The primary airport for international flights to Madagascar is Antananarivo (TNR). There are also some flights to resort island Nossi Be (Nosy Be), airport code NOS. There are in fact many airports in Madagascar. However, not all Madagascar airports have regularly scheduled flights. We do not list the smallest Madagascar airports, since there is no way to provide you flights from those airports. AirGorilla offers flights, hotels, and rental car reservations for Madagascar.
Madagascar (officially the Republic of Madagascar) or Malagasy Republic, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the southeastern coast of Africa. The main island, also called Madagascar, is the fourth largest island in the world, and is home to five percent of the world's plant and animal species, (more than 80 percent of which are indigenous to Madagascar.) Most notable are the lemur infraorder of primates, the carnivorous fossa, three endemic bird families and six endemic baobab species. The adjective for Madagascar is Malagasy (pronounced "mal-la-gas-ee" or "mal-a-gash"), and the official national language is the Malagasy language.
The east coast of Madagascar has lowlands leading to steep bluffs and central highlands. The Tsaratanana Massif in the north has volcanic mountains. The west coast has many protected harbors and broad plains, while the southwest is a plateau and desert region.
There are two seasons: it is hot and rainy from November to April, and cooler and dry from May to October. Southeastern trade winds dominate, and there are occasional cyclones.
Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve is a nature reserve located in Madagascar close to that nation's Western coast. Because of the unique geography, spectacular "tsingy" karst terrain, preserved mangrove forests, and wild bird and lemur populations of the area, it was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1990.
Defying the obvious location close to the African continent, the first settlers of Madagascar appear to have come from Asia, rather than Africa, at around 700 AD. The culture shows the influence of both Africa and Asia. The settlement represented the western-most branch of the great Austronesian expansion. Some of the strongest evidence indicating that the settlers of Madagascar came from this region is the linguistic similarity between the Malayo-Polynesian and Malagasy languages.
The written history of Madagascar began in the 7th century, when Arabs established trading posts along the northwest coast. European contact began in the 1500s, when Portuguese sea captain Diogo Dias sighted the island after his ship separated from a fleet going to India. In the late 17th century, the French established trading posts along the east coast. From about 1774 to 1824, it was a favourite haunt for pirates, including Americans, one of whom brought Malagasy rice to South Carolina.
The Malagasy Republic was proclaimed on October 14, 1958, as an autonomous state within the French Community. A period of provisional government ended with the adoption of a constitution in 1959 and full independence on June 26, 1960.
Madagascar's sources of growth are tourism; textile and light manufacturing exports (notably through the EPZs); agricultural products (the country is the world's leading producer of vanilla, accounting for about half the world's export market); and mining. Tourism targets the niche eco-tourism market, capitalizing on Madagascar's unique biodiversity, unspoiled natural habitats, national parks and lemur species. Exports from the EPZs, located around Antananarivo and Antsirabe, consist the most part of garment manufacture, targeting the US market under AGOA and the European markets under the Everything But Arms (EBA) agreement. Agricultural exports consist of low volume high value products like vanilla, litchies and essential oils. Mining investment is beginning to take off following the introduction of a new law opening the country up to foreign mining companies. ()
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