Nearly everything you’ll see and touch on Madagascar is found nowhere else on earth!

Madagascar comprises islands of mystery with ever changing features. It entices nature lovers and tourists who yearn for the unusual.

Madagascar is an island nation in the Indian Ocean off the south eastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth-largest island and the forty sixth largest country in the world. To put it into context, it is larger than France! Man arrived here at most two thousand years ago by outrigger canoes from Melanesia, Polynesia, Indonesia, Arabia and Africa. Pirates were regular visitors and residents through the ages and have left a mixed race inheritance. There is now a population of over 26 million comprising 16 major tribes and Madagascar is the only Afro-Asian nation in the World.

Separated from the African continent for 160 million years and from India for 90 million years, its wildlife, flora and fauna have developed independently. With dramatically changing climate zones each region has its own complement of bizarre plants and some very odd animals. The islands are home to 5% of the entire world's plant and animal species, of which more than 90% are endemic to the forests and plateaux of Madagascar. 260 bird species have been recorded of which five families can only be found here. There are nineteen thousand listed plant species, including more than a thousand varieties of orchid. There are three thousand species of butterfly. The extraordinary lemur and the resplendent Malagasy chameleon, which is descended from antediluvian monsters, are unique and are the subject of intensive study by conservationists. Although endangered there are more than seventy different species of lemur. The carnivorous fossa and six baobab species add to the unusual melange which make Madagascar the compellingly unparalleled destination it is. And as if that is not enough, between June and September hump back whales traditionally give birth off the east coast island of Ile Sainte Marie.

Madagascar is also blessed with myriad islands and atolls with white sand beautiful beaches and magnificent coral reefs.

A mountainous central ‘spine’ separates the permanently damp east from the drier west and sub-desert south. The highest peak is 2,876 metres (9,436 feet). Its forests are a shimmering, seething mass of a million dripping leaves and slithering, jumping, quirky creatures from nature’s bag of trick’s; chameleons, periwinkles, geckoes, not forgetting the irrepressible lemurs, aloes, baobab and
octopus trees

One of the world’s poorest nations, Madagascar is not for everyone. Prospective visitors must be aware of the island’s ‘lowlights’ before going there. Travel opportunities are limited. There are no five star hotels and in some places accommodation and facilities are basic. Recently there has been some responsible development which has resulted in some delightful places to stay, often as private island resorts.

Whoever comes to the islands is sure of an unusual and possibly life changing experience because there is probably no other place remotely like it on Earth!

April to October, the dry season or Southern Winter, is generally the best time but the climate does vary by region.

Nature enthusiasts should go from August to November.

January to March is cyclone season and it will definitely rain and some remote parts will become inaccessible.

For beach lovers, the best time for Nosy Be is from May to October when there should be little rain, lots of sunshine and a temperature of around 30 Celsius

If, at sea level, temperatures range from 27° and 32° in summer and 22° in winter, on the Highlands, they may go down to 4° or even less in winter nights.

Perinet and the Wildlife of the Mantadia & Andasibe National Parks

The Road to the South - Isalo National Park & Ifaty Beach

Wildlife and the Island of Nosy B