The island country lying off the south-eastern coast of Africa is the only home of the lovable lemurs. Our adorable cousins – for they are primates just like us – come in all shapes and sizes with over 100 species. Your days in Madagascar will be filled with spotting as many as possible.
The world’s fourth-largest island and the second-largest island country broke off the supercontinent Gondwana 150 million years ago which separated the Madagascar-Indian landmass from Africa.
A bit more shaking around the Earth’s core saw Madagascar finally split off from the Indian tectonic plate 70 million years later.
Isolated on the Indian Ocean, its flora and fauna developed independently creating 98% endemism – meaning what you see is only in Madagascar and nowhere else in the world.
Let’s discover Madagascar, one of the world’s top ten biodiversity hotspots.
Island History – Let’s go to Madagascar!
Slightly larger than France, the tropical island boasts surreal ocean life to ravishing forests that are home to lemurs and so much more.
Its capital and largest city is Antananarivo affectionally known as Tana.
With 28 million islanders, Malagasy and French are spoken by ethnic groups of Malayo-Indonesian, mixed African and Malayo-Indonesian, and people with Arab ancestry.
Archaeological research in the 20th century found evidence that human settlers reached Madagascar about five centuries before Europeans discovered the island. Malay-Indonesian seafarers arrived around the first century CE, Arabians followed in the sixth century and established trading posts there.
