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> General presentation of Madagascar
General presentation of Madagascar Madagascar, separated from Africa there are 165 million years, settled later on the tropic of Capricorn and was probably populated only about the first millenium. The Large island was discovered around the 12th century by the Arab merchants. The first European to have posed the foot on the Malagasy ground was the Portuguese captain Diégo Diaz. The insulation of the island preserved an absolutely single fauna and a flora in the world. This island continent is synonymous with diversity and richness: tropical luxuriance of the East, aridity of the South, savannas of the West, rice plantations of the High plateaus of the center, reliefs volcanic and coral lagoons of North. The variety of the climates, the vegetations, the landscapes, the ways of life, the habitats and the costumes, the influences Asian, Arab, African and European, give to the country all its personality. The evolution of the alive species of the large island followed a path different from that of the close continents. What makes it possible to the travellers to appreciate today, a single flora and a fauna in Madagascar. The evolution of the alive species of the large island followed a path different from that of the close continents. What makes it possible to the travellers to appreciate today, a single flora and a fauna in Madagascar. Madagascar which now opened again to the travellers and who offers, in addition to its gigantic natural heritage and its 18 tribes with the ancestral traditions, an incredible variety of climates, luminosities, richnesses and beauties still virgin.
> Climate The best season to come to Madagascar is between April and October. All in all, Madagascar has two seasons: one hot and wet season, of November in April; and a cold season and dries of May in October. However, there is a great variation of climate because of altitude. The East coast has a subequatorial climate and, is directly exposed to the trade winds, the fall of the heaviest rain, with on average more than 3.5 meters per annum. The central mountainous zones are appreciably drier because of altitude while the area East is wetter. The dry season in the highlands is pleasant and sunny, although somewhat fresh, especially the mornings. The West coast is drier than the East coast or the central highlands because the trade winds lost their moisture when they arrive on these areas. South-west and the extreme south are semi desert per annum with a pluviometry of 0,3 meters. The climate is rythmé by the alternation of the seasons dries (April at October) and wet (November at March). It presents great regional differences however. The Eastern coast, the slopes in the east and the end in north are more sprinkled. The rains are in particular frequent on the East coast and the Sainte-Marie island between June and September. The “dry” season lasts only a few weeks in these areas whereas it is long and canicular in the South. One moderate rain season extends from November to February in the West, where the climate remains hot during the two seasons. The East coast, the Northern end and sometimes the Southern end are on the road of the cyclones between January and March. During the season dry, i.e, the winter, the average temperatures are of 30°C maximum on the coasts in dry season and of 25°C on the high plateaus. The night temperature can fall around 0°C in August July in Antananarivo and in its surroundings. > Fauna Malagasy fauna is characterized by its strong rate of endemism. The majority of the species of invertebrates, reptiles, birds and mammals present at Madagascar meet only on the Large Island. This fauna is also marked by the absence of large mammals which however abound on other side of the Channel of Mozambique, on the African continent. There are almost no dangerous animal species for the man in Madagascar. With share the mosquito, vector of paludism, only some species of scorpions and scolopendres and a species of spider can get bites mortals. Moreover, all the snakes are inoffensive. The forests of Madagascar shelter an enormous variety of single animal species, of which the half of the varieties of chameleon of the world, 300 species of butterflies, 28 species of bats, 150 types of frogs and 260 different reptiles, and 32 species of primates which all are endemic. Some 201 species birds are resident, of which the half live only in Madagascar. Separately the scorpions and the boas and the crocodiles, Madagascar does not have dangerous animals for the human ones. The fauna of Malagasy mammals is very remarkable by the existing species but also by the disappeared groups. Here a list of some species present at Madagascar: - Lemurs (Microcebus Nain, Catta, Sifaka, Indri, Varika, Aye Aye) > Flora The whole of the Malagasy forest shelters more than 10.000 varieties of plants (with others discovered each day), the island is really covered with one of the richest collections of the plants of the world, including thousand species different of orchises. Of which the black orchis and rarest of all the orchises: sesquipedalian Angraecum. You will also find the plant of providence; a tree in the shape of water bottle which stores water, six species different from baobab tree, the carnivorous plant in form of jug and well of others still. One of the reasons for this diversity is explained by the variety of the microclimates. In fact, each climatic area in Madagascar east associated with a specific type with vegetation with a unit distinct from plants and animals. The density of the endemic plants is such as some of the tops of the mountains have nearly 150 to 200 endemic plants which one nowhere does not find elsewhere on ground. Madagascar is divided into roughly four principal types of habitat separated by an assembly line crossing the island in the length. The virgin forest where is invaluable wood covers the Eastern slopes of the mountains, and at a place reaches the Eastern littoral; the wooded areas and the meadows of savanna prevail around what was formerly an enormous forest with null and void sheets dry along the Western side of the island. Meadows, typical of raised plate, dominate the landscape of the island now; and the thorny desert is at the southernmost end of the island. Here a list of some varieties of plants present at Madagascar: - Baobabs (Adansonia digitata, Adansonia za, Adansonia madagascariensis,
Adansonia grandidieri, Adansonia perrieri, Adansonia suarezensis,
Adansonia rubrostipa, Adansonia fony) > Language The Malagasy is the first language of the island and belongs to the family of the Austronesian languages. French is largely spoken there in the large cities, it is the language used during trade. In the tourist Capital and areas, one speaks also English. Grammar is strongly distinguished from that of the Indo-European languages. The Madagascans avoid for example beginning their sentences with “I” and there exists more than 16 expressions meaning “here” or “there”. The Malagasy alphabet counts 21 letters: the consonants “C”, “Q”, “W” and “X”, as well as the vowel “U”, do not appear. Certain letters decide differently of French, in particular the” S “, which becomes” CH “and the” O “which decides” or “. Many vowels at the end of the word are in addition dumb. These rules of pronunciation can lead to surprising results: the name of the town of” Ihosy “, in the south of Tananarive, decides” Iouch thus “. Here some current expressions: Hello (at any hour) : SalàmaHow do you do: Manào ahòana ianào No : tsìa Yes : èny/èka Please... : Azafàdy Thank you: Misàotra (indrìndra) Good bye : Velòma > Gastronomie When the Malagasy kitchen is evoked, it is impossible not to quote its basic element initially: TheRICE. This cereal is the gasoline even of each dish of which the accompaniments, at least packed, revolve around. The “Vary” marks its print with deepest of the Malagasy company. First of all, through the landscape where close to ¾ of the cultivated grounds are occupied by rizières<. Then with work, the festivals, the meals, it rate/rhythm each day. The Madagascan would hold the record of the world as regards rice consumption! (It would consume some nearly 150 to 180 kilos annually, record not yet approved by the international sporting authorities) Madagascar exports the rice of good quality of its high plateaus and imports in greater quantity of the less rice of quality. Many cheap canteens thus propose only one rice plate, sometimes accompanied by pieces of meat pulp or in ragout. In addition to this principal dish, one will be used sometimes a small bowl to you as rano flew (or ranon' apango), a kind of soup obtained by adding ebullient water to the liquid remaining in the pan at the end of the cooking of rice, or of the brèdes (green sheets pulps). Concurrently to these local addresses, of the restaurants often intended
for the travellers propose meals of a quality which can surprise
in this country where food misery is a reality. You will be able
to thus taste with the romazava, ragout of zebu and brèdes,
and with the ravitoto, ragout of pig to the sheets of manioc.
Perhaps will also find a version Malagasy of soup Chinese, made
up of noodles, vegetables and, in the best restaurants, of a mixture
of meats or seafood, the whole been useful in a delicious decorated
bubble of a good amount of coriandre. On the coasts, you will
taste a large variety of seafood: crabs, lobsters, shrimps, oysters.
Certain restaurants of the island propose menus in addition pointing
out the French heritage: foie gras, tournedos (of zebu). > Religion Christianity is the religion dominant, represented with equal share by the Protestants and the catholics, practised by meadows of 60% of the population. There are also Moslem communities, hindouists, boudhists, taoists… But the Madagascans practise especially their own form of the worship of the ancestors (phenomenon of dual membership) and it is this tradition which dictates the everyday life and the rites. The Western missionaries did not spare their efforts on Large island at the XIXe century. The Protestants of London Missionary Society were the first to be established. Catholicism gained ground with the French influence thereafter. Approximately 40% of the Madagascans are said Christian. The Protestants (concentrated on the high plateaus) and the catholics (on the coast) divide themselves into equal proportions. Crushing the majority of the population remains however faithful to the traditional worship, of which attachment with the ancestors, considered like the hyphen between the alive ones and beyond, is the most outstanding element. It is translated with the daily newspaper by many rites: reversals of deaths accompanied by sacrifices of zebus, prohibited and taboos of all kinds (fady)… The amalgam between the traditional religion and Christianity is very widespread, and many are the convinced Christians who perpetuate the ritual worship of the ancestors. The Moslem community accounts for approximately 7% of the population. It gathers in the cities of north, in particular in Mahajanga.
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Email :contact@ris-madagascar.com