Some time ago after the manifestation of the vortexes on October 4, 2002 a resident 'heat conduit' existed between Africa and the mouth of the Amazon River. You can see it here on February 6, 2005. There is also a lot of other 'stuff' going on over Madagascar but I won't go into that here. The clouds reaching across the Atlantic between Africa and South America would indicate an exchange of air at the equator with air masses moving from Africa to South America.