Africa

Madagascar

vital statistics

CapitalAntananarivo
Population23 million
LanguageMalagasy, French
CurrencyMalagasy ariary

about Madagascar

Scared of ghosts? For those who like a good haunting, the dead are very much alive in Madagascar. The Malagasy tradition, known as razana, dictates that the living serve their dead ancestors by carrying out the spirits’ bidding from beyond the grave. Some communities even exhume and rewrap their dead loved ones seven years after they’ve been buried.

Razana is tied to a deep culture of fady (taboo) that locals take deadly seriously, and are offended when tourists ignore their beliefs. Think you’re a sensitive, seasoned traveller, immune to boorish backpacker behaviour? You may not be quite as savvy as you imagine, because in some communities wearing swimming goggles is considered an affront. When travelling to a different township be sure to ask your guide about the local taboos.

If you remain of the living, you’ll discover Madagascar is a biosphere unlike any other. For travellers there’s an array of water sports, dense rainforests to trek and 90 per cent of the wildlife is unique to the island. Just be careful of those cunning lemurs – their name means ‘spirits of the dead.’