Madagascar is still classified as an island, a very large island. But beyond its size, it contains a diversity uncommon to lands of similar size.
I have just completed a journey with American collaborators in the North of Madagascar and during a discussion, they asked me if I should promote Madagascar, what will I say. So I simply replied that Madagascar is unique in terms of its size, its natural diversity, its rate of endemism, the mix of its population, its cosmopolitan culture and so many other more unique points than the others.
Madagascar has more than 5,000 kilometers of coastline and some parts of the island are still untouched by any human settlement, due to remoteness or simply due to the difficulty of access. It is the fourth largest island in the world after Iceland, Borneo and New Guinea. Some will say the opposite but if you had the opportunity to travel and discover this southern land, you realized that in the end, Madagascar is very big, in two weeks, we only visited a small part. Many people had fun going around the island, certainly difficult, but they did it in more or less 1 month of journey and by car please. Some parts of the island are still not served by roads, so the actual tour is simply unfeasible if you only limit yourself to motorized vehicle travel. Otherwise, on foot it is done. Recently, a small family of French origin made the feat of touring the’ island in a zebu cart, they did it. it was heard a lot on the networks and especially on TV in documentaries.
Almost all the landscapes are gathered on the island apart from the snowy lands and the great heights above 3,000 meters. The highest mountains of Madagascar are close to 2,900 meters, otherwise, between the sea and these altitudes, you will find everything. Mangroves, estuaries, salar, alluvial plains, plateaus, steppes, mountains, lakes, granite, sandstone or limestone mountain ranges, dry forest, humid forest; we find practically all the photographic scenes.
And if we talk about natural diversity, then there, we lack time and ink to talk about it. Madagascar has an endemicity(1) of nearly 80% for the whole island. Nearly 8 out of 10 species only exist on the island. Whether in the fauna or in the flora, this figure is the same.
In terms of ethnicity or cultural mix, it is quite new because Madagascar is a newly populated island. It has just about 2,000 years of history if we refer to the latest scientific research. The Malagasy people would come from several horizons: Indonesia, Africa, India, China and even l’ Europe. Madagascar shares a fairly common culture between its ethnic groups, but each population nevertheless remains unique in terms of cultural practices and especially the way of life.
Madagascar is literally a bridge between Asia and the’ Africa because there are many similarities between these two lands of origin and the big island. There is still a lot to discover because the island only opened up to tourism very recently and is still a destination of choice for lovers of pure nature and a cultural change of scenery.
Guides 02/10/2020
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