People and tribes

Black smoke clouds the national route 2, the off-roader brakes and continues at snail’s pace. The driver hurries to close his window. “What’s that?”, asks a traveler in the back seats. “The forest is on fire,” mumbles the driver. “We call it tavy.” This or something similar happens every day in Madagascar. But why is the rainforest burning next to …

Pierrot Men is a household name in Madagascar: he has been the most famous photographer on the island for over 40 years. Above all, the many black and white photographs from the lives of his compatriots remain in his memory and touch people all over the world. Pierrot was born in 1954 as Chan Hong Men Pierrot in Midongy du …

It all began in a small hut village of the Bara in southern Madagascar: Ilakaka. The village still had less than a hundred inhabitants in the mid-1990s, and there was nothing to suggest that this would change quickly. Ilakaka lies in a flat, hot plain between Ihosy and Toliara (French Tuléar) on the river of the same name. This puts …

Madagascar’s population consists of 18 ethnic groups, some of which differ greatly in their appearance, their traditions and their beliefs. Although statistically 50% of Madagascans are Christians, most people still live in their old traditions with their own faith and according to the old legends. Here we would like to present the people of Madagascar, their origins and ways of …