Madagascar OVERVIEW
With a camera perched on the front of a teetering canoe and the hopes of filming one of Madagascar's least known lemurs, two explorers paddle deep into the extensive marsh around Lac Alaotra, Madagascar's largest lake. This territory used to be a bustling oasis of unmatchable wildlife, but the growth of human activity in the area has taken its dramatic toll. If it wasn't for a cloud of mosquitoes hovering above the boat, the silence would be so piercing that you could hear the carnivorous pitcher plant digesting its prey.
Madagascar is a world apart, and some ecologists go as far as to call it the eighth continent. Years of isolation from mainland Africa have blessed it with the most bizarre forms of life, and let the fact that of the 10,000 plants indigenous to the island, 90% are found nowhere else in the world testify to its staggering biodiversity. A paradise for eco-tourists and daring explorers, Madagascar will take you on a journey through the lush tropical rainforests in the east and across the arid desert plateaus in the west. It's a hermetic reserve for three-cornered palms, octopus trees, and Baobabs that hold 200 gallons of water in their bloated trunks, as well as the only home to giraffe-necked weevils, nocturnal lemurs, screaming lizards, hissing cockroaches, and chameleons that make up about a half of the world's population. This mind-boggling spectacle of weirdness is to be marveled at in disbelief and with the feeling of utmost satisfaction that stems from partaking in the unique, the uncharted, the most fragile.
The mixed origins of the Malagasy, as the residents of Madagascar are called, has bred a set of cultures that draws from more than 20 ethnic groups. From the Indonesian-looking Merina in the highlands to Arabic Antaimoro dwelling on the eastern coast, the peoples are no less fascinating to get to know closer. Their tradition oftentimes steeped in magic, centered around waterfalls, and teetering on the edge of life and death is a magnetic addition to the overall display of curiosity you have a privilege of witnessing.
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