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The fourth largest island in the world was created more than 125 million years ago when a piece of the African mainland broke away and drifted into the Indian Ocean. Isolated from mainland, this tropical Eden known as Madagascar, evolved into a safe haven for some of the most unusual life forms on earth - a zoologist’s dream island teeming with chameleons, mongoose and lemurs and an apothecary’s laboratory with precious medicinal plants and herbs.

Relatively undiscovered till a few decades ago by the inveterate traveller, the ‘Great Red Island’ of Madagascar has seen an increase in tourist traffic with travellers discovering and appreciating the unique delight of virgin rainforests, pristine beaches, warm blue waters of the Indian Ocean, sandy deserts and an astonishing array of unusual wildlife and truly impressive flora.

Don’t be surprised to spot a chameleon or chameleons in Madagascar- smallest to largest as the islands are home to almost half of the world’s chameleon species!

Madagascar is also known as the Red Islands due to the red color soil.

Historically Speaking

The island of Madagascar remained uninhabited for the better part of its early life – the one major reason why its rich biodiversity was safe from natural as well as human predators. The first people to arrive on the island hailed from nearby mainland Africa and from India and Arabia – seafarers and traders who arrived on Madagascar around 2,000 years ago. They were tempted to stay by the abundance of forests and wildlife and the tranquil coastal waters teeming with marine life. Although they belonged to different lands, the African, Indian, and Arabic races integrated with each other and achieved a remarkable synthesis of tradition, religion, language, and culture.

In 1500, Portuguese seafarers looking for a new trade route to the Indies landed on the island of Madagascar. They left soon after but word of its strategic location got out and France and England sent ships and soldiers to stake their respective claims to the island. The local tribes banded together against the invading Europeans and managed to hold them off. In 1794, King Andrianampoinimerina united all the different tribes of Madagascar, forming a single kingdom. But his successor King Radama I, formed alliances with the major European powers, and invited British missionaries into his country. The first Christian missionaries arrived and the British thus gained a foothold in Madagascar.

In 1883, the French attacked Madagascar and after three years of bloodshed and strife, Madagascar became a French protectorate. By 1895, it had become a full-fledged French colony. Monarchy was abolished and French became the official language. This state of affairs continued till General de Gaulle was elected President of France and granted Madagascar it’s independence. The locals renamed their nation The Malagasy Republic, and elected Philibert Tsiranana as the first President of independent Madagascar. Didier Ratsiraka succeeded Tsiranana in 1972. Ratsiraka was re-elected twice, replaced briefly by Dr. Albert Zafy in 1991. A long period of coups and military takeovers finally ended with the general elections in the country in 1992 in which Didier Ratsiraka was elected the President of the Republic of Malagasy.

Habitat

The scenic island of Madagascar is located 250 miles off the eastern coast of Africa, in the Indian Ocean, east of Mozambique and just south of the equator. It is the world's fourth-largest island measuring 1580 km by 570km. Madagascar has always been of strategic interest to the world’s super powers located as it is along the Mozambique Channel, linking the African and Asian continents to Europe. The island itself is of great topographical and botanical diversity, all compressed in 4,828 km of coastline, a narrow but fertile coastal plain, river valleys, deserts, grassy plateau and dense rainforests in the higher reaches of its mountain ranges.

The island can be divided into three parallel geographical zones along its North South axis. The west comprising the low plateaus and the plains, the central having the high plateaus and the remaining being narrow coastal strips. The high central plateau causes typical climatic distinction between its two sides. The eastern coast remains wet most of the times and consists of the rainforests. The other part, being dry contains the savannah and dry hardwood forests. The south is more arid and contains cactus like vegetation.

Flora & Fauna:

A veritable Garden of Eden, the rainforests of Madagascar house some of the world’s most endangered species of flora and fauna. The unique flora and fauna of this African island is quite distinct from the other parts of the African continent. The rainforests, mountain slopes and grassy savannah of Madagascar are a botanist’s trove of rare and unusual plants with over 10,000 known species and more discovered on a regular basis. Some of Madagascar’s prized plants include over 1,000 different species of orchids, the stunning black orchid and the most rare of all orchids--the white Angraecum Sesquipedale. Amongst the unusual specimens indigenous to the island are the provident plant, a water-storing bottle tree, 6 different species of baobabs, and the carnivorous pitcher plant.

Serious efforts to conserve the rich biodiversity of the island are necessary to protect the islands endangered species- some of them only found on Madagascar. They include nine-tenths of the world's lemurs, the mouse like dwarf Microcebus; the Macaco; the Catta, with a distinctive gray body and long black-and-white striped tail; the Sifaka, which can leap 30 feet or more from branch to branch, the Indri, the largest of all tallest of all lemurs and the rarest of all lemurs, the Aye-aye.

Amateurs birdwatchers and ornithologists can spend hours watching hundreds of different species of birds in their natural habitat - Vangas, the beautiful Crested Coua, the remarkably colourful Roller bird, over 70 species of singing birds and parrots, colourful waterfowl including herons and flamingos and many birds of prey, such as the eagle, hawk and falcon.