"Fascinating Madagascar" Madagascar by no1birdlady

Madagascar Travel Guide: 1,183 reviews and 3,849 photos

Our Tour

My husband and I went on a 2 week birding tour to Madagascar with the company WINGS. Our guide was Brian Finch. We went in Sept. which is their spring. It is a very large island with bad or non-existant roads so we took short flights to different parts of the island then went to reserves and other natural areas in a van. In order to see the different endemic birds and animals, our tour visited all of the different habitat types such as wet eastern rain forest, and dry thorny western forests. I kept a trip journal recording things seen and done on the trip including sketches I made. I have used some of the trip sketches here to illustrate some areas visited.

A Bit of History

Sketch of typical local hut people here live in.

This is a large island off of the eastern coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean. Madagascar once belonged to France so French is the official language spoken and the money we used was the Malagash Franc. People speak a French dialect called Malagasy. In 1958 they voted to become an autonomous republic. It is a very poor country which recieves financial aid from both France and the USA. Main problems are population growth, deforestation and erosion resulting in famine.

Seeing the Natural Areas of Madagascar

Sketch of white Leaf-wing Butterfly.

You have to REALLY want to see the wildlife here to do this trip because hotels are not what we are used to, especially away from the main cities, and food can be strange. But it is a wildlife paradise. I will never forge the birds, lemurs, plants and insects we saw here. There are 106 endemic birds found here and another 25 are limited to this region, meaning they are also found on some of the other islands such as the Seychelles. In all there are 198 species who nest here. Other birds visit as migrants. It's also knows for the apx. 30 species of lemurs which are mostly endemic and a large number of endemic chameleons. Insects such as butterflies are also unique here and so are the plants. Few places in the world are as threatened as the native habitat here. And few places "feel" as foreign.

Last visit to Madagascar: Sep 1996
Intro Updated Mar 23, 2006
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Reviews (22)

Stick hut with thatched roof. - Madagascar

Rural villages Local Customs (4)

The rural villages we saw on the south end of Madagascar were made up of huts which were small and built of sticks with... more travel advice

Local church in central mountain area. - Madagascar

Central Malagasy Farming Areas Local Customs (4)

In the central area of Madagascar, farming in the mountains uses terraces which seems more oriental. There is one photo... more travel advice

See and Hear the Indri at Andasible... Things to Do (10)

Andasible Indri Reserve is near Perinet which is in CE Madagascar east of the capital of Antananarivo. The Indri is a... more travel advice

Mountains of Ranomafana National Park - Madagascar

Birding Ranomafana National Park Things to Do (10)

Ranomafana National Park is in the lush rain forest on the eastern central mountain slopes in Madagascar. This forest... more travel advice

Restaurants (1)
Restaurant on the Indian Ocean
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Comments (2)

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Helga67 Jan 15, 2009 at 3:44 AM

Excellent tips and lovely sketches
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luckyzen Mar 23, 2006 at 2:17 PM

Interesting Hotel tips. Thank you for sharing.