The Madrid report (finally) - at least a start. Prado...

Wow... it's been over a month since we were in Madrid and still no trip report. Shame on me. Well, now I'm getting my act together. Really, I am.

The trip report will be kind of "haphazard" like the Western Cape trip report, i.e. grouped by random events and stuff like food, not day-by-day. We were there from the 15th of May (arrived late afternoon) to the 20th of May, in case you want to know.

Since the photos are on another machine, I'll start this trip report by discussing the visit to the Prado Museum, where we weren't allowed to take photos...

We went to the Prado Museum on the 17th of May, right after having some Cava in our hotel room after breakfast, to celebrate the fact it was the 17th of May (Constitution Day in Norway)...

Anyway, Prado is one of the most famous art museums in the world. It is a large museum with lots of exhibits, but I noticed that many of the paintings have a religious (Christianity) theme - Jesus or the Virgin Mary or something or other from the Bible. One of the more bizarre of these was Alonso Cano's San Bernardo y la Virgen (The Vision of St. Bernard). It was a painting where the "virgin" was squirting breastmilk into some guy's mouth. So all that kooky fetish stuff you find on the Net these days... nothing new. Another weird one was Juan Martin Cabezalero's La Asunción de la Virgen (Assumption of the Virgin). Among the weird things on the painting, freaky floating babies' heads, some with wings. WTF? I doodled bits of that painting in my Moleskine. I should scan it and show it to you all. It's a rather amusing interpretation... :-P

There also were lots of interesting works by Goya as well; we actually bypassed a lot of exhibits in order to have the energy to look at the Goya exhibit. The most fascinating was Saturno (Saturn devouring one of his children), where some kind of "wolfman" was eating a guy; his head was already devoured. I wonder what inspired that...

Throughout the museum, there were artists scattered here and there, with their easels set up, painting detailed versions of select parts of a painting on exhibit, not the whole painting. It was interesting to watch them work. They seemed rather oblivious to all the tourists watching them...

There were also a lot of groups of schoolchildren throughout the museum. When they were walking past, they would make a sort of train, where the kid behind grabbed the shirt of the kid in front. Very cute...

Overall, a museum well worth a visit. You'll need around 3 hours there, give or take depending on what you actually want to see. Be sure to research what exhibits are actually there before you go and find out what you want to see, if you're on a time crunch. I think some people could spend a whole day there...

adventure travel to... Chad?

I found this interesting article in the BBC the other day and thought I'd write a little about it. It's both exciting and sad. Exciting in that there is a relatively "untouched" destination out there, a destination that promises fantastic wildlife. Sad due to the conflict in bordering countries, and due to the poaching resulting from the demand for ivory. And that part about using giraffes' tails to make bracelets brought tears to my eyes...

I like the idea of making the villagers tourists in their own area, as well as making them a part of the tourism industry. It helps them respect their wildlife, respect what Chad has to offer to others, and better enable them to show tourists that Chad really isn't such a bad place. Despite a bumpy 11-hour ride to get there ;-)

Tourists brave Chad's wild territory

Chad may not seem like an obvious tourist destination, with the spillover of the Darfur conflict from Sudan and regular clashes between rebels and government soldiers.

But Chad's best-known - and some would say only - tourist destination is growing in popularity with foreign visitors.

Zakouma National Park, in the far south well away from the troubles in the east, is becoming something of a Mecca for adventurous travellers.

Wildlife connoisseurs say it is one of the very best places in Africa to view elephants and the fact that it is off the beaten track only adds to the allure.

It is certainly not easy to get to: an 11-hour drive along bumpy dirt tracks may deter the faint-hearted, but the journey is worth it in the end.

Zakouma is practically virgin territory: it is not unusual to be one of just two or three tourists in the entire park, with 3,000 sq km of truly wild territory all to oneself.

Massive herds

Luis Arranz, a Spaniard who has been running Zakouma for six years, admits it can be hard drawing in the crowds when media coverage of Chad is dominated by violence.

"It's a big problem because there are lots of Europeans who've only read about war and Darfur spreading into Chad, so people don't think of coming here for their holiday," he says.

"But recently people have started to talk about Zakouma. If the situation stays calm, I think people will continue coming."

The real reason people come to Zakouma is for the elephants.

In the rainy season, when elephants begin to leave the park to avoid the muddy terrain, it is possible to see truly massive herds - sometimes up to 1,000 elephants at a time.

Unfortunately, like many things in Chad, there is a darker side to the picture.

The elephant population here is under threat from ivory poachers.

No ban

In the past 12 months, more than 200 elephants have been killed in and around the park, many gunned down in large groups by poachers who attack on horse- and camel-back.

The park employs 80 anti-poaching rangers to deal with the attackers, but it is a bloody and never-ending challenge.

Earlier this year, three of the park's guards were killed in a shoot-out with poachers.

"It's a dangerous life but one we've accepted," says Nicolai Taloua, head of Zakouma's anti-poaching team. "We've chosen this fight and will continue to the end."

The reason for the recent upsurge in elephant killings is that some African countries -Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia - can now legally sell ivory, despite a worldwide ban elsewhere.

Chad enforces the ivory ban, but as long as an ivory trade exists, demand in the region continues.

"A few years ago the ivory trade was banned and poaching decreased," explains Mr Arranz.

"But recently some African countries struck a deal to export ivory to Japan and since then we've seen an increase in poaching.

"People know Zakouma is famous for elephants so that's a problem for us."

'It's a war'

Dotted around the park is evidence of the poachers' handiwork: carcasses of elephants lie rotting, with their faces brutally hacked off in a bid to remove their tusks.

Recently other animals such as giraffes and buffalos have been targeted too.

"Poachers have begun to kill giraffes, as people like to make bracelets out of giraffe tails to give to their wives," says Mr Arranz.

"It's ridiculous. They are trying to kill off all the animals not because of necessity, but because someone wants a little ivory statue or a piece of jewellery."

"Maybe they don't know how many animals' lives this cost, or how many people died as well," he continues.

"Really, it's a war. And people who buy ivory are causing this war."

To help in the battle against the ivory trade, the park is trying to keep local villagers onside, not only to better relations but also to encourage people to report sightings of poachers.

As well as building wells and health centres in the area, European Union cash is being used to take villagers on safari trips into the park, where they become bona fide tourists for the day.

"It really helps for villagers to see the wildlife," says Bachir, one of the tour guides.

"Sometimes they are ignorant about the park. But now they are developing a conscience about the animals and are learning what the park can do for them."

Mr Arranz says the project also helps break down misconceptions.

"Locals always had this idea that the park was built by whites, for whites," he says.

"But one day we will all leave and this park will be theirs to look after, and that's what we want to show."