Written by Daniel Austin
To celebrate the launch of the new edition of our Madagascar guide, author Daniel Austin took over our Instagram to share some of his photos and stories from his many trips to the island.
Hello Instagrammers! I’m @DanielAustin_wildlife and I’ve been handed the keys to the @BradtGuides account for the day. I write Bradt’s #Madagascar #guidebooks, and the Madagascar #wildlife guide too (co-authored with #naturalist & photographer @NickGarbutt). To celebrate the release of the brand spanking new 12th edition of my guidebook, Madagascar has been selected as Bradt Guides’ current Destination of the Month. Bradt have been pioneering English-language #tourist information to Madagascar since way back in the mid-1980s, when Hilary Bradt first researched and penned a 10-page pamphlet on this enigmatic and little-known #island. That was soon superseded by a 56-page booklet as Hilary rapidly gained respect as the authority on the country, and so – when I took over updating responsibilities with the 9th edition – I was well aware that there were high standards to be maintained if the Bradt guide was to retain its reputation as the unrivalled go-to reference on the country. The new 12th edition runs to 516 pages, with 60 detailed maps, 90 colour photos, and more than 100 special information boxes written by a broad range of experts in their fields, not to mention reviews of some 1,350 hotels and restaurants in more than 200 different towns and villages across Madagascar, as well as 85 national #parks and other wildlife #reserves. Follow my posts during my Instagram takeover today to discover what’s involved in keeping all this information up to date and to learn about some of the wonders of Madagascar along the way. #Bradt #taketheroadlesstravelled
A post shared by Bradt Travel Guides (@bradtguides) onSep 29, 2017 at 1:45am PDT
I mentioned in my last post that #Madagascar has not only an incredible level of #biodiversity, but that an almost unrivalled proportion of its #animal and #plant #species are found nowhere else. Madagascar is a truly unique place where 80 to 90% of the #plants and #animals you encounter cannot be seen beyond the island’s shores. But how come? Part of the answer is geological. The landmass of Madagascar is incredibly ancient and it broke away from the rest of #Africa about 160,000,000 years ago. (It’s mind-boggling to try to grasp how long that is. A snail could journey to the moon and back over 85,000 times during a period that long!) For a while, Madagascar was still attached to present-day India, but then that broke away too. Consequently, Madagascar has been effectively isolated from the rest of the world for longer than any other #island anywhere. #Evolution has been able to develop at a tangent, relatively free of interruption from any external influences. This otherworldly island is the closest thing we have to another planet here on #earth. #Chameleons are an extraordinary group of #reptiles. There are some 200 species and almost half of them come from Madagascar. Every last #chameleon in Madagascar is #endemic: none occurs anywhere else. The island’s physical isolation has kept #Malagasy chameleons separated from their cousins around the world for many millions of years, and so evolution has taken them in different directions. The species living on the island today include the world’s largest (as long as your arm) and smallest (tinier than a thumbnail). * * * * * * * * * * Today’s Bradt Instagram takeover: throughout the day I’m posting about my specialist destination of Madagascar. Follow my posts here on @BradtGuides to discover more about the country, or check out my Instagram page at @danielaustin_wildlife
A post shared by Bradt Travel Guides (@bradtguides) onSep 29, 2017 at 4:10am PDT
#Wildlife is far from the only thing that #Madagascar has to offer. While the unique #flora and #fauna are what initially attracts the majority of #tourists to visit, most will go on to leave Madagascar #feeling #enriched by their #experiences in many other ways. For all the country’s challenges with #poverty and corruption, the ever #smiling #Malagasy #people are #proud of their country and will go out of their way to make #travellers from all corners of the globe feel #welcome. The island is undeniably part of the #African continent geographically, yet first-time #visitors are instantly met with an image of #Asia. #Landscapes around the capital #city dominated by #rice paddies, the unmistakably #Asian #faces of the highlands, and #traditional villages with huts that follow typically Indonesian designs make it easy to forget you are in #Africa at all. But follow the Route Nationale 7 southwards, and you will witness a gradual change. Those Asian faces transition, in imperceptible steps, to predominantly African features, and the rice fields give way to arid #grasslands where Bara #tribesmen graze their precious herds of zebu oxen. Madagascar truly is a #cultural melting pot where Africa meets Asia. And the reason is that – improbable as it may seem – the first settlers in Madagascar came across the Indian Ocean from #Indonesia rather than the short hop across the Mozambique Channel from Africa. The striking similarities between the Malagasy language and dialects spoken in Borneo leave little room for doubt about that. * * * * * * * * * * Today’s Bradt Instagram takeover: throughout the day I’m posting about my specialist destination of Madagascar. Follow my posts here on @BradtGuides to discover more about the country, or check out my Instagram page at @danielaustin_wildlife
A post shared by Bradt Travel Guides (@bradtguides) onSep 29, 2017 at 5:19am PDT
As a #travel #guidebook author, I spend a lot of time checking out #hotels and #restaurants. There is a very broad range of types of #accommodation in #Madagascar, ranging from simple huts for #backpacker prices to some truly #luxurious #lodges, a few so exclusive that they are only accessible by light aircraft or helicopter. I usually try to travel incognito, presenting myself as a regular #tourist so that I don’t get any special treatment on account of who I am. Much of the time, budget dictates that I stay in quite basic places. But I also lead small-group #tours of Madagascar a few times per year, and that gives me the opportunity to experience many of the country’s more #upmarket hotels. This photo is from one such lodge called Anjajavy, in the northwest, where from time to time they serve dinner for their guests right on the #beach as the sun sets over the Mozambique Channel. * * * * * * * * * * Today’s Bradt Instagram takeover: throughout the day I’m posting about my specialist destination of Madagascar. Follow my posts here on @BradtGuides to discover more about the country, or check out my Instagram page at @DanielAustin_wildlife
A post shared by Bradt Travel Guides (@bradtguides) onSep 29, 2017 at 7:32am PDT
The job of a #travel writer is certainly not all travelling and #glamour. (Rather too much of it involves sitting at a computer at home until all hours, as deadlines loom.) But even when I am not away #exploring #Madagascar, it can give rise to some interesting and #exciting #opportunities too. A couple of weeks ago, the #President of Madagascar was in London for – amongst other things – the reopening ceremony of the Embassy of Madagascar in the UK. Hilary #Bradt and I were invited to meet him and present him with a copy of the newly published 12th edition of our Bradt guide to his country. He remarked that “to understand Madagascar is difficult… to write about Madagascar is a very great challenge” and thanked us for our work in promoting the island, its culture, and its unique biodiversity, adding that “it is a very useful book for anyone who would like to visit Madagascar”. Another of the most enjoyable aspects of my job as a Madagascar specialist is leading small-group #tours of the #island. I love exploring Madagascar while sharing my passion with other #travellers for the simple reason that all clients are different; travelling with others allows me to continually see Madagascar through different eyes, and often notice new and fascinating things as a consequence. Late in 2018, accompanied by Hilary Bradt, I will be leading a particularly exciting tour to some rarely visited corners of Madagascar. Anybody interested in joining should speak to @Rainbow_Tours. * * * * * * * * * * Today’s Bradt Instagram takeover: throughout the day I’m posting about my specialist destination of Madagascar. Follow my posts here on @BradtGuides to discover more about the country, or check out my Instagram page at @danielaustin_wildlife
A post shared by Bradt Travel Guides (@bradtguides) onSep 29, 2017 at 10:15am PDT
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