Difference between revisions of "Zebu cart"
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| − | '''It's sunrise in the Sambirano Valley and a small traffic jam on the bridge crossing the river, caused not by cars but by slow-moving zebu carts. The passengers and drivers of the ox-powered vehicles are mostly farmers on | + | '''It's sunrise in the Sambirano Valley and a small traffic jam on the bridge crossing the river, caused not by cars but by slow-moving zebu carts. The passengers and drivers of the ox-powered vehicles are mostly farmers on the way to sell their crops in the town's central marketplace.''' |
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It's sunrise in Sambirano and a small traffic jam has evolved at the bridge crossing, not by cars, but by zebu carts slowly crossing the narrow bridge in Ambanja. The drivers and passengers of these ox-powered vehicles, mostly farmers, started travelling in darkness to reach the central marketplace by the early morning hours to distribute their crops.' | It's sunrise in Sambirano and a small traffic jam has evolved at the bridge crossing, not by cars, but by zebu carts slowly crossing the narrow bridge in Ambanja. The drivers and passengers of these ox-powered vehicles, mostly farmers, started travelling in darkness to reach the central marketplace by the early morning hours to distribute their crops.' | ||
Revision as of 11:51, 18 August 2024
It's sunrise in the Sambirano Valley and a small traffic jam on the bridge crossing the river, caused not by cars but by slow-moving zebu carts. The passengers and drivers of the ox-powered vehicles are mostly farmers on the way to sell their crops in the town's central marketplace.
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Zebu carts, or charrettes à zebu as they are know, are common in and around Ambanja, the region, and across much of the country.
Dozens of workshops produce charrettes in Ambanja. One such workshop in the town centre is run by Mr Theodore, who with his team of six skilled carpenters builds and assembles around 50 charrettes per year, all manually crafted without the use of electrical power tools.
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The design and model are always the same: A simple two-wheeler which easily attaches to one or more zebus.
These charrette remains as practical and relevant among farmers today as they have for some hundreds of years.
A charrette takes about one week to build and costs 1,800,000 (USD 400).
The countless farmers keeping the tradition deserve recognition for their collective effort in protecting the environment by reducing the number of petrol-powered cars on the roads.
Additional information
View more Zebu cart photos
