo has survived to this day, and you can still hear two shepherds whistling across the canyon on Homer, making an appointment or broadcasting the news.

Another source of pride for Homer refers not to botany or linguistics, but to history. Here more often than on other islands of the archipelago, I have been great Columbus... From 1492 to 1502, he visited the island of Homer as many as four times, the reason for which is believed to be his romantic infatuation with the local beauty, the Marquise of Monya. The house where the navigator stayed has now become the Columbus Museum. The future conqueror of the Aztec empire, conquistador Hernan Cortes, also visited the island on his way to America.

It is interesting to explore the island of Homer not only on foot or on horseback, but also from the sea. From the boat you can see the main wonder of the Homeric coast - the rock of Los Organos. It is a steep wall made up of thousands of hexagonal basalt columns that rise from the waves of the sea like the pipes of a giant organ.

The abundance of sun and warmth in the Canary Islands is not that boring, but requires a change of scenery from time to time. And in search of variety every year, up to half a million tourists pass along the shady forest roads of the island of Homera. Nevertheless, there are still many untouched corners on it, and this most quiet and green island remains a true oasis of the unchanged nature of the Canary archipelago.

A traveler who has visited the Canaries will certainly tell his friends about climbing Mount Teide and the stunning views that open from there to the vast Atlantic, about the tunnels of the Cueva de los Verdes scorched by underground fire, about the formidable craters of Montagnadel Fuego and about mysterious island with the beautiful name of Homer ...

Amorphophallus titanic | lat. Amorphophallus titanum
("Plates")

Kingdom - Plants;
Department - Angiosperms;
Class - Monocots;
Order - Ostuchtsvetny;
Family - Aroid;
Genus - Amorphophallus;
Species - Amorphophallus titanic.

The largest flower in the world is called Amorphophallus titanum.
This giant flower is native to the forests of the island of Sumatra. Its dimensions are impressive - the height of the plant can be more than 2.5 meters, the length of the leaf is up to five meters.
The underground tuber is large and can reach fifty kilograms.
The largest flower in the world was discovered in 1878, it has several names - devil's tongue, cadaveric flower, Voodoo lily, snake palm, umbrella palm, leopard palm and others.
In the homeland of the plant, in Indonesia and Sumatra, it is called "Bunga bangkai", which literally means "corpse flower".
This amazing plant lives up to forty years, while blooming only three to four times.
Flowering lasts up to two weeks, while the ear of the plant heats up to forty degrees. At the same time, the flower emits a strong "aroma" of rotten eggs and rotting fish, thereby attracting insects for its pollination.
Initially, titanic amorphophallus grew only in the forests of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, but people who came there practically exterminated it. Now this rare flower is bred mainly in greenhouse conditions in botanical gardens the world. \

0	0	0

0	0	0

Socotra is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. Because of its landscape, the island is called the most unique place on earth, there is no other place like this. It is enough to look at the photos to understand that the local nature is unique. We have already written in our issues about many unusual places, but Socotor goes far beyond the usual concepts of what an unusual place is. So, we continue our series of articles about interesting places on planet Earth. We have already talked about the most mysterious places on Earth, now we will visit the most unusual places. The island of Socotra is unusual, first of all, for its landscape, it can be mistaken for a scenery for a film about some extraterrestrial civilization, but believe me, such beauty really exists. In addition, it is also one of the most isolated places on the planet. Because of this location, one third of Socotra's plants are endemic and cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. Imagine for a few seconds that a miracle happened and you suddenly woke up unexpectedly on this island. The first thing that comes to your mind is that you have gone mad, or ended up on another planet, or plunged into a completely different era in the history of the Earth. The latter option is most plausible in the case of Socotra, geographically isolated from Africa for 6 million years. The island is replete with extremely rare species of flora and fauna, of which there are about seven hundred. Despite the harsh, hot and dry climate, an amazing plant life flourishes here. Socotra Island is located 250 kilometers from Somalia and 340 from Yemen. Wide sandy beaches smoothly pass to the limestone plateau with many caves and mountains up to 1525 meters high. The name Socotra is translated from Sanskrit as the Island of Happiness. We can quite agree with this - crazy botanical charm here side by side with silence, isolation and huge quiet beaches. Let's move on to describe some of the unique plants and animals of the island, which are protected here by natural isolation, and therefore some of them have survived in the same form as 20 million years ago. Let's start with dracena cinnibaris, a tree called Dragon's Blood, a source of valuable resin for varnishes, paints, and medicine. Dragon blood resin was also used in medieval ritual magic and alchemy. The branches of these trees expand towards the sky, and from below they resemble many flying saucers ... From above, they look like huge mushrooms: Socotra also has a Desert Rose (adenium obesium) - a plant that looks like a blooming elephant foot: Dorstenia Giga - does not require any soil at all and sinks its roots directly into bare rock: Also among the interesting plants of Socotra is the strange and extremely rare Cucumber Tree (dendrosicyos socotranum). Despite the fact that the population of the island is approximately 40,000 inhabitants, The Yemeni government built the first roads here only 2 years ago - after negotiations with UNESCO, which declared Socotra a World Heritage Site. It is a quiet and peaceful enclave in a hectic world. If you decide

0	0	0

Socotra is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. Because of its landscape, the island is called the most unique place on earth, there is no other place like it. It is enough to look at the photos to understand that the local nature is unique. We have already written in our issues about many unusual places, but Socotor goes far beyond the usual concepts of what an unusual place is. So, we continue our series of articles about interesting places on planet Earth. We have already talked about the most mysterious places on Earth, now we will visit the most unusual places. The island of Socotra is unusual, first of all, for its landscape, it can be mistaken for a scenery for a film about some extraterrestrial civilization, but believe me, such beauty really exists. In addition, it is also one of the most isolated places on the planet. Because of this location, one third of Socotra's plants are endemic and cannot be found anywhere else on the planet. Imagine for a few seconds that a miracle happened and you suddenly woke up unexpectedly on this island. The first thing that comes to your mind is that you have gone mad, or ended up on another planet, or plunged into a completely different era in the history of the Earth. The latter option is most plausible in the case of Socotra, geographically isolated from Africa for 6 million years. The island is replete with extremely rare species of flora and fauna, of which there are about seven hundred. Despite the harsh, hot and dry climate, an amazing plant life flourishes here. Socotra Island is located 250 kilometers from Somalia and 340 from Yemen. Wide sandy beaches smoothly transition to a limestone plateau with many caves and mountains up to 1525 meters high. The name Socotra is translated from Sanskrit as the Island of Happiness. We can quite agree with this - crazy botanical charm here side by side with silence, isolation and huge quiet beaches. Let's move on to describe some of the unique plants and animals of the island, which are protected here by natural isolation, and therefore some of them have survived in the same form as 20 million years ago. Let's start with dracena cinnibaris, a tree called Dragon's Blood, a source of valuable resin for varnishes, paints, and medicine. Dragon's blood resin was also used in medieval ritual magic and alchemy. The branches of these trees expand towards the sky, and from below they resemble many flying saucers ... From above, they look like huge mushrooms: Socotra also has a Desert Rose (adenium obesium) - a plant that looks like a blooming elephant foot: Dorstenia Giga - does not require any soil at all and plunges its roots directly into bare rock: Also among the interesting plants of Socotra is the strange and extremely rare Cucumber Tree (dendrosicyos socotranum). Despite the population of the island is approximately 40,000 inhabitants, the government of Yemen built the first roads here only 2 years ago - after negotiations with UNESCO, which declared Socotra a World Heritage Site. It is a quiet and peaceful enclave in a hectic world. If you decide

0	0	0

0	0	0

0	0	0

0	0	0

0	0	0

0	0	0

Ambergris Cay (Belize) is the largest island of nearly two hundred islands in Belize and a major attraction for many travelers, especially diving enthusiasts. Kei means "island", and the name "Ambergris" came from the large chunks of amber (a waste product of migratory whales), which used to wash on the local coast.

Tourist popularity came to the island relatively recently, so the nature here has preserved its pristine beauty, practically untouched by civilization.

The coastline of the island is protected by the Barrier Reef, without which this small piece of land in the ocean could not exist. The Barrier Reef serves as a natural breakwater and of course the biggest attraction. The reef is located about two kilometers from the coast of the island. The amazingly clear water separating the island from the reef provides countless opportunities for diving and snorkelling enthusiasts. Diving into dazzling turquoise ocean waters is a fabulous journey through colorful coral canyons and underwater caves, observing the life of marine life.

http://vk.com/tripdiary?z=photo-35238813_291690648%2Fwall-35238813_7014

Sao Tome
Sao Tome Island is the largest island in Sao Tome and Principe County. This island, ()

Sao Tome
Sao Tome Island is the largest island in Sao Tome and Principe County. This Portuguese-speaking island is bordered by the Equator ( West Coast Central Africa). There is never a large influx of tourists here, so travelers can enjoy a secluded getaway.

0	0	0

Africa is a huge continent, second only to Eurasia in area. It is washed by such oceans as the Atlantic and Indian. The northeastern shores of Africa go to the Red Sea, and the northern ones to the Mediterranean. This part of the world includes not only the mainland, but also the adjacent islands. The islands of Africa are increasing its area from 29.2 million square meters. km (the area occupied by the mainland) to 30.3 million square meters. km.

Brief description of the African islands

The most significant island in this part of the world is Madagascar. It is separated from the continent by the Strait of Mozambique. Popular with tourists are located near the equator Seychelles... Africa also includes Madeira, the Canary Islands, Socotra, Principe, Bioko, etc. The largest land area in the state of Sao Tome and Principe is Sao Tome, bordering the equator. The island is located in the Gulf of Guinea (Atlantic). Its length is 48 km, and its width is 32 km. The nature, influenced by the equatorial and tropical maritime climate, attracts tourists from all over the world to the island. Its population is represented by the Santomeans and Portuguese using the Portuguese language.

The list of African islands also includes Moheli or Mwali. It is the smallest island that forms the Comoros. The island has a poorly developed infrastructure and is sparsely populated. But there is the National marine park, which has no analogues. Therefore, fans of scuba diving strive to get to Moheli Island to admire the coral formations. Reunion Island is considered an interesting land area. it overseas territory France with a population of about 800 thousand people. Reunion is located east of Madagascar. The Swahili Islands are located nearby. The French managed to turn the island into their colony in 1665. In terms of climate, it resembles Hawaii, as it is also located in a very hot spot of the planet.

Tropical piece of land owned by Tanzania - Zanzibar. it main island of the archipelago of the same name. Zanzibar is the largest spice supplier. The share of Zanzibar cloves in world exports is over 70%. Therefore, more than half of the island is occupied by plantations of cloves, cinnamon and other spicy plants. The islands of Africa in the Arabian Sea (northwest of the Indian Ocean) are land areas in the Socotra archipelago. It is formed by 2 rocks and 4 islands.

Natural features

Different parts of Africa have a heterogeneous climate. The continent stretches from the subtropical northern belt to the subtropical southern belt, crossing the equator. The islands of Africa have a diverse flora and fauna. There is a rich underwater world, white sand beaches, impassable jungle and exotic animals.