"Madagascar" a Madagascar Travel Page by grets

Like many of my travels, the trip to Madagascar was inspired by a friend who’d been there and raved about it. Thank you Leonie, for moving Madagascar up the list, and providing me with such a wonderful and varied destination.

The brochure read: ‘Madagascar remains a challenge for the adventurous traveller’. This too inspired me to go, as I’ve always loved a challenge!

The trip was captivating from start (as soon as I bought my Lonely Planet and started reading) to finish (scanning the pictures this morning and re-reading my diary entries for these notes). Such amazing and unique culture, such diverse and wonderful wildlife, such beautiful and gracious people, such dramatic and varied scenery, such rustic and charming hotels. Madagascar is one of those destinations where it is hard to find negative observations.

The island is a veritable treasure chest in terms of wildlife; with 75% of the 200,000 living species (new ones are still being identified) found nowhere else on earth. We saw 13 different species of lemur alone, as well as chameleons, geckos, civets, frogs, spiders, stick insects, praying mantis, snakes, scorpions and innumerable birds. Madagascar is one of the 12 most important countries for biodiversity on the planet and has one of the richest floras in the world with 12,000 species.

In this unique environment, the scenery is magnificent and ranges from humid rainforests with spectacular waterfalls, to arid deserts with spiny cactus-like plants, from sandy coastal dunes to rocky plateaus with dramatic canyons, from impressive rice paddies to colourful coral reefs.