Why Lemurs Exist Only in Madagascar
Lemurs live wild nowhere but Madagascar. The reason: ancestors rafted from Africa 50+ million years ago to a predator-free island — and monkeys evolved too late to follow.
Category: Insider Madagascar
Ravitoto sy Henakisoa, Explained
Dark-green, glistening and deeply loved: ravitoto sy henakisoa is Madagascar’s great comfort dish. Pounded cassava leaves, fatty pork, and a hidden Austronesian clue on your plate.
The Razana: How Ancestors Rule the Living
In Madagascar the dead never leave. They become razana — ancestors who bless, warn and govern the living as intermediaries with God. The key that unlocks the island’s culture.
The Pirates of the Indian Ocean and Their Madagascar Haven
Why did Madagascar become the capital of Indian Ocean piracy? Geography, a sheltered bay, and quiet New York money. Inside the Pirate Round and the haven of Ile Sainte-Marie.
Honey and Ylang-Ylang: the Scented Harvests of Nosy Be
You can smell Nosy Be before you land. Inside Madagascar’s Perfume Island: the ylang-ylang flower behind Chanel No. 5, and the rare honeys of an endemic Malagasy bee.
Litchi Season: the Fruit That Floods the Coast Each December
That fresh lychee at your European Christmas probably came from Madagascar — the world’s #1 lychee exporter. Inside the east coast’s six-week, 100,000-tonne litchi season.
Queen Ranavalona I: the ‘Mad Queen’ History Got Wrong
Europe called her the ‘Mad Monarch.’ Modern historians see a nationalist who kept Madagascar free from empire for decades — though her reign was genuinely brutal. The real Ranavalona I.
Independence 1960: How the Malagasy Republic Was Born
Every 26 June, Madagascar celebrates independence. Behind the fireworks: conquest, the crushed 1947 uprising, a 1958 referendum, and the road to full sovereignty in 1960.