travelogues
Tonga soa Madagascar: A journey to the mineralogical rarities of the deep south of Madagascar
For several years now, we have been finding three mineralogical rarities in respectable quantities in the deepest province of the Red Island, nort...
With the sapphire prospectors of Sri Lanka
For years I had been tempted to visit Sri Lanla - formerly called Ceylon - and explore the possibility of buying the beautiful sapphires. There are...
Tonga soa Madagascar - the Zazafotsy sapphire deposit
Deep in the south of the Big Red Island, about 40 km north of the town of Ihosy, is the village of Zazafotsy (translated "white child") on Route N...
Safari njema Zambia - in search of the rare zinc phosphates
Broken Hill - a name that makes many collectors' hearts beat faster, but there are - uniquely - two well-known deposits of this name, both of which...
Tonga soa, Madagascar: A walking mineral search in the interior of the island
This trip to the rare earth minerals in the wider area of the town of Ankazobé (north of the capital Antananarivo) had been planned for a long t...
Safari njema Tanzania - Mwajanga, a new deposit for tourmalines
For several years, a small settlement called Mwajanga has been delivering tourmalines, some of which are spectacular. While this occurrence was al...
Tonga soa Madagascar: The Phenakites of Sahanivotra
a very nice example of the new Phenakite
In December 2015, my American friend Mike Shannon and I purchased what we were told were rhodicite cry...
How do the minerals from Tanzania get to Germany?
I keep getting asked this question, how does it work? Let me tell you something out of the box.
The main center for gem and mineral trading is Ar...