I am from Madagascar (by Tsiky)

Every time I introduced myself and say that I am from Madagascar, I get an interesting (especially from non-African and non-french speaking people).

Some people know Madagascar from the movie, because they mention it as soon as I say I am from Madagascar, like: “Oh! The movie” or “I didn’t know it is a real country”.

I also met a few people that thought that Madagascar is uninhabited, just wild animals and rain forest. So here are a few facts about Madagascar.

People from Madagascar are called Malagasy, NOT Madagascarian.

Malagasy children :)

There are almost 29 million Malagasy people! We are nice people in general. Our country was a united kingdom from 1787. Then, it was colonised by France from 1896 to 1960. After the colonization, Madagascar has been victim of political instabilities and corruption. Poverty made some parts of the country not so safe, especially the capital.

Madagascar has experienced rural-to-urban migration, however, most of the population still live in the countryside, I grew up in the countryside and I love my village. Life there is moving slower. For example, there is no supermarket, just a weekly market where people from surrounding villages come (by walking, sometimes for 3-5 hours) to buy sugar, salt and oil. People in the countryside do not have TV, some have never been in a car. People make their living by farming (large rice fields, maybe have some cows, several chickens for eggs and soup). When I go back, it feel like I am visiting a world in the past.

There are18 tribes in Madagascar, they are somewhat different in look but also in culture, and all have different traditions: it was quite difficult for people from different tribes to marry each other until recently.

Typical morning and typical house in my home town (South Central Madagascar)

We have amazing nature in Madagascar. The island is big and the landscape changes quickly all around it.

Ladies going to the market. There is no bridge so the fishermen ferry people across.

We speak our own language, it is called Malagasy (a language belonging to the Austronesian group of languages), and we are the only ones in the world speaking it. It doesn’t sound like anything else, but people told me it sounds cute.

I have an Instagram page where I post pictures from my travels, mostly from Madagascar. Feel free to follow.