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Sifaka
Photograph by Hermann Erber/Photo Library
Ninety percent of the plants and animals found on the island of Madagascar evolved there and nowhere else. All of the country's 70-plus species of lemur—including this sifaka—are considered endangered. To help protect them and other unique species, the government has set aside more than nine million acres (3.7 million hectares) of land.
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Malagasy Vendor
Photograph by Giuseppe Fallica, My Shot
This mother selling bananas and bread in the central-plateau region likely can trace at least part of her ancestry back more than 2,000 years to Indo-Malayan explorers, whom evidence suggests were the first people to reach the island. Archaeologists aren't sure whether they crossed the Indian Ocean or came overland to the east coast of Africa and then sailed from there.
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Avenue of the Baobabs
Photograph by Jeremy Horner/Getty Images
Sparse branches that grow only at the tree’s top and look more like roots than canopy give the baobab its nickname: "upside-down tree." These smooth-trunked behemoths can reach 80 feet (24 meters) high and a stout ten feet (three meters) in diameter. Madagascar's Avenue of the Baobabs, in the Menabe region, is one of the island's most popular tourist destinations.
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Madagascar Fody
Photograph by Zoltan Kovacs, My Shot
The brilliant red Madagascar fody thrives in nearly every ecosystem of the country. A gregarious species, it also has a voracious appetite—one that can anger Madagascar's rice farmers, who try to scare off the birds, trap them, and destroy their nests.
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Nosy Be Island
Photograph by Giuseppe Fallica, My Shot
Nosy Be, which means "big island” in Malagasy, is Madagascar's largest island. Located about five miles (eight kilometers) off the country's northwest coast, this heavily forested volcanic outcrop, fringed with brilliant reefs and turquoise waters, is one of Madagascar's most popular tourist destinations.
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Malagasy Girl
Photograph by Angie Rowe,
My Shot Famed Irish adventure traveler Dervla Murphy once noted, "Apart from the Tibetans, I have never traveled among a people as endearing as the Malagasy." This playful young girl walks with her family in St. Luce, a fishing village in southeast Madagascar.
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Malagasy Baby
Photograph by Peter Velter, My Shot
The bustle of a busy market in Antananarivo, Madagascar's capital, can't keep a Malagasy baby from a nap. Antananarivo, which means "city of a thousand warriors" in Malagasy, is home to nearly two million of Madagascar's 20 million inhabitants.
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Madagascar Desert
Photograph by Giuseppe Fallica, My Shot
Rock outcroppings pop up in the spiny desert of southern Madagascar. The north has tropical rain forests, and the center of the country boasts high plateaus.
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Chameleon
Photograph by Giovanni Bludzin, My Shot
Nearly half the world's 103-plus known chameleon species live in Madagascar. These unique reptiles are a study in interesting adaptations, from their pincer-shaped feet and independently movable eyes to their extremely long tongues, which can be more than twice the length of their bodies. They also have the ability to change color, a response triggered more by temperature and mood than a need for camouflage.
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Leaf-Tailed Gecko
Photograph by Quinton Robinson, My Shot
Vertical pupils identify a seseke, or leaf-tailed gecko, as a nocturnal creature. Its camouflage works so well that the lizard doesn't have to hide during the day—it simply flattens itself against a tree trunk while waiting for darkness and insects to eat.
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Grand Tsingy
Photograph by Stephen Alvarez/National Geographic
A researcher navigates the skin-ripping pinnacles of the limestone tsingy formations in central-western Madagascar. In Malagasy, "tsingy" means "where one cannot walk barefoot." The exact processes that carved these otherworldly stonescapes are complex and rare; only a few similar formations exist outside Madagascar.
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Ambozontany Cathedral, Fianarantsoa
Photograph by Franck Guiziou/Hemis.fr/Aurora Photos
Ambozontany Cathedral rises over the provincial capital of Fianarantsoa. The city, located in the central highlands about 180 miles (290 kilometers) south of Antananarivo, is at the center of Madagascar's main wine- and tea-producing region.
