Madagascar is the largest island in Africa. Africa's largest island Africa's largest island name
Madagascar is the largest island off the coast of Africa and in the entire Indian Ocean. Very often it is called a kind of miniature mainland. This is due to the fact that its flora and fauna are very different from those that exist on the African continent. Many of their representatives are found only here. Moreover, local landscapes are unique and are not repeated anywhere else on the planet. Several millennia ago, it was part of a huge mainland known as Gondwana, which eventually split apart. As a result, Africa, Antarctica and Madagascar itself were formed. Now the most big Island Africa is separated from the main continent by the Mozambique Channel, which is about 300 kilometers wide.
The local landscape is diverse. Most of the territory is a plateau. In some areas, it rises above sea level to a height of up to 2876 meters. Not far from the city of Antananarivo, the Ancaratro mountains are located, the maximum height of which is 2643 meters. Africa's largest island also boasts of its fertile plains. They are located on the west and east coasts. All local rivers flow into and flow from east to west. Although there are not many of them, they annually attract great amount tourists abound with its waterfalls and picturesque landscapes.
The best time to visit the largest island in Africa is from March to April. It is recommended to go to the central part from November to March. This is due to the specifics of the local climate. The fact is that there are wet and dry seasons. There are almost always showers on the east coast, and strong trade winds lead to the fact that rain jets fly almost horizontally, so no canopies and umbrellas can save them from them. The average winter temperature is 16, and summer - 34 degrees Celsius.
Democratic, which was formed as a result of a military coup in 1975, occupies not only this large island of Africa, but also several small ones nearby. The country's area is just over 587 thousand km 2. The population of the state exceeds 14 million people. Most of them live in the most major cities, including Antananarivo mentioned above, as well as Tulear, Tuamasina, Mahajanga, Fianarantsoa and others. There are two official languages in the republic - French and Merina (one of the dialects of Malagasy). The President leads the country, and the Prime Minister is the head of government.
The first European to visit the largest on August 10, 1500 was the Portuguese Diego Diaz. In the new lands, travelers were engaged in robberies and murders, so as soon as they set off towards India, the local population breathed a sigh of relief. Much to his regret, six years later the next European expedition appeared on the island. Its representatives did not differ much from their predecessors, so most of the adult inhabitants of Madagascar were destined to become slaves. At different times, the Portuguese, French and British tried to gain a foothold here. In 1896, the island became self-governing in 1958, and the declaration of independence took place in 1960.
Currently, Madagascar is a member of many world organizations, including the IMF, UN, WHO and others.
AFRICA
Level I tests
1. The largest island off the coast of Africa:
a) Comoros b) Madagascar c) Sumatra d) Sri Lanka
2. Choose the correct answers.
1. The relief of Africa is dominated by:
a) lowlands b) highlands and plateaus c) low mountains d) high mountains
2. Higher part of Africa:
a) north and west c) south and east b) north and east d) south and west
3. In the eastern part of the mainland is:
a) the largest plateau on Earth b) the largest mountain range on Earth
c) the largest lowland on Earth d) the largest fault on Earth
3. The highest peaks of Africa - Kilimanjaro and Kenya - are located:
a) on the East African plateau
b) in the Atlas mountains
c) in the Ethiopian highlands
d) in the Dragon Mountains
4. The hottest place in Africa:
A) the city of Tripoli c) the Somali Peninsula b) the Congo Basin d) the Sahara Desert
5. The source of the Nile is:
a) Lake Victoria c) Mediterranean Sea b) Lake Tanganyika d) Kagera River
6. Choose the correct answers.
a) Congo c) Niger b) Nile d) Zambezi
3. Most big lake Africa:
a) Chad c) Tanganyika b) Nyasa d) Victoria
4. Most deep lake Africa:
a) Victoria c) Tanganyika b) Nyasa d) Rudolf
7. Choose the correct answer. Savannah plants are: a) rafflesia, ficus, oil palm b) roridula, baobab, doom palm
c) ebony, banana, creepers d) date palm, velvichia, aloe
8. Choose the correct answer. The inhabitants of the equatorial forests are:
a) elephant, ostrich, lion b) camel, scorpion, hyena
c) giraffe, zebra, rhinoceros d) okapi, gorilla, leopard
9. The shortest people on Earth are those living in Africa:
a) Tuareg c) Pygmies b) Masai d) Bushmen
10. The most ancient state of Africa and the world:
a) Egypt b) Ethiopia c) Libya d) Zambia
Level 2 tests
Distribute the extreme points of Africa by their location:
a) northern | c) western | d) eastern |
|
Cape Agulhas 2. Cape Ras Hafun 3. Cape Ben Secca (Ras Angela) 4. Cape Almadi
2. Determine which mountain systems correspond to the following peaks:
kilimanjaro | Peak Margherita | Ras Dashen | |||||
A) Atlas B) Ahaggar C) Darfur D) Rwenzori E) Tibesti G) Ethiopian Highlands
E) East African Plateau
3. Choose the correct answer.
1. Which of the following uplands not located in Africa? - a) Ahaggar c) Tibet b) Tibesti d) Ethiopian
2. Which of the following mountain systems not located in Africa? - a) Atlas c) Draconian b) Hindu Kush d) Cape
3. Which one mountain peaks not located in Africa? - a) Mont Blanc b) Ras Dashen c) Kenya d) Toubkal
4. Which of the volcanoes not applicable to Africa? - a) Cameroon b) Karisimbi c) Kilimanjaro d) Mount Etna
4. Determine what minerals are rich;
1. North Africa - a) gas c) copper ores b) gold d) oil
2. South Africa- a) oil b) diamonds c) gold d) phosphorites
5. Why is Africa the hottest continent?
1) It is washed by the warmest oceans of the Earth - Indian and Atlantic.
2) In Africa lie largest deserts Earth, including the Sahara.
3) Most of the mainland lies between the tropics.
4) Not in Africa high mountains with snow-capped peaks and a cold climate.
6. Select wrong statement about the rivers and lakes of Africa.
2) The Congo is the only major river that crosses the equator twice.
3) Niger - basin river indian ocean. 4) Lake Victoria has no permanent shores.
5) Tanganyika is the deepest lake on the mainland. 6) The highest waterfall in Africa - Augrabis.
7) Victoria Falls was discovered by the great English traveler D. Livingston.
7. Determine in which natural zone these plants are found.
equatorial forests | ||
Acacia Aloe Banana Baobab Welwitschia Wild Watermelon Liana Ceiba Ficus Oil Palm Aolochai Doum Palm Rafflesia Date palm Ebony
8. Determine in which natural area these animals live.
equatorial forests | ||
Antelope Camel Cheetah Gorilla Giraffe Zebra Pygmy Hippo
Bush-eared pig Lion Leopard Fennec fox Marabu Sunbird Rhinoceros
Scorpion Elephant Ostrich Termite Chimpanzee Okapi
9. Match a couple: people living in Africa - place a habitat:
Madagascar | cape mountains | Ethiopian highlands | Kalahari | Gulf of Guinea coast |
|||
Amhara Afrikaners Bushmen Hottentots Yoruba Malagasy Tuareg Pygmies 10. Which of the African countries can be said about ...
Level III tests
1. Select geographic features associated with the Great African Rift:
a) Atlas Mountains f) Ethiopian Highlands b) Lake Nyasa g) dragon mountains c) Lake Chad h) Red Sea d) Nile i) Ahaggar Highlands e) Lake Tanganyika j) Zambezi
2. Pick a pair: traveler-discovery or travel.
Phoenicians | V. da Gama | Ibn Battuta | D. Livingston | G. Stanley | V. V. Junker |
||||
discovered the Cape of Good Hope
explored the Niger River Basin
discovered that Lake Chad is drainless
made the first voyage around Africa
first to cross the Sahara
discovered the Kagera River and the Rwenzori Massif
from sailed the Nile to Punt
sailed around southern Africa
discovered Victoria Falls
explored the Nile-Congo watershed
3. Determine which term or concept these definitions correspond to:
reserve | desertification | |||||||
Tropical steppe with tall grasses and sparse trees
Strong and hot desert wind carrying clouds of sand
The spread of the desert as a result of unreasonable human activities
Plants that live on the trunks of other trees and use the moisture and nutrients of host plants and air
Violation of the continuous distribution of rocks as a result of the movement of the earth's crust
Part of the territory in which the entire natural complex is protected in its natural state
Desert area with abundant moisture and rich vegetation
A natural area with a hot, dry climate and little or no vegetation
Dry riverbeds in North Africa
4. Choose which of the following national parks are in Africa:
a) Kafue b) Wood Buffalo c) Serengeti d) Tzavu e) Banff f) Etosha Pan
g) Taimyr h) Galapagos i) Kruger j) Ngorongoro
5. Determine which natural zone the given statements correspond to.
equatorial forests | tropical desert |
|
They occupy almost 40% of the mainland area.
Located in the river basin. Congo and along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea.
They occupy almost a third of the mainland, especially in the northern part.
Precipitation falls throughout the year, especially in the afternoon.
Clouds are rare.
There are two seasons - wet and dry.
Fertile and humus-rich red-brown soils.
Soils are practically non-existent.
Multilayered forest vegetation.
Grasses dominate, trees and shrubs grow along rivers or singly.
Vegetation is concentrated in oases.
The most common trees are baobab and umbrella acacia.
The most valuable plant is the date palm.
Many trees with valuable timber.
The richest and most diverse animal world on the ground.
Animals can go without water for a long time or run long distances in search of it.
Many animals live in trees
6. Determine which of the following countries are located in Africa:
a) Albania b) Algeria c) Botswana d) Guatemala e) Denmark f) Cameroon g) Kenya h) Laos i) Mongolia j) Tunisia
ProgramState sample about the corresponding level general education: - certificate ... d) Antarctica b) Africa e) South America c) Eurasia e) North America AFRICA 1. Mostbigisland at shoresAfrica: a) Comoros ... each of them. Test
The African continent is surrounded by many large and small islands. Some of them are so distant from the mainland that it would be more correct to attribute them to oceanic islands. Flora and fauna are not always very different from the coastal areas of the mainland, but endemic life forms are often found. Washed by the warm waters of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the African islands look like paradises among the endless expanses of water. This article provides a list of the ten largest islands in Africa with names, brief description, photo and location on the map.
Tristan de Cunha archipelago
Tristan da Cunha Island
The total area of all the islands of the archipelago is 207 km², and the largest island of Tristan de Cunha has an area of 98 km². The island is round in shape and 9.5 km in diameter. This is the most distant land from the African mainland, located in the southwest. Tristan de Cunha was formed thanks to the once active volcano Queen Mary about 1 million years ago.
Tristan de Cunha on the map/Wikipedia
The island has a rocky coastline and mountainous terrain. Rainy weather with winds prevails on the island. There are practically no mammals; among the birds, the Tristan shepherd also lives. The flora is represented by shrubs and dwarf trees. Tristan de Cunha, along with the islands of Saint Helena and Ascension, belongs to the overseas territories of Great Britain. The permanent population lives in the administrative center of Edinburgh.
Sao Tome
The area of the island is 854 km²; length - 48 km, width - 32 km. Sao Tome is located at west coast African mainland at a distance of 240 km from the port city of Port-Gentil, Gabon, as well as 2 km north of. The island is of volcanic origin. Along coastline convenient bays and bays were formed. Most of the island is occupied by mountains up to 2024 m high. The sources of fresh water are rapids.
Sam Tome Island on the map/Wikipedia
Sao Tome is famous for its citrus and peach groves. Coconut and banana palms grow on the plains. The coastal waters are inhabited by thorns, sailfish. There are a lot of amazing and endemic bird species on the island. Of the animals, sea turtles are remembered, which lay their eggs on local beaches. Sao Tome is part of the island nation of Sao Tome and Principe. The indigenous people are descendants of slaves, in addition to them, Creoles live on the territory. In total, the island is home to over 150,000 people, or 96% of the country's total population.
Zanzibar
The area of the island is 1666 km²; length about 85 km, width - 30 km. The island is located in the Indian Ocean near east coast continent. Zanzibar is a mainland island that formed about 20 million years ago. The coast is replete with small islands, rocks and reefs. In the central part of the island, Mount Karnukhala is located, having a height of 136 m. There are many rivers on the island that flow into the Zanzibar Strait.
Zanzibar Island on the map/Wikipedia
The flora is not very diverse, dominated by several types of palms. Due to the abundance, a variety of bird species make their nests on the coasts. national park teeming with monkeys, flying dogs and turtles. The island belongs to Tanzania. Zanzibaris are natives of continental Africa.
Mauritius
The area of the island is 1865 km²; length - 65 km, width - 45 km. The island is located in the Indian Ocean at a distance of about 900 km from Madagascar. Mauritius is of volcanic origin. The island has mountains that used to be active volcanoes.
Mauritius Island on the map/Wikipedia
About 400 plant species grow in Mauritius. The coastal zone was chosen by various amphibians. almost not represented. Mauritius is island nation. The indigenous people call themselves Indo-Mauritians.
Bioko
Bioko area - 2017 km²; length about 70 km, width - 32 km. The island is located 32 km off the west coast of Africa. Bioko is of volcanic origin. There are many craters on the island extinct volcanoes. Before the sea level rose about 10,000 years ago, Bioko was a peninsula attached to what is now Cameroon. The highest point of the island - Pico Basile has a height of 3012 m above sea level.
Bioko Island on the map/Wikipedia
Varied due to fertile soil. Most of the territory is covered with tropical forests. is also rich, which is explained by its proximity to the continent and the absence of large ones. The island belongs Equatorial Guinea. The indigenous people call themselves Bubi and Fernandino.
Tenerife
The area of the island is 2034 km²; length about 80 km, width - 11 km. The island is located in the Atlantic off the northwest coast of Africa, and is the largest in the Canary Islands archipelago. Tenerife is of volcanic origin. There are many rocks along the banks, and the area itself is mountainous.
Tenerife island on the map/Wikipedia
The climate of the north and south is influenced by the mountain range that divides the island in half. The unique flora is represented by balsam spurge, Canary pine, dracaena. Nowhere else in the world can you find the Tenerife gecko, spotted lizard and skink. The island belongs to Spain. Indigenous population by all indications - the Spaniards.
Comoros
Mayotte Island
The area of the archipelago is 2236 km². The Comoros are of volcanic origin and are located in the Indian Ocean between continental Africa and Madagascar. Most ancient island archipelago - Mayotte has an area of about 360 km²; length - 39 km, width - 20 km. All year round the archipelago is dominated by a humid climate without significant temperature fluctuations. The animal and plant world, despite this, are diverse.
Comoros on the map/Wikipedia
Most of the area is covered with evergreen forests. The coastal coral reefs are home to various fish species, as well as sharks and manta rays. Of the animals, lemurs, turtles, bats and mongooses live here. The islands of the archipelago belong to Comoros and France, and are inhabited by natives, Arabs and immigrants from France.
reunion
The area of the island is 2511 km²; length - 63 km, and width - 45 km. The island is located in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar and 175 km from Mauritius. Reunion was formed as a result volcanic activity. It has large lava fields, part of the area is covered with forests.
Reunion Island on the map/Wikipedia
Many species of birds live here. An oceanarium and a croco park have been created on the island. Reunion belongs to the overseas possessions of France. Creoles are considered to be the indigenous inhabitants, besides them, Indians and French live on the island.
Socotra
The area of the island is 3626 km²; length - 130 km, width - 42 km. Socotra is located in the Indian Ocean east of the mainland, 240 km from the Horn of Africa. It was formed as a result of the shift of tectonic plates. The coast is dominated by coral reefs and rocks.
Socotra Island on the map/Wikipedia
The island has a unique flora and fauna. Only here you can see the dragon tree, the long-tailed starling and the Socotran sunbird. Socotra belongs to Yemen. The population is mainly represented by the local ethnic group, the Socotrians.
Madagascar
The area of the island is 587041 km²; length - 1600 km, width - 400 km. It is a mainland island, which is located in the southeast direction from the coast of mainland Africa. The mountainous terrain smoothly turns into plains. highest point is an extinct volcano Marumukutru, 2876 m. river system replete with waterfalls and rapids. The climate is monsoonal, equatorial.
Madagascar Island on the map/Wikipedia
Minerals have been discovered on the island. Flora and fauna have been preserved since ancient times and about 90% of the species are endemic. Only here you can see the iron tree, baobab, rosewood tree. Madagascar is known for lemurs, tomato frogs and leaf-tailed geckos. The territory of the island is under the control of the Republic of Madagascar. The population of about 25 million people is represented mainly by the Malagasy ethnic group.
Unique natural objects- The island of Madagascar. The Rwenzori mountains in the Congo. Canary Islands.
20.02.2017 / 10:06 | Varvara Pokrovskaya
Madagascar island
Madagascar, the largest island in the Indian Ocean, is often referred to by geographers as "a miniature continent". This is explained, firstly, by the extraordinary diversity of its landscapes, and secondly, by the peculiar flora and fauna that distinguishes it from nearby Africa and from other parts of the world.
The combination of tropical rain forests, tall grass savannahs and even semi-deserts, mountain ranges, plateaus and coastal plains, extinct volcanoes and coral reefs, swampy lagoons and mangroves, monsoon and trade winds determines the existence of a wide variety of landscapes on the island, and the animals and plants of Madagascar, three a quarter of which are found only here, are not at all like Africans, and if they have relatives, then usually in Indo-China 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 the east coast, where the trade winds bring moisture from the Indian Ocean, it rains, stormy and plentiful, almost every day. Due to the strong wind that accompanies them, shower jets are directed almost horizontally, and no umbrellas and canopies can save them from them. Strictly speaking, a distinction is made between the wet season and the dry season. But the latter, which lasts from May to November, differs only in that occasionally there are days without precipitation. In July, at the height of winter, the thermometer shows plus sixteen, and in February the temperature reaches thirty-four degrees.
On the steep slopes of the plateau grow evergreen forests of ferns, tamarinds, palms and other tropical trees, entwined with vines and decorated with bright orchids. There are many valuable species of trees in these forests. At different types rosewood, for example, wood is purple, pink and even black. There are also rubber plants here. And lacquer is made from the resin of the copal tree.
But of all Madagascar trees, the most famous is the equal. 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 diverge, like the spokes of a wheel, huge leaves, torn by the wind along the edges. Where the leaf cuttings are going to the trunk, there are special containers containing several liters of water. Having met a revenant, a tired traveler can always quench his thirst. No wonder it is also called the "tree of travelers". Creepers of Madagascar are unique. The pod of one of them, the entada creeper, reaches two meters in length and one and a half in width! Several of these pods, split in half, make an excellent roof for a hut. They make ropes from vines, weave baskets and mats. And from some, especially strong ones, they build houses, since they are the only plants on the island that termites do not touch.
In the west, where the mountains do not let rain clouds through, the savannah reigns, and in some places, in the south, a hot semi-desert, since precipitation here is rare and falls only in winter. In the dry season, not a drop of moisture spills for months, and the temperature rises to forty degrees! Forests in the west are found only in river valleys, and the savannah is overgrown with brush-hard grass, and only in some places 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 the dry season.
The fauna of Madagascar in its originality can only be compared with the Australian one. The main treasure of the fauna of the island is, of course, lemurs. These funny animals, resembling a cross between a monkey and a cat, live in forests and are nocturnal. They have large, glowing eyes and a piercing voice, reminiscent of the whimsical cry of a child.
The largest of the lemurs is the indri. They are easily tamed, and the inhabitants of the island - the Malagasy - often use them for hunting instead of dogs. Another genus of lemurs with a fox head and a long tail is the maquis. They are very lively and mobile, stay in flocks and are often seen in the evenings when they jump through the trees in search of tasty fruits. The complete opposite of them is the fat lory. This clumsy and clumsy baby is slow, like an Australian koala. Also interesting is the aye-aye, or armlet, an angry flat-headed lemur with huge ears and a long tail. He lives in bamboo forests, feeds on the core of bamboo and sugar cane, and also does not disdain beetles and larvae. With its long fingers, the aye-aye easily extracts the contents from the trunks of bamboo and reeds. This gourmet is very afraid of the light. As soon as the sun rises, he falls asleep with his head between his legs and wrapped around it with his long tail.
The Malgash 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. When meeting a lemur in the forest, the hunters always politely greet him, and the animals that accidentally fell into a trap will certainly be released and released into the wild.
Of the predators on the island, only the reddish-black fossa is found - the ferret cat. It is about the size of a large dog, but is small in stature, since its paws are short. Malgasi 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 exterminator of snakes. And in the mountain forests live shy and timid eared hedgehogs - tenrecs. These rather large (from a rabbit) animals come out of their holes only at dusk and busily begin to look for food - small insects. In winter they hibernate.
The Madagascar bird world is bright and unusual. Green parrots, bright red cardinals, blue doves and kingfishers, sultan chickens, ibises and guinea fowls are found here. Once upon a time, huge, similar to giant cassowaries, epiornis birds lived on the island. The growth of these giants reached five meters! They died out quite recently, since Marco Polo mentioned them in his book. And later, in the 18th century, sailors who sailed to the island heard the cries of these birds. The giant epiornis egg was 150 ostrich eggs in volume. The Malgash used them to make vessels that could hold eight liters of water.
There are no poisonous snakes in Madagascar, and the only truly dangerous animals here are crocodiles. They literally teem with swamps and lakes of the island.
And among European collectors, the amazingly beautiful butterflies of Madagascar enjoy special respect. Goliath - the largest of them - is easy to mistake for a bird. This is a brown butterfly with a pink belly. Urania is amazingly picturesque, rightly considered the most beautiful butterfly in the world. Her wings shimmer, it seems, with all possible colors. The Madagascaria butterfly also strikes with a bizarre pattern on the wings.
There are a lot of chameleons of various sizes on the island. Because of the unattractive appearance the Malagasy consider them vicious 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 has clearly deprived him of agility. Sometimes it seems that it is not blood in his veins, but carpentry glue - his movements are so viscous and slow. 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 completely invisible in the forest.
Unusual animals and plants of Madagascar are widely known, but there are in the west of it amazing place, about the nature of which little is known even by the inhabitants of the island. This is the Bemaraha Plateau, located in the Manambolo River basin near the coast of the Mozambique Channel. Everything is amazing here: a fantastic relief, animals and plants, perhaps the last untouched corner has been preserved here. wildlife Madagascar.
The limestone plateau of Bemaraha rises 400 meters above the Manambolo Valley. The river cut through it a grandiose gorge with white layered walls. And spread around the gorge ... stone forest! The rocky ridges, karrs, fancifully carved by karst processes, 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 almost impassable: limestone towers and walls overgrown with thorns formed a network of natural bastions throughout the plateau, reliably protecting it from aliens.
The Bemaraha region is poor in precipitation: the dry season here lasts up to eight months. And in the fissured limestones, even the moisture brought by rare rains quickly sinks into the depths, so that only plants well adapted to drought can survive here. An ebony tree, for example, turns green only during the rainy season, and the rest of the time it stands bare, 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 Bemaraha. It is an armored chameleon resembling a small dragon or dinosaur with its prickly spines on its spine and spiky 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. And on the trees that have grown in the crevices of the rocks, the arms and poppies live, enlivening the desert rocky landscape with their funny jumps and piercing screams.
Groups of remnant rocks formed by karst processes are also found in other places in the world, for example, in the Chinese region of Qingling 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 pointed stone forest arose. The attractiveness of this corner lies also in the fact that not a single person has yet visited the depths of the plateau, and one can only guess what discoveries await scientists there. The nature of Madagascar still holds many secrets that will be revealed only to inquisitive travelers who have managed to overcome all the difficulties that the pioneers of the mountains, jungles and mysterious rocky labyrinths of this unique island face.
Rwenzori mountains
Between the Central African lakes Edward and Albert, where the equator line crosses the border of the Congo and Uganda, there is one of the most mysterious mountain ranges of our planet - the Rwenzori Mountains.
Until 1888, not a single European saw them. Yes, even after famous traveler Henry Stanley discovered them for science, few managed 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 only briefly opens at dawn or at sunset to the eyes of travelers passing at its foot.
When in 1906 the Italian expedition compiled 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 in Africa. As many as nine of its peaks rise more than four kilometers, and the highest of them - Margherita Peak - reaches five thousand one hundred meters and is the third highest on the continent. (After Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya standing alone south of Rwenzori.)
European and Arab geographers have been writing since the time of Ptolemy 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 Edward could not find Rwenzori, although it would seem that from such a distance it is no more difficult than to notice the Eiffel Tower from the Seine embankment. Dense clouds interfered, completely hiding the giant mountain range from researchers.
And only perseverance, patience and observation of Stanley 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 dubbed them "Twins" and strongly became interested in them, believing that in the neighborhood with them there should be a very picturesque area.
Returning to the lake in April 1888, we did not see the Twins, but on May 25, when we moved two hours from the lake, our eyes suddenly appeared a huge snow-white mountain, with a central massif of fifty kilometers in length; on both sides of this mountain stretched two chains of mountains, a kilometer and a half below it. That day, all this was visible for several hours in a row. But the next day, the vision disappeared, no traces were visible, neither the Twins nor the snow ridge.
Returning to the Albert for the third time, in January 1889, we stopped at the local village for two and a half months, but saw nothing in all this time. However, one fine day, as usual, looking at the place where the snowy ridge should have been, we waited for it: all the mountain ranges at once stepped out from behind their cloud cover, and dozens of pairs of eyes greedily glared at this wondrous spectacle.
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 to be floating in the air, like that "Island of Bliss", rushing between heaven and earth, about which tells an old legend. As the sun sank to the west, the misty belt vanished, and the ghostly apparition became attached to a chain of mighty foothills. Although we were a hundred kilometers from the mountains, through the binoculars one could see stripes of forests and individual tree groups growing either on wide ledges or along the edges of the cliffs of some cliff hanging over a deep abyss. I thought that these must be the Lunar Mountains 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 had visited here in passing, like other travelers, then, in all likelihood, Rwenzori would have remained in obscurity for a long time.
By the way, the Semliki River, which flows at the foot of these "Mountains of the Moon", flows into Lake Albert, as does the main source of the Nile - the Victoria Nile. Hence, already under the name of Albert-Nile, the future great river hurries 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 of volcanic origin. This is a huge granite block, raised four kilometers up along a giant fault in the earth's crust, called by geologists the Great African Rift. Along the line of this arcuate fault are the long and deep African lakes Nyasa, Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward and Albert, and on the sides of it rise to a three-kilometer height the mountain ranges of Kitengere, Malimba, Marunga and Mitumba, as well as the cones of the volcanoes Sapitva and Karisimbi.
Rwenzori means "Rain Maker" in the language of the Bakongo people living here. Indeed, a high mountain range is a powerful barrier to the winds that bring moisture from the basin of the full-flowing Congo. Climbing up the slopes of Rwenzori, the humid air cools and clouds appear that rain almost every day.
At the foot of the Rwenzori stretch vast savannas, overgrown with tall two-meter elephant grass. Here is expanse for 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 rainforests 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 spike on the lower surface of the tail when climbing trees, or the Rwenzor otter shrew, in contrast to her relatives, preferring to live in rivers and streams and having webbed paws.
There is also a huge Cape otter almost one and a half meters long, and a forest boar - the largest of those living in Africa. This meter-high animal weighs up to one hundred and sixty kilograms, and hunting for 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.
In caves and hollows of trees live the largest bats in the world - flying dogs - with a wingspan of more than a meter. And of the dangerous predators, only the leopard climbs high into the mountain forests, instilling fear in the numerous monkeys that inhabit these places.
From three to three and a half kilometers on the slopes of Rwenzori there is a belt of strange-looking semi-forests, semi-shrubs, densely hung with lichens. They are formed by thickets of tree-like heather, reaching monstrous size in this humid and hot atmosphere. Here, in general, everything grows to gigantic proportions: grass, flowers, and ferns. Even the earthworms on Rwenzori are a finger thick and a meter or more long.
The zone of mountain meadows stretches even higher, where the traveler will meet the main decoration of this fantastic botanical kingdom. The modest flowers of the senetia (ragwort), reaching a height of twenty to thirty centimeters in our country, become real five-meter trees here, striking with the quirkiness of their black stump-trunk topped with a bunch of half-meter leaves.
The modest northern lobelia reaches the same huge size here, turning on the slopes of Rwenzori into a giant green rosette lying on the ground, from which a two-meter, candle-like inflorescence rises.
These plant giants, striking the imagination, unlike anything, rise among green meadows dotted with flowering violets, cuffs and lilies, and in places animated by mighty thickets of two-meter horsetails.
A similar landscape, reminiscent of frames from films about the conquest of alien worlds, can be found in only two other places on Earth - on the slopes of Kenya and Kilimanjaro.
Having risen another half a kilometer, the traveler finds himself above the strip of continuous cloudiness. Bright sun floods with its rays an alpine landscape completely unusual for Africa, as if transferred here from somewhere from Mont Blanc. Above - jagged ridges eaten away by glacial cirques, sharp pyramidal peaks, snow fields sparkling with virgin whiteness and bluish tongues of glaciers. Below are deep troughs of valleys plowed by glaciers and countless mirrors of small and large glacial lakes, which reflect the elaborate "candelabra" of giant senetias and slender "candles" of gigantic lobelias, perfectly complementing this picturesque landscape.
Eternal snows and glaciers the highest peaks Rwenzori feed many fast streams with cold clear water. Merging, they form a little lower, in the forest belt, swift noisy rivers, rushing down steep rapids channels and rolling a mass of stone fragments along the bottom. Such watercourses are able to cut deep into the slopes of the mountain range. Gorges up to a kilometer deep divide the slopes of Rwenzori into many separate blocks, giving the ridge a ribbed appearance. On the western side, where the massif breaks off to the valley with a steep cliff, the rivers rush down to the plain in foaming streams of waterfalls three hundred to 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 the ascent are instantly forgotten when the majestic panorama of the transcendental ridge covered with eternal snow opens up to the traveler's gaze.
At one time, Stanley described the feelings of a person who saw Rwenzori in this way:
“It happens that half an hour before sunset the wind drives the clouds away, and then one peak after another appears in the blue sky, powerful peaks are exposed one after another, snow-white fields and the whole undulating mass shines in its full splendor until dusk thickens and the dark night will cover it with an even darker tent.
These short—too short—minutes of looking at the glorious "Rain Maker," as the Bakongo call their mists-shrouded mountain, fill the viewer with the feeling of looking into an open sky."
Canary Islands
West of the coast of Morocco Atlantic Ocean stretched 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 too pleasant name (canis in Latin - "dog") was given to the islands by the famous Roman scientist Pliny the Elder, who claimed that huge dogs supposedly live on them. Later it turned out that the great naturalist was wrong, but the name has already taken root. 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 "Gardens of the Hesperides", nevertheless, on the maps these islands remain to this day under the first "dog" name.
Inhabited and developed by people five thousand years ago, the archipelago became known to the Phoenicians in the 11th century BC. A thousand years later, the Romans landed here, and in the 14th 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 day they belong to her.
It is clear that for five hundred years of economic development canary islands Spaniards changed the nature of the archipelago in many ways. Fortunately, many of the islands, due to the mountainous terrain, turned out to be inconvenient for creating plantations, and their flora and fauna did not suffer so much.
The most famous, largest and most visible (in the truest sense of the word) island in the Canary Islands is Tenerife. Its main attraction - the Teide volcano towering 3,700 meters above sea level - is visible from sailing ships almost two hundred kilometers away.
The vague outlines of a huge mountain, now appearing, now disappearing in the translucent haze of the morning mist, acted on the imagination of navigators from ancient times. Peak Teide was admired by Columbus and Cook, Bellingshausen and Humboldt. And in January 1832, the English ship Beagle approached the shores of the archipelago, on which the young naturalist and future creator of the theory of evolution, Charles Darwin, set off on his famous trip around the world. Here is what he wrote in his diary:
"On the sixth of January we reached Tenerife ... The next morning we saw the sun, rising from behind the bizarre rocks of the island of Gran Canaria, suddenly illuminate the Tenerife peak, while the low parts of the island were still hidden behind curly clouds. That was the first of those delightful days that I will never forget."
The first known eruption of Mount Teide occurred in 1492, just the year Columbus visited Tenerife. The volcano then showed its activity more than once: it erupted in 1706 and 1909. The funicular today allows the traveler to easily climb to the edge of the crater and look into the black and gloomy volcanic basin, on the edge of which rises a young cone that grew in 1909.
The basin, which bears the expressive name of Caldera de las Cañadas ("caldera of the abysses"), amazes with bizarre shapes of solidified lava flows and minerals of various colors, among which tahinastes flowers rise here and there, similar to huge candles.
Although most of the island has long been converted by the Spaniards into banana plantations and orange groves, in the northeast of Tenerife, near its capital, Santa Cruz, a large forest area has been preserved that occupies the mountain slopes off the coast. In the dry and hot climate of the Canaries, this dense, gloomy and cool forest, in which Canarian pines, laurels and northern birches grow side by side, seems like a green oasis next to the hot beaches and the dry rocky slopes of the 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 the 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, will rightly be 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 throw out ash and lava at once: Tao, Tinguaton and Negro. But this formidable picture was no match for the firestorm that had raged on Lanzarote a hundred years earlier. In the autumn of 1730, thirty craters simultaneously began to spew hot ash and rivers of liquid lava, sowing death and devastation in the surrounding area. The monstrous eruption lasted for six whole 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 Timenfaya, the earth split and a huge fire-breathing mountain grew. The terrible spectacle lasted three weeks. A few days later, other craters opened up and splashed out lava that buried the villages of Timenfaya, Rodeo and Mancha Blanca. On September 6, a high rock, deflecting the lava flow, changed it direction from north to northwest. This led to the death of the villages of Maretes and Santa Catalina. On September 11, new fiery chasms opened. Liquid lava flooded the city of Maso, and six days later reached the coast and roared into the sea, scattering terrifyingly beautiful cascades sparks…"
After such a long rampage of the fiery element, the appearance of the island has completely changed. Fields and vineyards, the richest villages were destroyed. In the center of the island grew a gloomy ridge of volcanic cones, reminiscent of lunar mountains.
Today, the entire central and western part of Lanzarote is referred to by residents as Mal Pais (“Bad Country”). Here dark colors dominate, here you will not hear birdsong, here the formidable volcanic ridge of Montaña del Fuego rises above the lifeless valley (" fiery mountains"). The landscape of these places makes a strong impression: destroyed volcanic cones, blue-black ash fields, rust-red walls of craters 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 are still glowing with heat, and a traveler who has landed on 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 cook fries the scrambled eggs, placing the pan directly 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 the man-made geyser. It is enough to pour a bucket of water into a pipe dug into the ground, as almost immediately steam escapes from it, and then a stream of boiling water, flying up to a height of four meters.
Traveling around Lanzarote is not difficult to make by bus, but it is more interesting to do it on a camel. The road laid through the National Park created here leads along the frozen lava lake to a long chain of craters fringed with cinder heaps and hardened lava fountains, which are called "hornitos" here.
But still, the main attraction of the volcanic island is the Cueva de los Verdes cave. This is the largest lava cave in the world, stretching for six kilometers. Some of its halls reach fifteen meters in height and twenty-four in width. One of them even has concert hall.
The cave is located in the north of the island, under the lava fields of the Corona volcano. The river of molten basalt continued to flow under the cooled and hardened outer layer of lava from the side crater of the Crown down the slope directly into the sea, forming a natural tunnel with bizarre wall and roof shapes. From the plateau of Mal Pais, a narrow path leads the traveler into a gloomy deep abyss. Behind the tall, dark entrance, it first follows a tunnel heading towards the sea, then turns west into a narrower passage and reaches the deepest part of the cave, forty meters below the surface.
All the way the tourist is accompanied by soft electronic music, reminiscent of the sound of glass drops. Searchlights light up the passages and halls, highlighting the arches painted with oxides 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 enters the concert hall. The impression of underground music exceeds all expectations: after all, the porous walls of the lava cave create perfect acoustics.
On the way back, the tourist will meet a small lake near the path, filled with sea water seeping through cracks. Small crabs live in an underground reservoir, which have become absolutely white in the cave darkness. And in a wide funnel at the exit from the mysterious cavity, where the rays of the sun fall from above, you can sit in a cozy cafe, thinking about the terrible cataclysms that created this unusual underground volcanic world.
Other major islands The Canarian archipelago - Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura and Palma - have retained little of their pristine nature. The first of them is the realm of hotels and beaches, the second, due to the efforts of people, has become almost treeless, and its landscape does not please the traveler's eye. As for the island of Palma, it suffered greatly from what happened quite recently, in 1971, the eruption.
But the small mountainous island of Gomera, 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 Garahoney mountain range rises for a kilometer and a half above the island. Six deep gorges radiate from it to the coast. Two-thirds of the entire territory of the island of Gomera is covered with virgin forests of laurel, waxwort and tree heather. Of particular value are the laurel forests growing on the northern slopes. Covered with luxuriant fringes of mosses and lichens, the huge trees look "fluffy", and a continuous carpet of ferns complements the primeval appearance of these ancient forests that covered vast areas of the Mediterranean and North Africa millions of years ago.
Rare and cautious Canarian pigeons live in the laurel forests, giving themselves away only by 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, Guanches lived on Homer - the indigenous inhabitants of the archipelago, who appeared here thousands of years before our era. The rugged, rugged topography of the island forced them to develop a unique way of communicating. Being on opposite sides of the gorge, the Guanches could communicate in a special whistling language - silbo. This unique language made it possible to transmit messages over a distance of up to a kilometer.
Such an unusual language was found on our planet in only one other place - in one of the mountain villages of Turkey. Silbo has survived to this day, and on Homer you can still hear two shepherds whistling across the canyon, arranging a meeting or passing on news.
Another point of pride for the Gomers no longer belongs to botany or linguistics, but to history. Here more often than on other islands of the archipelago, great Columbus. From 1492 to 1502, he visited the island of Gomera as many as four times, the reason for which, as they say, was his romantic passion for 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 miracle of the Homeric coast - the rock of Los Organos. It is a steep wall made up of thousands of hexagonal basalt columns rising from the waves of the sea like the pipes of a gigantic organ.
The abundance of sun and heat in the Canary Islands is not that boring, but requires a change of scenery from time to time. And in search of diversity, up to half a million tourists annually pass along the shady forest roads of the island of Gomera. Nevertheless, many untouched corners have been preserved on it, and this quietest and greenest island remains a true oasis of the unaltered nature of the Canary archipelago.
A traveler who has visited the Canary Islands will certainly tell his friends about climbing Mount Teide and the stunning views from there to the expanses of the Atlantic, about the tunnels of 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...
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