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The country is divided into six provinces, each named after its capital: Antananarivo, Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa, Mahajanga, Toliara, and Toamasina also known as Tamatave.
The continent separated from Africa 165 million years ago, and since then its flora and fauna have evolved according to its own fantasy, like nowhere else in the world: Lemurs are known worldwide, but the red island (on account of its vividly coloured soil) is home to several endemic species of chameleons, fossas, frogs, birds, snakes, jumping rats, baobabs, carnivorous plants, orchids and many more strange "living beings"! With the lemurs, 80% of its flora, 40% of its birds, 98% of its reptiles being endemic, Madagascar is a naturalist's promised land! The same is true for the Malagasy people, about 20 million: a unique blend of African and Asian, whose culture resembles no other worldwide. The population is divided in 18 [[ethnic groups]]. The nomad [[Vezo ]] fisherman swears only by the sea, the zebu is everything to the [[Bara ]] of the desertic south, while land is the gretatest wealth for the [[Betsileo ]] of the malagasy "altiplano". The relative isolation of the island due to geography and recent history, kept the traditional way of living, rites and the ancestral beliefs, very lively and genuine. For the traveller avid to find something different, a dream! Madagascar has it all: deserted beaches, tropical forests, mountains, spiny forests, rice-terraced highlands...<br><br>
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