Madagascar 🇲🇬
Capital City of Madagascar: Antananarivo
Population:
27 Million (2019)
Official languages:
Malagasy, French, English
Currency:
MGA = Malagasy Ariary
Madagascar’s rampant forests and the isolation of the island have shaped and preserved a natural “laboratory of evolution” that is otherwise unavailable on Earth. It is bad that this incredible biodiversity is threatened by aggressive deforestation. The forests of Madagascar are still a shiny, steaming mass of billions of dripping wet leaves with bouncing or crawling strange creatures from nature’s magic box: lemurs and sifakas, chameleons and geckos, aloe and evergreen, baobab and octopus tree.
Best time to visit
April to October (the dry season).
Highlights of Madagascar
- Tsingy, surreal limestone pinnacles.
- Remote Madagascar from a pirogue floating down the Tsiribihina River.
- Hang out at Fort Dauphin (Taolagnaro) with its windswept coast against a picturesque mountain backdrop.
- Sail out to Île Sainte-Marie, a former pirate’s nest.
- Observe lemurs in the Parc National de Montagne d’Ambre.
- Explore the rampant rainforests of Ranomafana National Park.
- Take a hiking tour on the beautiful Masoala peninsula.
- Avenue of mighty baobab trees in Toliara near Morondava.
- Malagasy life in fast forward, the colorful streets of Antananarivo are full of it.
Nosy Iranja – photo credits: pixabay/aga2rk
Traditional Food and Drinks
- Vary hen’omby (rice served with stewed or boiled zebu)
- Local cheese made from zebu milk
- Betsa-betsa (fermented sugar cane juice)
- Punch aux cocos, a cocktail with rum and coconut milk.
What is Madagascar famous for?
- Lemuren
- Sifakas aren’t found anywhere else in the world.
- Over half of the world’s chameleon species live in Madagascar
- Tsingy
- Pirates (the East Coast was their base in the 17th Century).
- Carts drawn by zebus
- Fourth largest island in the world
- Trekking
In a word
“Manao ahoana ianao”
(How do you do?)
Office National du Tourisme de Madagascar
Lemures – photo credits: pixabay/ddouk
Baobab Trees – photo credits: pixabay/FSM-Team
Chameleon – photo credits: pixabay/Pixel-mixer