Madagascar is the world's fourth largest island -- about size the size of Texas or France -- and has been isolated from the African mainland for over 160 million years. The country is home to some 17,000,000 people in addition to some of the planet's most unique biodiversity.

Madagascar is a land like no other. An island roughly the size of Texas or France , Madagascar is home to more than 250,000 species of which 70% are found nowhere else on the globe.

Madagascar is a place like no other. Separated from mainland Africa for some 160 millions years, 80% of its native flora and fauna are unique to the island. Madagascar is home to such evolutionary oddities as the fossa, a carnivorous mammal that looks like a cross between a puma and a dog but is closely related to the mongoose; the indri, a cat-sized lemur that leaps from tree to tree with ease and sings eery, whale-like songs; the sifaka, a lemur, that swears rudely but dances like a ballet performer; and the streaked tenrec, a spiny yellow and black insectivore that resembles a miniature hedgehog and makes grinding-chirping noises when threatened. It has baobab trees, which look like they've been planted upside down; the rosy periwinkle, a delicate flower used to cure pediatric leukemia and Hogkin's disease; and an entire desert ecosystem consisting of just spiny plants. To top it off, the residents of Madagascar , the Malagasy, have equally unusual origins as reflected by their mixed traditions and cultural practices. The Malagasy speak a language native to Borneo (across the Indian Ocean in Indonesia ) and observe some distinctly southeast Asian religious practices; use Arabic-rooted words for months and days of the week; and greatly treasure African Zebu cattle.

While Madagascar is best known for its wildlife, it is a land of extraordinary cultural richness.

It's a place where ancestors are as much a part of the present day as they are of the past; where in many areas taboo and tradition take precedence over the law; and western-style religion is freely mixed with beliefs in sorcery and unparalleled funerary customs.