The world’s fourth largest island is situated in eastern part of Indian Ocean near the shores of Central Africa. Its isolated position gave rise to many species of animals and plants, which cannot be found nowhere else but on Madagascar. The former French colony gained freedom in 1960, but it still has strong ties with France and the French – speaking West Africa. The capital is Antananarivo, with the population over 1,5 millions. The country is economically poor, which leads to the competition for agricultural land and cutting down the precious rainforest.

The landscape

Most of Madagascar’s surface is covered by eroded laterite soil, which is red. This gave Madagascar the nickname Red Island. The middle part is formed by central highlands, with the highest peak Maromokotro (2876 m). Madagascar is exposed to heavy tropical cyclones that bring pouring rains and sometimes also cause destructive floods. The last ones in 2000 and 2004 brought thousands of people homeless.

The wildlife

Madagascar separated from Africa and Indian subcontinent 88 millions years ago. This long – lasting isolation lead to evolution of rare species of animals and plants. The island also possesses various environments as the rainforest, dry tropical forest, thorn shrubland and desert. Lemurs are probably the most famous Malagasy animals. There exists about 75 species of these monkeys; most of them are endangered. Other well known animals are fossa, civet and many species of chameleons, bats and frogs. The flora includes baobabs of various size, chollas and other interesting succulent plants.

The people

Inhabitants of the Red Island are called Malagasy People. Although Madagascar is close to Africa, its people come from Indonesian Islands. Later, the culture was influenced by Europeans and Arabs, but again not so much by Africans. Most significant cultural habits concern the funeral rituals. Some of Malagasy tribes practice exhuming their dead ancestors, make erotic paintings on gravestones or build burial pillars aloalo.

Summary

Madagascar is an amazing country. It reminds of a laboratory, where nature started to form new species in different way, than she did before. The unique and beautiful species of animals and plants however need conservation. The nature is under the constant pressure of human activity. Many foreign universities and scientific organizations help the government to establish natural reservations to conserve the wildlife. However the slash and burn agriculture is destroying the rainforest and leaves just eroded land without life.