Madagascar Habitat Guide

The scenic island of Madagascar is located 250 miles off the eastern coast of Africa, in the Indian Ocean, east of Mozambique and just south of the equator. It is the world's fourth-largest island measuring 1580 km by 570km. Madagascar has always been of strategic interest to the world’s super powers located as it is along the Mozambique Channel, linking the African and Asian continents to Europe. The island itself is of great topographical and botanical diversity, all compressed in 4,828 km of coastline, a narrow but fertile coastal plain, river valleys, deserts, grassy plateau and dense rainforests in the higher reaches of its mountain ranges.

The island can be divided into three parallel geographical zones along its North South axis. The west comprising the low plateaus and the plains, the central having the high plateaus and the remaining being narrow coastal strips. The high central plateau causes typical climatic distinction between its two sides. The eastern coast remains wet most of the times and consists of the rainforests. The other part, being dry contains the savannah and dry hardwood forests. The south is more arid and contains cactus like vegetation.

 Flora & Fauna

A veritable Garden of Eden, the rainforests of Madagascar house some of the world’s most endangered species of flora and fauna. The unique flora and fauna of this African island is quite distinct from the other parts of the African continent. The rainforests, mountain slopes and grassy savannah of Madagascar are a botanist’s trove of rare and unusual plants with over 10,000 known species and more discovered on a regular basis. Some of Madagascar’s prized plants include over 1,000 different species of orchids, the stunning black orchid and the most rare of all orchids--the white Angraecum Sesquipedale. Amongst the unusual specimens indigenous to the island are the provident plant, a water-storing bottle tree, 6 different species of baobabs, and the carnivorous pitcher plant.

Serious efforts to conserve the rich biodiversity of the island are necessary to protect the islands endangered species- some of them only found on Madagascar. They include nine-tenths of the world's lemurs, the mouse like dwarf Microcebus; the Macaco; the Catta, with a distinctive gray body and long black-and-white striped tail; the Sifaka, which can leap 30 feet or more from branch to branch, the Indri, the largest of all tallest of all lemurs and the rarest of all lemurs, the Aye-aye.
Amateurs birdwatchers and ornithologists can spend hours watching hundreds of different species of birds in their natural habitat - Vangas, the beautiful Crested Coua, the remarkably colourful Roller bird, over 70 species of singing birds and parrots, colourful waterfowl including herons and flamingos and many birds of prey, such as the eagle, hawk and falcon.