All about Madagascar

Madagascar is a huge island in the Indian Ocean, just off the coast of East Africa.  The geography ranges from mountains to wild jungles to beautiful beaches.

Madagascar is an incredible country, with a very friendly people and an extremely diverse geography; many of the plants and animals are unique.  And there is a *huge* range of exciting natural products and resources.

The country is an oasis of plants, animals, friendly people and cultures; it really should be on your list of holiday destinations, so please feel free to contact us for more information on this!  Due to being an island, around 80% of the plants and animals are unique to Madagascar, for example the lemur, so this is one of the great appeals of this large island.

A former French colony, Madagascar became independent in 1960.  The two languages spoken there are Madagascan and French.  So it's a fascinating fusion of cultures and a great example of this is the food: just think of a cuisine that combines Africa with France!

The political situation is more stable than ever and Madagascar now has an increasingly outward and international outlook. Trade Madagascar has been set up by UK businesspeople to help facilitate this.

Madagascar also has a wonderfully rich variety of natural products, including spices, chocolate, coffee, lychees, essential oils, plant medicines, precious stones, raffia, handicrafts, honey and much more.  Furthermore, many of these are of a particular type or quality that is unique to Madagascar and cannot be obtained elsewhere in the world.  For instance, they have probably the finest vanilla in the world and Madagascar is the only country in the Indian Ocean that produces chocolate.

Finally, you should know that Madagascar is classed as a third world country.  But because the nature in Madagascar is so remarkable, even famous, it's easy to forget that almost 20 million people live there too - many of whom are desperately poor.  In buying products through Trade Madagascar you are truly helping the country, especially because we typically buy finished products rather than exploitative bulk cash crops.  In addition, we donate 5% of profits to excellent Madagacan charities.

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