Madagascar

The heaviest bird that ever existed, the Elephant Bird, lived in Madagascar and may actually have survived until only 300 years ago. The Musée de l’Académie in Antananarivo has the only complete skeleton, but the rest of this great red island is even today so full of strange and wonderful life forms that we’ll soon understand how something as astounding as the 1000-pound Elephant Bird could have developed here. To most of us, Madagascar is a place where evolution has run wild. Of the 198 nesting birds, 106 are endemic and another 25 are limited to the ‘Malagasy Region’. There are no fewer than seven endemic families and 32 endemic genera. It’s a mind-boggling degree of endemism, but recent studies have led to the elevation of new families, genera, and species.

Our trip will be oriented toward the endemic birds and mammals, and we’ll spend most of our time in the eastern rainforest, the western deciduous woodland, and the southern spiny desert. In addition to the birds, we’ll look at everything natural in Madagascar – plants, reptiles and insects – as well as experience Madagascar’s friendly and hospitable people and sample widely from its delicious cuisine.