Sunday, May 15, 2011

Îles Éparses, TAAF

Well, I think Im catching the last train to make an update...coz it seems that only weekends have remained as a possible option....I wont bother you now about how my Mon-Fri goes..but well, im still alive :)
And those Mon-Fri days bring me some awesome cards, from fantastic people, and the first one is perfect for bragging :P
I have to admit that I havent had this one on the list of my missing countries....coz it seems that the list of world countries can get a bit confusing, or at least if you refer to those countries as stamp entities....and one such is the TAAF or the Territory of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (in order to avoid confusion, the abbreviation stands for its original name in French "Terres australes et antarctiques françaises".
The TAAF consists of: -a group of volcanic islands in the southern Indian Ocean, southeast of Africa, approximately equidistant between Africa, Antarctica and Australia; - Adélie Land, the French claim on the Antarctica continent; - the Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean.
The territory has no permanent population; the population consists of military personnel, civilian officials, scientific researchers and support staff.

And this card today comes from the Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean...or as its French name is : Îles Éparses



Îles Éparses consist of four small coral islands, an atoll, and a reef in the Indian Ocean. the Glorioso Islands, Juan de Nova and Europa — and the Bassas da India atoll lie in the Mozambique Channel west of Madagascar, while the fourth island, Tromelin, lies about 450 kilometres east of Madagascar. All these islands have been classified as natural reserves.
apart from the name sounding so exotic and fascinating...the card is just fantastic too with its crystal blue waters....even the buddy on the card doesnt look so scary :)

well, here is a picture in order to give you an idea about the position of the Scattered Islands



and of course, here come some amazing stamps too!


well, here you actually have the whole back of the card scanned...but I just had to show all the prints and cancellations :)
the stamp on the left is from a set of 5 stamps issued in 2007 presenting the Scattered Islands, with this stamp here showing Île Tromelin, while the other one was issued in 2005, commemorating the 10th Anniversary of the death of Paul-Emile Victor. (a French ethnologist and explorer).

Thanks a million to my fairy called Jean-Pierre for this fantastic surprise!   

1 comment:

Dani said...

фина картичка. и море и вода...и песок...мммм...

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