OT: Madagascar: Gem rush destroys green paradise

I remember driving through Ilakaka the first time in 1996 when it was just a small village with a few houses. When I returned in 1998 it was almost a city, which continued to grow to include a gas station, whore houses and a strange mix of other vendors.

By the time I left in 2001, Ilakaka had started to dry up. The earth was covered in pock marks from the pit mining. In an ecosystem that looks almost moon-like when it's healthy - except for its redness - the holes made it especially eerie. (I'm not sure about the reference to the "green paradise" because the natural ecosystem wasn't a forest - or anything that one might call green.)

The Thai gem dealers (those from other Asian coutntries as well, I think) in fancy Range Rovers and their hooligans were conspicuous. So was the poverty, exploitation and suffering. Knowing that poor men and families came from everywhere for the chance to earn some money (not even to strike it rich), that many people died and that most were exploited in some way made Ilakaka a sad place.

Madagascar Gem Rush Destroys Green Paradise