Day 112 - Mauritius 🇲🇺

Today, we’ve landed in Mauritius, a small island nation (similar size to Luxembourg) located in the Indian Ocean roughly 200 km Northeast of Réunion. 

Mauritius is best known for its beautiful white beaches, lush jungles, sugarcane plantations and being the home of the ill-fated dodo. Today though, we’re skipping the dodo jokes and imaginary beach holiday as I’m going to wade into a thorny geopolitical issue. 

Along this journey, I’ve learned quite a lot about how badly my own country, the UK has behaved in the past. Whether that’s colonising countries, enslaving populations or pillaging resources for profit. Most of these events did however occur hundreds of years ago. Somehow, this (maybe in my mind at least) softens the shock of some of these acts. The UK nowadays portrays itself as a global leader in human rights and democracy and is more often than not now on the right side of history. Well provided we forget about Brexit, anything to do with fishing, or its treatment of the Windrush Generation.

That’s why I find the UK’s nefarious behaviour in the events surrounding Mauritius’s independence utterly shocking.

UK and Mauritius have a long-standing dispute about who owns the Chagos Archipelago. At first, this sounds pretty standard - many countries have territorial disputes. Mauritius was previously a British colony (and a French, and Portuguese colony before that). In this case, shortly before Mauritius became independent the UK sliced off the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius to form British Indian Ocean Territory. It’s not really independence if you decide to carve off a significant part of a countries territory before claiming it is “independent”. Understandably, Mauritius has never been too keen on this arrangement.

If appropriating large swathes of Mauritian territory this wasn’t dastardly enough, the UK forcibly expelled up to 2000 islanders from the Chagos Archipelago in the 1970s. Why would the UK expel the entire population from their own island you might ask. Well so that the island of Diego Garcia, could be leased to the US and be developed into a military base. Right in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the Chagos Archipelago is the perfect place for a strategic military base.

Despite losing multiple legal battles in the UN court, the UK is still refusing to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, or allow its former residents to return to their rightful home. I suspect that as long as Diego Garcia remains strategically important to the US, nothing will change.

Day 111 - Mauritania 🇲🇷

Tonight we head to Mauritania, another country I embarrassingly know very little about.

All I know is it’s a dangerous, largely undeveloped country in North-West Africa. It’s also the namesake for Titanic’s most prominent competitor. Or so I thought. The spelling is actually slightly different and the ship was named after Roman province of Mauretania on the northwest African coast, not the country we’ll be talking about today.

Unsurprisingly for Saharan Africa, Mauritania was previously a French colony and gained its independence from France in 1960. Since then it hasn’t been plain sailing. Mauritania has remained poor, had a number of military governments, coups and general instability. 

Mauritania is also an extreme laggard when it comes to abolishing slavery. Despite passing a law to abolish slavery in 1981, Mauritania has the highest proportion of people in slavery of any country in the world. It’s estimated that 90,000 (or 2.1% of the population) are enslaved. This is horrifying, and I genuinely had no idea that slavery still existed to this extent. In 2018 The Guardian published has a fantastic in-depth look at slavery in modern-day Mauritania. 

From a geographic perspective, Mauritania has a few interesting highlights. It’s pretty unsurprising that 90% of the country lies within the Sahara Desert, but what is less known is that Mauritania is the largest country in the world entirely below an altitude of 1000 metres.

Mauritania is also home to The Eye of Africa, or the Richat Structure. The Richat Structure is a vast geological formation of concentric circles with a diameter of 50 kilometres. It’s clearly visible from space and genuinely looks like something left by aliens.

Day 108 - Mali 🇲🇱

Today we head to Mali, another country I known almost nothing about, other than it’s the home of Timbuktu. Mali is an ancient landlocked country in North West Africa, and is the 8th largest county in Africa. This makes Mali slightly larger than South Africa.

Mali was recently in the news as just last week a 25 year old Malian woman somehow gave birth to nine live babies. This is a world record.

Mali has a turbulent past. After gaining independence from France in 1960s its endured droughts, civil unrest, coups, 23 years of military dictatorship and more recently a jihadist insurgency. After a military coup in 2020, Mali now plans to hold democratic elections in 2022.

Mali is home to the Great Mosque of Djenné, the largest mud mosque in the world.

The Niger River is Mali’s lifeblood. It’s also a really unusual river due to its protracted route. The River Niger starts in the Guinea Highlands and flows northeast through Mali all the way to its mouth 4,180km downstream in Nigeria. To put this in perspective, its source only 240km from the Atlantic Ocean, but the river instead runs directly away from the Atlantic Ocean into the Sahara Desert.

Mali is also home to Lake Faguibine, a lake formed by the flooding of the River Niger, however, this lake has rather dramatically disappeared leaving a vast open crater due to reduced rainfalls.

Another endangered landmark along the River Niger is Timbuktu, an ancient centre of culture and trade. Timbuktu is reportedly deteriorating as the Sahara Desert encroaches on the city. Alongside this, Mali’s precarious political situation means the city has not been able to develop into a tourist destination and raise funds for preserving the city. Timbuktu is now on the UNESCO List of World Heritage in Danger.

Map of Mali

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Day 105 - Malawi 🇲🇼

What I knew about Malawi before today

Not so much, I knew it was a relatively poor landlocked country in Subsaharan Africa and was named after Lake Malawi. 

What’s Malawi’s top tourist attraction?

Probably Lake Malawi, or failing that going on a safari to seek out the Little Five.

What was the last war or conflict Malawi took part in?

Malawi has been involved in fighting against the Allied Democratic Forces insurgency as part of the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade since 2014

A bizarre fact about Malawi

One-fifth of the country is water despite the fact it is landlocked. Talking of water, Malawi was home to the first Carlsberg brewery outside of Denmark. Carlsberg set up Carlsberg Malawi in 1968 and brewed beer in Malawi until 2016 when the brewery was sold and rebranded to Castel Malawi.

Was Malawi a former colony?

Yes, Malawi was previously British Central Africa Protectorate before finally becoming independent in 1964.

What are Malawi’s main exports?

Malawi’s biggest export is tobacco which contributes to more than 60% of the countries earnings.. The Malawian president however recently proposed switching away from tobacco production, largely because global demand for tobacco is in decline.

What’s Malawi’s National dish?

Malawi’s national dish is nsima a porridge made from maize, cassava and sorghum flour. It’s often served with fish and other sides such as beans and greens.

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Day 104 - Madagascar 🇲🇬

As I sit down to write this, I’m indulging in a bowl of Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough ice cream. It’s undoubtedly the best ice cream you can buy (well certainly in my local Danish supermarket). It’s a rich mix of vanilla ice cream blended with lumps of raw cookie dough and chocolate chips. What could be better? 

The reason I’m sharing the details of my unhealthy lifestyle is that today’s destination is Madagascar. One of the only things I know about Madagascar is that vanilla always seems to originate from Madagascar.

Supermarket isles the world over are lined with rows of luxury products proclaiming that they’re exclusive, and worth more than their competitors because they contain “Madagascan Vanilla”. It turns out that this is actually a little bit deceptive. 80% of the world’s vanilla is grown in Madagascar. So, dear food marketers, if you want a truly exclusive product, you should probably source your vanilla from somewhere other than Madagascar.

Even if Madagascan vanilla is ubiquitous it’s certainly high quality, and delicious. Demand for Madagascan vanilla has resulted in prices skyrocketing and has is also causing somewhat of a gold rush in Madagascar. High vanilla prices have infused large sums of money into small villages where vanilla is grown in the Madagascan hills. 

Despite this recent influx of vanilla money, Madagascar is still one of the poorest countries in the world. The infrastructure is very underdeveloped and the GDP per capita was only $471 in 2019. Let’s hope the default ice cream flavour continues to be vanilla and Madagascar has a wealthier future.

This is undoubtedly the most I’ve ever thought about, or written about vanilla before. Anyway, to partially offset this vanilla-based detour, here are a few bonus Madagascan facts to round off today’s post.

Lemurs are native to Madagascar and only found in the wild in Madagascar. There are a hundred species of lemur to be precise. In fact, Madagascar is known for its biodiversity. Despite being roughly the size of France, Madagascar is home to over 200,000 known species.

Unlike Madagascan vanilla, the people that come from Madagascar are not called Madagascan, but Malagasy. Many Malagasy people can partially trace their routes back to Austronesian ancestry.

Apparently there’s a children’s movie about Madagascar starring Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, Sacha Baron Cohen and David Schwimmer. I haven’t seen it. Should I?

View fullsize

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Day 100 - Libya 🇱🇾

Today we visit Libya, a country almost everyone associates with oil, desert, Muammar Gaddafi and the two devastating civil wars lasting from 2011 to 2020.

For me though, every time I think of Libya, I think of Danish trains.

Unlike Denmark, Libya has no operational railways and has had none since 1965. It’s kind of surprising then, that a brand new train ordered by the Danish rail operator DSB went missing and turned up in Libya. 

The reason for the missing train was Silvio Berlusconi’s government was trying to bribe Gaddafi into selecting Italian firms for a whole host of ambitious Libyan railway projects. The IC4 train was decorated in a special paint scheme and fitted out with a luxury VIP interior. Today it sits unused and stranded on a tiny unconnected section of track collecting dust.

All aboard the train to no-where. Image courtesy of Oryx

Denmark eventually got its trains, and despite huge delays, cost overruns and breakdowns, you can now ride the IC4 all over Denmark. You can read a more in-depth account of this bizarre train theft on the Oryx blog.

The situation in Libya also seems to be finally looking up. There has been a ceasefire in Libya since October 2020 and the UN is deploying ceasefire monitors and supporting Libya’s new unity government in preparing for free elections in December.

Let’s hope Libya’s future is finally peaceful, democratic, and prosperous. 

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Day 99 - Liberia 🇱🇷

Today’s destination is Liberia, a small West African nation with a flag that looks suspiciously close to the US flag. There is actually a connection here. Liberia was founded by the United States back in 1847 to be a place to repatriate former slaves. 

The country was modelled on the US. The official language is even English. The capital city is called Monrovia named after the former US president James Monroe.

Even today Liberian culture is heavily influenced by American culture, even down to the number plates on cars. Liberia is one of only two African nations to use the US size number plate. Oh and there’s a Liberian county named Maryland.

Like many people, the first I learned of Liberia was seeing its flag and name on ships around the world. Liberia is a shipping powerhouse with the Second-Largest Ship Registry in the World acting as a flag of convenience. 3,726 ships are registered in this tiny nation. Registration fees constitute 6% of the Liberian government’s income. Despite this Liberia is one of the poorest countries in the world with a formal employment rate of only 15%.

The Liberian ship registry isn’t even based in Monrovia, or even Liberia. The Liberian ship registry is headquartered in the rather mundane Dulles, Virginia in the United States. This is very convenient for shipping businesses. Who wants to fly all the way to an obscure West African nation to register your ship? In fact, this arrangement is so agreeable, that a Liberian registration is known as a “flag of convenience”. 

The underlying reason so many ships are registered in Liberia is that it’s a tax haven for ship registration and has arrangements with various countries like China to reduce tariffs. It also has very low worker and environmental standards allowing ship owners to save even more money. Oh and don’t forget the benefit of using Liberian ship registration to conceal your ownership of a particular ship.

If you are interested in learning more about Liberia, VisualPolitik has a great deep-dive on how Liberia became a flag of convenience. 

Anyway, I’m off for a cycle ride around the Danish coast to spot a few Liberian flagged vessels. 

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Day 98 - Lesotho 🇱🇸

Lesotho is a small completely landlocked within South Africa. It’s one of only three enclave nations in the world and is a similar size to Belgium.

The entire country of Lesotho lies above a 1400 metres of elevation hence its nickname “kingdom of the sky”. 

Lesotho’s climate is surprisingly cool for it’s latitude and it’s even home to one out of the only two skiing areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. If end up visiting Lesotho in the winter, make sure to visit Afriski.

Lesotho is also home to Africa’s highest pub, the Sani Mountain Lodge. Perched at 2874 metres on the South African Lesotho border, it is at the high-point of the only mountain pass linking the Eastern Side of Lesotho with South Africa.

Anyway, Africa’s highest pub is the perfect place to imagine being today because I’m finishing with a mini celebration… 

This post on Lesotho marks the half-way point of my journey writing about every country in the world! I’m half way done. So far I haven’t missed a day! Only 97 days to go.

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Day 89 - Kenya 🇰🇪

Today we visit Kenya.

What I knew about Kenya before today

When I think of Kenya, I think of Safaris with Land Rovers and tents, people in colourful clothing and the beautiful open savannah. 

What’s Kenya’s top tourist attraction?

Kenya’s wildlife is definitely its top tourist attraction. Most visitors come to Kenya to take in a Safari, and from what I can tell taking an early morning safari by hot air balloon certainly seems to be a Kenyan trademark.

There are two other things I’d really want to do if I get to visit Kenya. The island of Lamu looks like the perfect place to relax. I’d also like to take the train from Nairobi to Mombasa for the views and experience. 

What was the last war or conflict Kenya took part in?

Kenya is currently involved in the War in Somalia fighting as part of the African Union Mission to Somalia.

Was Kenya a former colony?

Yes absolutely, although you probably could have guessed that already. Kenya was first a Portuguese colony, then eventually became British Kenya before gaining independence in 1963. 

Samburu people in Kenya

A Bizarre fact about Kenya

I’m not sure how bizarre any of these are, so have three instead:

First up, Kenya is named after Mt. Kenya, Kenya’s largest mountain and the second largest mountain in Africa topping out at 5,199 metres.

Richard Dawkins, the famous biologist and inventor of the word “meme” was born in Kenya.

Oh and finally, Queen Elizabeth II started her reign as monarch in Kenya. She was visiting Kenya in 1952 when she learned of the death of her father and immediately became the head of state of Kenya. Her reign over Kenya only lasted until 1964 though as shortly after becoming an independent country Kenya became a republic.

What are Kenya’s main exports?

Kenya’s largest export is tea and is the world’s third-largest tea producer. No wonder Kenya was a British colony.

What’s Kenya’s National dish?

Meat is very popular in Kenya with Nyama choma being Kenya's defacto national dish. Nyama choma means barbecued meat in Swahili. Nyama choma is often goat or beef and is often paired with local beer such as Tusker and side dishes like ugali.

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Day 84 - Ivory Coast 🇨🇮

Today we head to The Ivory Coast or Côte d'Ivoire and we’re in emergency blog writing mode. I have exactly 22 minutes to complete this blog before I miss a day of blog writing.

My first ever memory of the Ivory Coast sticks clearly in my memory. I was around 15 and in an English class at school, and I remember an argument between two of my classmates about whether the Côte d'Ivoire or the Ivory Coast was in fact a country. At the time I was sceptical.

It turns out my scepticism was very misplaced. The Ivory Coast is in fact a country of 26 million people on the South coast of Western Africa. The Ivory Coast is after the prevalent trade of ivory when first coming into contact with European traders.

The Ivory Coast is also the world's largest exporter of cocoa beans, and its flag looks suspiciously like a mirror image of the Irish flag.

I have time for one last fact before the midnight deadline - the Ivory Coast is home to the world’s largest church, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace. Despite its Renaissance architecture, the church is modern and was only completed in 1989. It was built partly to memorialise the current president of the Ivory Coast, President Houphouët-Boigny. Yes, it was basically a vanity project. The pope (John Paul II) still agreed to open it though. Who can’t resist a monstrously big church?

Anyway, it’s time for bed. Until tomorrow.

I'm writing about every country in the world. One a day for 195 days. Learn more