Madagascar
By: Puntipa Thiamloet
Contents
Contents
A for Animals
B for baobab trees
C for Capital City
D for Dishes
E for economy
F for Flag
G for Geography
H for History
I for Important things to know
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
J for Jungles
K for Kids’ life
L for life un Madagascar
M for Mantasoa
N for National park
O for ocean
P for Population
Q for Quiz
R for Religion
S for sport
T for traditional clothing
Pictures of traditional clothing
V for Verreauz Sifaka
W for Weevil
X for Xtra things to know
Pictures of xtra things to know
Z for Zoo
Bibliography
Q for Quiz
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
A or Animals
There is lots of different kind of animals from Madagascar. There are the Aye aye, Bamboo lemurs, Black
lemurs, Dwarf lemurs, Flying fox, Fossa, Spear-nose snake, Leaf bug and the list could go on forever. In
this page you will be reading about Black lemurs. You do know what a Black lemur is? No? Then that’s
great.
The black lemur lives in the north of Madagascar, in the tropical forest. They eat fruits, flowers, and
small leaves. The male lemurs have black fur. The female lemurs have red and brown fur with black and
white face.
Black Male Lemur
B for Baobab trees
The place that is lined up with trees on the left and right side of the road that is fifteen kilometer long
located in the north of Madagascar is the Baobab avenue. The trees on the left and right side of the road
are called baobab trees. The baobab tree is a traditional tree in Madagascar. Some people say that the
root of the tree points to the sky because at the top of the tree where the branches are, looks like the
root. An ancient story says that the devil pulled the tree out of the ground and replanted them upside
down.
The baobab tree grows different kind of fruits. The fruits that the tree grows are very nutritious and you
could eat them directly or you have to mix it with food or drinks. The best time to go to the baobab
avenue is the sunrise and sunset because you could see the shadows and the color of the sky and that is
a very beautiful sight to see.
The Baobab trees
C for Capital city
The capital of Madagascar is Antananarivo. Today the population of Antananarivo is 1,400,000. Did you
know that Antananarivo is the biggest city in Madagascar? Antananarivo translated in English is “the city
of a thousand”.
In 1895 the French people took over. In 1960 the people of Madagascar took the land back.
Antananarivo is full of mosque, zoos, and lots of market. One of the markets Antananarivo is called
Zomas.
D for Dishes
The people in Madagascar eat rice for every meal. They eat maize, cassava, and sweet potatoes. They
eat fish vegetables, meat and chicken. Their traditional food is Romazava.
Romazava is made out of beef (Zubu), ginger, tomato, and onion. The food in Madagascar is not spicy at
all. There are some spicy foods like Pira pair. The fruits and vegetables look ugly but really delicious.
Native people that live in Madagascar drink water from where the rice was boiled. In the south of
Madagascar they sell crayfish, and they usually sell it at the bus stops. There are some restaurants that
you could go eat wild bird, fruity bats and even crocodiles. There is different kind of fruits that you might
have never known before. Mangoes, papaya, leeches, pineapples, and all sorts of different fruits are
found in Madagascar.
Romazava
E for Economy
Did you know that Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world? Their economic is based on
fishing, mining, and cloth products. Their best product is vanilla. Vanilla takes two years to grow so
that’s why it’s kind of expensive. In the future the scienctist estimated that Madagascar is going to have
more fossil fuels than any of the countries in the world.
Market in Madagascar
F for Flag
The flag of Madagascar is very easy to imagine. The flag has three different colors red, green, and white.
The color white takes up a half of the flag in a vertical way. The red take half of the flag that’s left over.
The color green is just right below the color red.
Red stands for the marina kingdom. The color white stands for the same thing. The color green stands
for Hova Wicht means the people who made peace in Madagascar. Once Madagascar changed their
name but they kept their flag the way it is.
Madagascar’s flag
G for Geography
Do you know where Madagascar is? No? Good for you because this page is the right page for you.
Madagascar is in the Indian Ocean. Madagascar is also in the southeast of Africa. Madagascar is in the
opposite side of Mozambique. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. The size of
Madagascar is twice the size of Arizona.
Map of Madagascar
H for History
The earthquake in Africa had separated Africa from Madagascar. The island, Madagascar had moved
away from Africa. The distance from South Africa to Madagascar is 2745.12 kilometer or 1705.74 miles,
which is where Madagascar is right now. The first group of people that arrived on Madagascar was
about two thousand years ago. When they arrived they saw a great and amazing rain forest. As they
explored the island they saw different kinds of animals that they never had known about before. Some
of the animals are dwarf hippos, lemurs, and giant birds. Some of the animals in Madagascar could not
be found in any other places on earth.
These people are moving like
Madagascar is moving away from Africa
I for Important things
Some of the important and interesting things you might not know about Madagascar.
Important things that you might know about Madagascar.
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
Madagascar is the fourth biggest island.
Animals found in Madagascar could not be found in any other places on earth.
Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world.
Madagascar is the French colony.
The people in Madagascar believes in ancestors, taboo and magic.
Only 11% of the roads in Madagascar are paved.
Did you know any of this? If you do then that means you might be from Madagascar or maybe
you know that country very, very well.
The beach in Madagascar
J for Jungles
Madagascar’s rainforests are in the east of Madagascar. Trees in the forest could grow 20 to 100 feet
from the ground. The trees are very close together so that if you look up from beneath the trees you
could only see a bit of the sky. Some animals in the rainforest lives in the treetop.
In the lower part of the rainforest is made of smaller and younger trees. Three-quarter of the animal in
Madagascar couldn’t be found anywhere on earth. In Madagascar there are a lot of types of lemurs like
the ones I wrote about on page 2. The rainforest is full of homes for unusual animals. Madagascar
doesn’t have any big animals in it.
Rainforest in Madagascar
K for Kid’s life
Have you ever thought what kids do in Madagascar? No? So let’s start now. Their parents are mostly
farmers. Their parents and they usually grow rice. They use Zubus to raise the rice. Zubus are animals
that look like oxen. In Madagascar they don’t measure how wealthy you are by how many cars and
houses you have, they measure you by how many cattle you own. In Madagascar there are the same
amount of Zubus and cattle. Other then growing rice they also grow bananas, sweet potatoes, and
cassava. All most every child goes to primary school, but few goes to high school.
A group of children going to
school
Life in Madagascar
Most of the people in Madagascar are farmers. They grow rice and other crops. They speak Malagasy or
French. Malagasy is also what the people are called. There are lots of religions in Madagascar. Some
people are Christians. Most children go to primary school and not a lot go to high school.
Farmers working on rice farms
M for Mantasoa
Mantasoa is a town in the capitol city of Madagascar. Mantasoa has primary school and high school.
95% of the people in Madagascar are farmers. 5% percent of the people in Mantasoa are average. The
farmers grow rice, and they also grow Beans, Cassava, and also sweet potato. It’s well known because of
its man-made lake. Lake Matasoa is surrounded by hills. You should bring your own water bottle
because there is no tap water in Matasoa.
Lake Mantasoa
N for National Zahamena Park
Zahamena is in Aloatra Mangoro. Zahamena is a nature park. The special thing about Zahamena is that
there are lots of species like 112 species of birds and 29 species of fish. There are four special animals
that are mostly found in Zahamena. The Indri Indri, which is a black lemur that eats, leaves and carries
their baby on their backs. The red owl has reddish feathers. The yellow bird that can grow to 30cm long.
Katsatsaka is a very small bird that can grow to be 10 to 15 cm and its body is a mixture of brown and
gray. The last one is the red tailed Newtonia, an animal that scares a lot of people. Some animals in the
Zahamena could not be found anywhere else on earth. The parks have many different kinds of plants
too.
O for Oceans
The water is blue and clean as ever, and I give you Madagascar’s ocean. Madagascar is in the border of
the Indian oceans. There are lots of animals in Madagascar, I’m not talking about land animal, I’m talking
about water animals. You can see whales on the beach. If you go to the beach at the right time you
could see the Humpback whales swim in the ocean. There are coral reefs and seabeds. The seas protect
the sea animals, like sea turtles and kinds of endangered sharks. There are 5 species of marine sea
turtles, 56 sharks’ species, 300 types of coral reefs, and 1,300 types of fish.
P for Population
Before Madagascar has a very tiny amount of people, but now the population has increased because of
the help of the UN. The population in Madagascar had increased steady. The population of Madagascar
is 22,293,994. The male population is 11,108,308. The female population is 11,185,606. Since
1960 the population of the female was always more than the males. There are more children in
Madagascar. The population of old people in Madagascar is a bit fewer than the children’
population.80% of the people 15 and over can read and write.
Q for quiz
Please answer these 16 questions.
1: what does a male black lemur look like?
2: what did the ancient story say about Baobab trees?
3: what is the capital city in Madagascar called?
4: what do the people in Madagascar eat for every meal?
5: Is Madagascar one of the poorest countries in the world?
6: what are the colors in Madagascar’s flag?
7: what sea is Madagascar located in?
8: what made Madagascar separate from Africa?
9: Is Madagascar the fourth biggest islands?
10: What does the scientist estimated about Madagascar’s future?
11: How any feet can tree in Madagascar’s rainforest grow?
12: How do people measure how wealthy you are?
13: What languages do they speak in Madagascar?
14: Why do people usually go to Mantasoa and why?
15: What animal carries their baby on their back?
16: Can you see Humpback whales on the beach?
R for religions
If you have ever wondered what religions there are in Madagascar this is the right page for you. There
are three different religions in Madagascar. The first one is 52% of the people in Madagascar believe in
indigenous beliefs, which means they believe in their ancestors. The second one is Christianity 41% of
the people in Madagascar believe in Christians. Lastly 7% of the people in Madagascar believe in
Muslim.
People praying
S for Sports
People in Madagascar usually play six different kinds of sports like soccer, boxing, athletics, judo,
women’s basketball and women’s tennis. People in Madagascar usually play soccer. A sport that, not
many people don’t really play is tennis or badminton. Two sisters Dally and Natasha Randriantefy got
into the Olympic game. In Madagascar you can go cycling to see different places in Madagascar. One of
the athletes in Madagascar is Clarisse Rasoarizay. She was born on September 27, 1971, and she is well
known. She is a long distance-runner.
People boxing
T for Traditional clothing
The traditional clothing in Madagascar is called the Lamba. Lamba means cloth or clothing, but it usually
means two matching pieces of fabric that women wears around they’re head, and also around the chest
down like a dress. Men don’t wear Lambas as often as the women do. The older people in Madagascar
wear the Lamba almost all day long, but at the next day they would not wear the Lamba. The younger
one that is more into fashion would wear the Lamba on special occasion, some part of the day or only
around the house and not in town. In Madagascar they don’t have any rules about women wear Lambas
or western clothing. Some people wear western clothing at home and wear the Lamba in town, and
some people do the opposite. Nearly every woman in Madagascar will wear a Lamba when someone
dies.
Traditional clothing
Traditional clothing TRADITIONAL CLOTHING TRADITIONAL CLOTHING TRADITIONAL CLOTHING
TRADITIONAL COTHIG TRADITIONAL CLOTHING
People wearing Lambas
V for Verreaux’s Sifaka
Sifaka is related to the lemur’s family. Sifakas are large, black face and white body and tail lemurs.
Sifakas can be found in dry rainforest. Sifacas are found in south and west of Madagascar. Sifacas eat
leaves, fruits and flowers. Sifakas are also called as “dancing lemur: because instead of walking on all
fours, they walk on their hind legs. Sifakas are good at climbing trees. With the rough skin on their hands
they can be able to grad the trees tightly so that’s why they are good tree climber.
W for Weevil
Weevil also known as Giraffe Weevil. A Weevil is an insect. A Weevil is a combination of two animals
combined. Weevil can only be found in Madagascar. There is also a New Zealand Giraffe Weevil, that is
the longest weevil in the world, but that is not similar to a Giraffe Weevil. The male Weevil has three
times longer than the female neck. The long neck is important because they have to fight and also build
nests. When the male is fighting it attract the female, and if the male wins the female would mate with
the male.
Xtra things to know
In Malagasy language, Madagascar in Malagasy is called Madagasikara.
People in Madagascar speak Malagasy, French and English.
The capital city is Antananarivo.
People that are 18 and over can elect their government and also their president.
Madagascar is the fourth largest island.
The coastline of Madagascar is 4 82 km.
The mountains are located in the center of the island, the tallest one is Maromokotro.
Xtra thing to know
Fourth largest island
Antanarivo
Z for Zoo
The bronz zoo is a well known zoo. In that zoo there is different interesting or maybe even animals that
you never heard of. In the zoo there are mammals, reptiles, birds’ fish and insects. You can see Nile
crocs and other cool animals. In the zoo you can also see endangered species like gorillas. Bronz zoo is
trying to save some endangered animals in Madagascar. The thing that attracts visitors to go to Bronz
zoo is because you can see a lot of animals and they also have a 4D Theater.
Bibliography
www. infoplease.com/ country/madagascar.html
travel.nationalgeographic.com/.../countries/madagascar-guide
www.lonelyplanet.com/madagascar
www.wildmadagascar.org
www.wildmadagascar.org/overview/the_people.html
www.wildmadagascar.org/wildlife/animals.html
www.blueplanetbiomes.org/baobab.htm
wiki.answers.com/Q/Sports_in_madagascar
www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Africa/Madagascar/Sports
vazahagasy.wordpress.com/2007/12/06/tradwww.preparedfoods.com/articles/taste-ofmadagascar itional-m
www.wildmadagascar.org/overview/economy.html