Common Brown lemur in Andasibe
Incredible Madagascar
East of the African continent lies the island of Madagascar. It is the fourth largest island in the world, slightly larger than France.
It is a beautiful place, famous for its wildlife and landscape. The animals here are so unique that Madagascar is often referred to as the 7th continent.
90 % of all mammals in Madagascar are endemic. It means they live no other places. The most fabled animals in Madagascar are the Lemurs. Scientist disagree on how many species there are, but some claim there are more than 100 of them. Some of them live within the confines of a very limited area, like a forest or on the banks of a lake.
But Madagascar is famous for other animals as well, like insects, spiders, birds and chameleons. Of the 150 species Chameleons in the world 75 live in Madagascar and only there. Among them the largest and the smallest.
And of course, it is in Madagascar you find the mystical fossa, the mighty predator of the forest.
No other island has as diverse landscape as Madagascar. Imagine a place where it only takes two hours to drive from the rainforest to the Desert. In the western part of the island you will encounter entire forests of baobab trees, the famous Tsingy, and the spooky spiny forest.
Catta, also called ringtail lemur, near andraghinta
Serious facts about Madagascar
Area: 587 713 square kilometers. ( Slightly larger than France)
Population: 26.6million people according to some estimates
People are called Malagasy
Language: Imerina
There are 17 ethnicities in Madagascar
The Merina ethnic group is the largest, numbering 5 million people
50% are animists 43 % Christian and 7% moslem according to some estimates ( Some observers claim christians make up more than 50%)
Fun facts about Madagascar
Ratsimilaho (c.1694 – 1750) was a ruler of the Betismisaraka tribe. He is said to be the son of the English Pirate Thomas White and a Malagasy queen, Antavaratra Rahena.
Madagascar is called the red island because of the red soil which colors the rivers red.
There once lived a giant lemur in Madagascar weighing more than 90kg/200 pounds. It stood 180cm/6feet tall.
The indri which is the largest current species weighs about 7kg/15 pounds
The elephant bird was endemic to Madagascar. The Vorombe the largest species weighed as much as 720 kg. More than 5 times as much as an ostrich.
Madagascar produce 85% of the worlds Vanilla.
The language on Madagascar, Imerina is closely related to languages in southern Borneo, but many words are borrowed from East African languages and Arabic.
Most people in Madagascar are of mixed descent of people who migrated from Malaysia, Indonesia and East Africa 1000 - 2000 years ago.
Maromokotro, is the highest peak rising to 2876m
The famous Tsingy Bemaraha near the west coast
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