It actually isn’t really big, but at least clearly the biggest in its family: The big Cuvier’s Madagascar Swift (Oplurus cuvieri) measures a maximum of 38 cm from the nose to the tip of the tail. Alone the scaly tail constitutes good 20 cm of it. Cuvier’s Madagascar Swift belongs to the family of the Madagascar iguana, that there is …

Not half a meter tall, having with two kilos the weight of a small cat and pitch-black colored: These are black lemurs (Eulemur macaco). However, only the males are black. The females have little to do with the name. Their coat is reddish-brown, only their face and hands are black, the first one framed by a white coat wreath. Black …

With its long, colorful nose, this chameleon is probably one of the most interesting, albeit smaller, species among the long-tongued reptiles: Calumma gallus. Some call it the Pinocchio or Cyrano chameleon because of its characteristic long nose. But actually, there is no “real” English name. The life of a Calumma gallus begins, as with so many reptiles, in the egg. …

It’s not green, the Madagascar bright-eyed or tree frog! Absolutely right. The Madagascar bright-eyed frog, Boophis madagascariensis, captivates less with colourful colours than with its impressive body size. It is a good six to eight centimetres long, individual specimens even ten centimetres from the tip of the nose to the coccyx. Among Madagascar’s frogs, it is thus one of the …

Where do you go in the airport? Those who arrive in Madagascar for the first time should follow the others into the airport building. There, one has to sort oneself in the right way: Those who already have a visa have to queue at the “Avec visa” queue for their entry stamp. Those who do not have a visa yet …

There are currently ten airports operating in Madagascar, only three of which offer international flights. Madagascar’s airports differ greatly in equipment, size and modern equipment such as safety checks or baggage carousels. The number of passengers handled and the professionalism of the local staff vary accordingly. Antananarivo (TNR): Ivato Airport, named after the capital’s district of the same name, is …

It is enthroned on the once highest hill, Analamanga, at 1462 m with a view over the whole city: The Royal Palace or simply Rova (this is the Malagasy word for palace) of Antananarivo. It is located in the central highlands in the middle of Madagascar’s capital on one of the twelve sacred hills of the Merina. The first buildings …

Salt and pepper: These are probably the spices that every person worldwide knows and eats almost daily in their meals. In the well-assorted spice trade you will find different varieties: green, black, white or red pepper. But only one single plant produces this variety of real pepper: the black pepper (Piper nigrum). The name is admittedly somewhat misleading. It is …

One of the most beautiful lepidopterans of the Earth, but first of all one of the largest, lives in Madagascar’s rainforests: The Madagascan moon moth or comet moth (Argema mittrei). With a wingspan up to 20 cm, it exceeds nearly all lepidopterans worldwide, only the Atlas moth (Attacus atlas) from Asia, belonging to the same family of emperor moths (Saturniidae), …