Madagascar

Discover Madagascar

The island of Madagascar sits just 250 miles off the coast of Africa, yet its first settlers didn't come from Africa at all. They sailed from Borneo, in what is now Indonesia, more than 4,000 miles away across the open Indian Ocean. 

Nobody knows exactly how they managed it, but they arrived about 1,500 years ago and became the ancestors of today's Malagasy people.

Because Madagascar broke away from mainland Africa more than 150 million years ago, its plants and animals evolved entirely on their own. About 9 out of every 10 animal and plant species here exist nowhere else on Earth. Lemurs, which live only in Madagascar, are the island's most famous residents.

The island is also home to two-thirds of the world's chameleon species and six of the world's eight types of baobab trees. But it has already lost about 9 out of 10 of its original forests due to farming and logging, putting thousands of those unique species in danger.

In the early 1800s, a queen named Ranavalona I ruled much of the island and pushed back hard against European influence. She banned Christianity, expelled missionaries, and declared the island off-limits to outsiders. European colonizers called her the "Mad Queen," but many historians now see her as a fierce defender of her people.

After her death in 1861, France gradually took control and declared Madagascar a colony in 1896. The Malagasy people resisted, and independence finally came in 1960.

Visit the Avenue of the Baobabs near Morondava, where enormous ancient trees line both sides of a dirt road and look most spectacular at sunset. In Andasibe National Park, wild lemurs jump through the trees just a few feet above your head.

Try romazava, a warming stew of beef, ginger, and leafy greens served over rice, which shows up at nearly every Malagasy meal. And for the parents, a cold THB beer, Madagascar's famous local lager, is basically mandatory after a long day in the jungle.