There is so much to see in Madagascar - it is incredibly rich in wildlife and natural beauty.
Remote and isolated, Madagascar is home to many unique plants and animals. In fact, nearly 90-percent of its wildlife is endemic to the island. The diverse terrains include volcanic mountain chains, rock formations, sharp limestone cliffs, rainforests, and beaches. My family visited Madagascar during its hot, wet season which extends from November to April. From May to October, it is cooler and much drier with temperatures dropping as low as 50-degrees Fahrenheit. Our daily excursions included walks through Madagascar's national parks, helicopter rides over the coastline, and visits with some of the local villagers. It was a trip we will be talking about for years to come.
Here are more photos, enjoy.
Once we arrived in Madagascar, we boarded a helicopter to Miavana, where we stayed. Our guide and photographer, Marlon Du Toit, took this photo as we viewed the incredible landscapes. (Photo by Marlon Du Toit)
Separated from mainland Africa and India during the Mesozoic Era, Madagascar has been nicknamed “land that time forgot” because of its biodiversity.
The sunsets from the Miavana piazza are breathtaking. (Photo by Marlon Du Toit)
Here is a view through the palm trees. One could see for miles and miles in all directions.
Here I am in front of a defunct lighthouse. While many lighthouses still stand and serve as visual aids, modern electronic navigation now plays a larger role in maritime safety.
Here is a view looking up from the inside of the lighthouse.
Miavana is an island resort located off the northeastern coast of Madagascar. I drove around it on this off-road vehicle – one loop took a couple hours with stops.
One this day, the children went scuba diving. They are very skilled swimmers and love the water. And although they were still too young to get officially certified, they did a great job and saw so much while underwater.
Our daily excursions started from the helicopter. Here is a view of one of the villages. Madagascar is among the world’s poorest countries. Day-to-day survival depends largely on natural resource use such as harvesting seaweed, drying it out, and then exporting to other countries.
This village is named Ampisikinana. Everyone was so friendly. The official languages of Madagascar are Malagasy and French. (Photo by Marlon Du Toit)
I took photos of this classroom. The village children love their school and keep it in such good condition.
This is one of the first animals we saw while in Madagascar – it is a Madagascar day gecko. These geckos can grow quite large – up to a foot long.
Madagascar is home to more than 345 species of reptiles. This includes about half world’s 150 or so species of chameleons. Chameleons are small to mid-size reptiles that are known for their ability to dramatically change colors.
On one of our walks, we saw many Golden-crowned Sifaka lemurs. Here is a family with one lemur mother carrying her youngster. These lemurs are known to be some of our planet’s rarest primates.
Like all lemurs, these Sifaka lemurs are found only on the island of Madagascar. Unfortunately, lemurs are extremely endangered – and largely due to human infringement such as deforestation and hunting.
The eyes of the Sifaka lemur are captivating – although our cameras zoomed in for views, we were able to get pretty close to these amazing creatures.
My granddaughter, Jude, who was 11 years old during this trip, drew this lemur during an art class – she loves the animals and is a very talented artist.
Suarez Baobab trees are found in pockets across the landscape in Madagascar. Bats like to make their home in these trees. They are also responsible for pollinating the white flowers that bloom mostly at night.
Here is another view of the baobab tree. It is a succulent, which means that during the rainy season it absorbs and stores water in its vast trunk, enabling it to produce a nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season.
One of the many dishes we enjoyed was my grandson’s tuna – caught, cleaned and dressed by Truman himself. We were all so proud of him. It was delicious. Here is his grilled tuna served with salted collar steaks.
Marlon also took some amazing drone photos. This is of the clear beaches along the coastline. I hope you also saw all the photos on my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48. It was a lovely trip to Madagascar filled with wonderful memories for me and my family. (Photo by Marlon Du Toit)
If you’re planning your next vacation and want to visit an exotic island full of natural splendor and a stunning mix of wildlife and plant species, consider Madagascar.
The Republic of Madagascar is in the Indian Ocean, approximately 250-miles off the coast of East Africa across the Mozambique Channel. After Indonesia, Madagascar is the world's second-largest island country and the fourth biggest island on earth. If you follow my Instagram page @MarthaStewart48, you may know my family and I recently spent 10-days in Madagascar. We stayed at Miavana, a resort on a remote private island off the mainland, and took daily excursions by helicopter. We saw a host of animals - lemurs, chameleons, turtles, non-poisonous snakes, and colorful insects. We enjoyed delicious seafood including a yellowfin tuna caught, cleaned, and dressed by my grandson, Truman; and, we flew over interesting and diverse terrain. During the trip, our photographer and guide, Marlon Du Toit of Tanda Africa Safari Co., captured the most stunning photographs using the latest in Sony equipment, including the 70-200mm F2.8 G Master Lens. This new lens is light, fast, and takes optically superior images. My granddaughter, Jude, and I loved using it. If you also enjoy photography, try it out - you'll love it too.
Enjoy these photos.
Here is a view from our plane as we neared the island nation of Madagascar. The coastline was very sharp, the clear sea waters choppy, but the lush green landscapes were so beautiful.
We all took many photos. Marlon Du Toit, who guided our excursions, is an excellent photographer. He uses a Sony camera and a Sony 70-200mm F2.8 G Master Lens. The images are so crisp and clear. Here is one of the Tsingys. Tsingys are plateaus in which groundwater has undercut the elevated uplands, creating caverns and fissures into the limestone. These Tsingys are grey in color and the edges, incredibly sharp. They are said to have formed more than 150-million years ago – an incredible sight to see!
We explored several northern areas by helicopter and came across sights like this magnificent waterfall. Marlon says, “it almost makes one want to stop for a swim, but one has to remember that Madagascar is home to almost 20,000 Nile crocodiles.” (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
The Tsingy Rouge, the red rocks of Northern Madagascar, is among the most stunning formations of “rocks” on the planet. What looks like rock is actually the erosion of soil. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
In Malagasy, which is the principal language spoken in Madagascar, the word tsingy means “walking on tip toes” or “the place where one cannot walk barefoot.” (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
Madagascar has nine species of Baobab, medium-to-large deciduous trees. Six of them grow only in Madagascar. These trees are instantly recognizable, especially from a helicopter. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
This is a Golden-Crowned Sifaka lemur. These lemurs are known to be some of the rarest primates. We were able to get pretty close, but Marlon’s camera captured stunning details. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
Here’s another Golden-Crowned Sifaka we saw feeding. They will feed actively during the midday hours, before returning in the evening to their roost. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
This is a beautiful male panther chameleon, brilliantly colored in bold green and dark brown, Males also have a broken white stripe that goes down the length of its body. The panther chameleon is a species of chameleon found in the eastern and northern parts of Madagascar in a tropical forest biome. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
Flatidae is a family of fulgoroid planthoppers. These crawling creatures will soon turn into beautifully colored moths clinging to the branches of many forest trees in Northern Madagascar. The Sony lens excels in difficult lighting conditions – these creatures are so clear, even while moving. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
These are adult Flatidae, commonly known as Flat-lid Leaf Bugs. These have brightly colored forewings, which are tougher and known as tegmina. The membranous hindwings are used for flight. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
This is seaweed drying on top of specially made nets. This village, which is about 10-minutes away from Miavana by helicopter, grows seaweed as a form of revenue. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
This woman proudly displays the labors of her work. Her seaweed will ultimately leave her village and be sold to the cosmetic industry. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
Here is a common sight across parts of Africa – women balancing all sorts of objects, from buckets to firewood, on top of their heads. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
A green turtle came up in the late afternoon to lay her eggs in the vegetation in front of a villa at Miavana. Here is her head popping up from the foliage. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
Once she is done laying, she rests for a few moments to recover and then immediately heads back down the beach and into the ocean. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
This Sony lens is also excellent in zoom. The turtle was actually several feet away. Green turtles nest every two years, with wide year-to-year fluctuations in numbers of nesting females. They also nest between three to five times per season and each time laying an average of 115-eggs. The eggs then incubate for about 60-days. (Photo by Marlon Dutoit)
And here I am back home in front of my Winter House with my own new Sony Alpha 7R V Camera and Sony 70-200mm F2.8 G Master Lens. It’s so nice, sharp, and fast-working. My 12-year old granddaughter, Jude, and I both share a passion for photography and love to try the latest models. We’ll both get a lot of use out of this terrific camera – I can’t wait. Thanks, Sony. On Instagram @sonyalpha. #sonyalpha, #giftfromSony
Another pruning task can be checked off the list - my raspberry bushes are done.
I love growing all kinds of berries and have been growing them for many years. I currently have large patches of red raspberries, golden raspberries, black raspberries, currants, gooseberries, blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries. Many berries are best eaten raw, but they can be used in a variety of ways - as ingredients in jams and jellies, pies and tarts, and delicious summer juices. For the best yields from these plants it's crucial that berry bushes be pruned properly and regularly. Pruning produces larger berries in greater volumes and it helps to control diseases that might otherwise spread. My gardener, Brian O'Kelly, took on the task of pruning the raspberries this week - trimming the old canes and branches back to get the bushes ready for next season.
Here are some photos - enjoy.
Fresh, homegrown berries are so delicious. I’ve been growing my own berries for years and am fortunate that all my bushes are so prolific. We harvest boxes and boxes of berries every summer.
My raspberry bushes – red, golden, and black – are located outside my main greenhouse where there is lots of room. This section is also right behind my flower cutting garden, where they can be accessed easily. This photo was taken in early July…
… when the bushes were all lush and exploding with delicious berries.
Summer-bearing raspberry bushes produce one crop each season. The fruits typically start ripening in late June into July with a crop that lasts about one month. Botanically, the raspberry is a shrub belonging to the Rosaceae family, in the genus Rubus.
The raspberry is made up of small “drupe” fruits which are arranged in a circular fashion around a hollow central cavity. Each drupelet features a juicy pulp with a single seed.
Raspberry leaves are alternate, compound with three to five leaflets and serrate margins. They are usually broader than other berry leaves and light greenish white in color.
But in order to have beautiful and productive berry bushes like these, one must maintain them and prune them regularly.
One big chore we always do during these colder months, oftentimes in between other farm projects, is prune all of the berry bushes that grow in the gardens around my main greenhouse. Here’s Brian pruning the black raspberries, cutting down the dead wood from the base. He also keeps the base of the bushes within a 12 to 18-inch footprint by pruning out any suckers that poke up outside those parameters.
Black raspberries are identifiable by their purple canes. Raspberries are unique because their roots and crowns are perennial, while their stems or canes are biennial. A raspberry bush can produce fruit for many years.
Black raspberries are more challenging to prune because their canes are quite long.
Here, Brian lines up the long canes along the wire to train them where to grow. Raspberry plants spread by suckers and will spread out far and wide if allowed. Unpruned raspberry bushes will still grow, but won’t yield more berries. Leaving them unpruned also makes them more prone to disease.
Raspberries bear fruit on two-year old canes, the canes that sprouted last season. Here, they look much better.
Brian also pruned the red raspberry and golden raspberry bushes. He pruned all the dead, old, weak, diseased, and damaged canes at ground level first.
This is a dead cane – brown and woody.
Most of the canes were trimmed just to the wire, so they grow properly and can be supported as they mature.
What’s left is the vigorous second year growth now about two feet up from the ground.
At the ends of each row of berries are these upright posts made of granite. They have heavy gauge copper wire laced through them to support the berry bushes. The wire can be tightened or loosened depending on the need.
I like to use copper wiring. The copper looks much prettier than other metal wire, but the advantage of using wire at all is that it will not loosen or wear out over time in the way that twine does.
This aisle just outside my main greenhouse looks great. Once they are trimmed, everything looks uniform and level. We should have a good berry season this summer.
These bushes were also pruned – they look very different without all their leaves. There’s lots of work to do around this busy farm, but one by one the tasks are getting done.
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