A postcard from Central African Republic

Postcard

The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of theCongo and Cameroon.

 

The western lowland gorilla is the most numerous and widespread of all gorilla subspecies. Populations can be found in the Central African Republic and most of its neighboring countries.

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Fascinating stamp but couldn’t find anything about it. 

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South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

Postcard

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are a UK overseas territory in the southern Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote and inhospitable collection of islands, consisting of South Georgia and a chain of smaller islands known as the South Sandwich Islands. 

At the height of the whaling period some 2,000 people lived on the island. Now there are no permanent residents - but there are two Research Stations. One of it is King Edward Point where the card was sent from.

 

Around 95% of the world population of Fur Seals breeds at the Island of South Georgia. Another breeding ground is MacquarieIsland.

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The voyage of the James Cair (a lifeboat). A rescue mission undertaken by Sir Ernest Shackleton and five companions. Surviving a series of dangers, including a near capsizing, the boat reached the southern coast of South Georgia after a voyage lasting 16 days.

Thank you very much Ruben!

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Detaille Island - British Antarctic Territory

Postcard

Detaille Island is a small island just south of the Antarctic Circle and 11 miles east of Liard Island. It is home to a colony of 1,000 pairs of Adelie penguins. In 1956 a British research station was established on the island. This base was abandoned in 1959.

In 2009 the world's most southerly post office re opened in Antarctica 50 years after it was abandoned.

Stamp

Stamps are produced by the British Antarctic Territory, a separate postal entity. 

Thx Ruben!

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Picture Postcard Paradise... Angola

Postcard

Angola is a country in Southern Africa bordered by Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. Luanda is the capital city.

Mussulo is a peninsula located south of Luanda, a sandbar about 30km long formed by sediment from the river Kwanza. It looks like a tropical paradise to me. An ideal place for rest and relaxation. The calm waters of the bay favors the practice of water sports like diving, windsurfing and snorkeling.

 

Thank you so much www.eco-tur.com

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A machine label. The currency of Angola is the Kwanza (Kz).

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A postcard from the British West Indies: Anguilla

Postcard

Anguilla, a British overseas territory, is an island in the Carribean. It is located less than ten miles north of St. Martin and 200 miles east of Puerto Rico. The main island is very small with only 35 square miles to live on and 13,500 inhabitants.

Did you know this tiny island had a revolution in 1967? You can read all about it here. A really fascinating story. Today the separation from St Kits and Nevis is commemorated every May 30th on Anguilla Day, a National Holiday.

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Issued 2007. Part of a set of 60 stamps celebrating 40th anniversary of the Anguillan revolution. Reverend Leonard Carty was one of the revolution leaders. 

Totally unexpected, thx Pat!

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Territoire des Terres Australes et Antarctiques Françaises (TAAF)

Postcard

The Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (T.A.A.F.) is an overseas territory of France.

It consists of Kerguelen (a group of volcanic islands), St. Paul and Amsterdam islands (located north of Kerguelen), Crozet Islands (located south of Madagascar), Adélie Land (the French claim on the Antarctica continent) and the Scattered Islands (located around the coast of Madagascar).

The Marion Dufresne is a multipurpose vessel. It serves as a supply and logistic vessel for the French sub-Antarctic islands and as an oceanographic research platform on the world’s oceans.

Stamp

Issued in 2011: The 90th anniversary of the Birth of Pierre Bignon, 1921-1990.

The stamp cancellation reads ‘Alfred Faure Crozet’. The Crozet Islands are uninhabited, except for the research station Alfred Faure.

It took almost 7 months for this card to reach its destination. Well Crozet Island is a looong way but…there’s another reason. Our local mailman decided not to deliver all of the mail, but save some in his garage. He was caught recently and some days ago I received 60 postcards in my mailbox. My missing postcards since 2011! 

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Longis Bay, Alderney

Postcard

Alderney, the third largest of the Channel Islands, is located just 8 miles off the Normandy coast of France, and is the nearest to the mainland of Britain. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. Alderney is some five kilometers (3.5 mi) long and three kilometers (1.5 mi) at its widest point, with a population of only 2,400.

Longis Bay is on the south-east coast and has a wide, half-mile sandy beach. It is protected from winds by a long wall built during the German Occupation.

Stamps

Alderney issues its own stamps.

(left) Corals and Anemones definitives, issued 2006.

(right) In 2011 Alderney issued a set of six stamps picturing Alderney Hawkmoths. 

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Åland à la (post)Carte

Postcard

Åland is an autonomous region of Finland. Åland consists of more than 6,700 islands situated midway between Sweden and Finland.

Although the people of Åland speak Swedish, this autonomous territory is part of Finland. Åland has its own flag, has issued its own postage stamps since 1984, runs its own police force, and is a member of the Nordic Council.

The current population of 28,000 live on only 65 islands.  Over 40 per cent live in the only town and capital Mariehamn. The archipelago is largely made up of coastal rock slopes and heather moorland, and has large areas of pine forests. Only about nine per cent of Åland is arable land.

The postcard shows 4 typical Åland dishes: Åland Panncake, Gravlax, Pickled fish and Smoked Åland flounder.

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Georg August Wallin (1811 – 1852), also known as Abd al-Wali was a Finnish (born in Åland) orientalist, explorer and professor remembered for his journeys in the Middle East during the 1840s.

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Hello from Afghanistan

Postcard

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and the east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in the north, and China in the far northeast.

From the back of the postcard:

“A typical day in Afghanistan. US forces share a meal with Afghan officials; the Afghanistan flag flutters above the palace of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul; a man guides his donkey along a street; children share a laugh with troops outside a Combat Operating Post.”

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The label says “mailed from APO. AE 09320”. APO are the initials from Army Post Office. And 09320 indicates that the postcard is sent from a military camp in Kabul.

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A postcard from American Samoa

Postcard

Right in the heart of the South Pacific, to the north of Tonga and 3700km south-west of Hawaii, lie the five islands and two atolls of American Samoa. An unincorporated territory of the United States, southeast of the Independent State of Samoa.

Five of the main islands are volcanic, with rugged peaks, narrow coastal plains and fringing reefs. Swain's and Rose Islands are coral atolls. About 64,000 people live in American Samoa and Pago Pago is the capital city.

It is believed that there was at least an 800 year history of contact with Fiji and Tonga, before the Samoan islands were "officially" discovered by Dutch Explorer Jacob Roggeveen in 1722. Who did little more than naming the islands and sail away.

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US stamps can be used in American Samoa.

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A postcard from Albania | Shqipëria

Postcard

Thethi is a village surrounded by Thethi National Park, up on Albanian Alps, in Northeastern Albania, in Shkodra District.

Om the postcard we see a fortified tower house, used as refuge for men involved in a blood feud that are vulnerable to attack. A blood feud is a feud with a cycle of retaliatory violence, with the relatives of someone who has been killed or otherwise wronged or dishonored seeking vengeance by killing or otherwise physically punishing the culprits or their relatives.

More about tower houses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lock-in_tower

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 Thx Stefan!

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A Postcard from the West Indies: Antigua and Barbuda

Postcard

Antigua and Barbuda  (Spanish for "ancient" and "bearded") is a twin-island nation lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. It consists of two major inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, and a number of smaller islands. Antigua and Barbuda are in the middle of the Leeward Islands, part of the Lesser Antilles.

The English settled on Antigua in 1632; Sir Christopher Codrington settled on Barbuda in 1684. Most Antiguans are of African lineage, descendants of slaves brought to the island centuries ago to labor in the sugarcane fields. The British ruled from 1632 to 1981, with a brief French interlude in 1666. The islands became an independent state within the Commonwealth Realm system in 1981.

English Harbour, Antigua's graceful and evocative historic district, is focused on the fifteen square miles of Nelson's Dockyard National Park. Developed as a base for the British Navy in the great age of sail, the harbour served as the headquarters of the fleet of the Leeward Islands during the turbulent years of the late 18th century.

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From a set of thirteen stamps about plants, flowers and trees: the Mesquite tree.

update: designated in 2016 as a Unesco World Heritage Site 

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Church of Sant Joan de Caselles, Andorra

Postcard

Andorra is a small landlocked country in southwestern Europe, located in the eastern Pyrenees mountains and bordered by Spain and France. It is the sixth smallest nation in Europe

Sant Joan de Caselles, Canillo is one of the major Tourist Attractions in Canillo.

The church was built between the 11th and 14th centuries. It is the tallest church-tower of Andorra.

Stamps

(left) From a set of Christmas stamps 2011

(right) Capital city of Catalan Culture 2011 - Escaldes-Engordany

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Algerie – Les Touaregs

Postcard

The Touareg live in what is known as the central Sahara, which includes a big chunk of Algeria. The Sahara is huge – it’s nine million square kilometres. That’s as big as the United States.

Stamps

(on the left) Silver brooches from Saoura, a valley in southwestern Algeria.

(on the right) Commemorating the basketball world championship in Indianapolis 2002.

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Thanks Estafania for this beauty from Argentina

Ushuaia is the capital city of Tierra del Fuego Province, Argentina. It is commonly regarded as the southernmost city in the world. Ushuaia is located in a wide bay on the southern coast of Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego, bounded on the north by the Martial mountain range and on the south by the Beagle Channel. It is the only municipality in the Department of Ushuaia, which has an area of 9,390 km² (3,625 sq mi).  [wikipedia]

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How many days you get a postcard from Armenia?

Postcard

It was a very rainy " summer" day in Holland. But this postcard from Armenia brightens my day. Th back of the card reads: Cross stone from Boyazet against a background of mount Ararat.

Thanks Marine!

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Tigranes also spelled TIGRAN, king of Armenia from 95 to 55 BC, under whom the country became for a short time the strongest state in the Roman East.

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