CR5 Issue 154 March 2018 digital

Madagascar
‘The Eighth
Continent’
By Solange Hando
Madagascar is the world’s
oldest island: it first split from
Africa and then from India
around 70 million years ago.
In the Indian Ocean, between
the Mozambique mainland
to the west and Reunion and
Mauritius to the east, it is the
fourth largest island on earth,
almost 1,000 miles long, 360
across, best known for the
unique flora and fauna which
evolved in isolation for a
surprisingly long time.
According to experts, the first
settlers arrived from Borneo
in 500 AD and since then, 90%
of the original forest has been
lost, and deforestation is still
ongoing. Most affected are
the more densely populated
central highlands, laced with
paddies and barren hills, but
Madagascar still claims over 40
special reserves and national
parks – several of them listed
as UNESCO World Heritage –
with a rich diversity of habitats.
Ecosystems range from dry
spiny forest in the south,
dotted with baobabs and
octopus trees, to mangroves
and lakes, deciduous trees and
dramatic pinnacles in the west
and tropical rainforest in the
east, where some of the most
popular national parks can be
accessed from Antananarivo.
Ranomafana is a good 10 hour
drive south of the capital,
the route winding past
colourful villages and hills with
spectacular views. But one can
overnight in Antsirabe, a pretty
place bustling with rickshaws
and craft shops, then continue
the next day. Driving down at
dusk in the final stages, it feels
almost like the end of the world
as the seemingly impenetrable
cloud forest rises all around
above the Namorona river and
waterfall.
Morning is the best time to
explore the park, when animals
are more active. This is where
golden bamboo lemurs were
first discovered in 1986 and,
along the steep trails, nature
lovers may be rewarded with
wonderful sights as they and
other lemurs leap through
the trees, playing with their
young or swinging from
branches. Guides imitate the
call to locate them and also
point out spiders, frogs, red
giraffe-necked beetles and
tropical birds such as pastelhued
cuckoo rollers or magpie
robins. Mossy memorial stones
recall ‘ancient people of the
forest’ among tall tree and
bird’s nest ferns, traveller’s
palms, orchids and lobelia.
Chameleons can also be
spotted, perfectly camouflaged
day or night.
East of the capital, the
Andasibe-Mantadia national
park is an easier option, just a
four hour drive with a choice
of walking circuits and gentle
paths. Palm and dragon trees
mingle with eucalyptus, blue
tea plants, bird’s nectar, berries
and much more. There are birds
and butterflies, reptiles, geckos
and several species of lemurs,
including indris, the largest of
them all, whose melancholy
‘singing’ can be heard at dawn.
On the nearby river islands,
now a sanctuary for rescued
lemurs, black and white ruffed
lemurs, playful ringtails and
lovely diademed sifaka, or
‘dancing lemur’, happily pose
for wide-eyed visitors paddling
in canoes around the reed
beds.
Fauna or flora, around 90% of
species are found nowhere
else on earth and one can
barely imagine 14,000 species
of plants, many with medicinal
properties, 170 species of
palms, thousands of orchids,
hundreds of birds, fish and
over 100 species of lemurs,
many endangered or rare. It
is the world’s top biodiversity
hotspot, ‘the eighth continent’,
say some ecologists, and in
this impoverished but beautiful
‘red island’, one hopes the
goverment will bring greater
stability and progress to benefit
both the people and their
incredible natural world.
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