Cultivating awareness of inspired conservation and community development initiatives in one of our planet’s Megadiversity Hotspot Countries.
Currently in its 4th edition, the Globetrotter Madagascar Travel Pack by Derek Schuurman and Nivo Ravelojaona (New Holland Publishers) is the only English guidebook on this beguiling country
to have been co-written with a Malagasy author. Having worked together in wildlife-oriented tourism since 1992, the authors have used their book to showcase some of what Madagascar has to offer potential visitors, as well as fostering awareness of some of the smaller, exemplary conservation and community development projects under way on the world’s 4th largest island.
Classified as one of our planet’s Megadiversity Hotspot countries, people have long appreciated Madagascar for its compellingly unique and stunning array of natural assets, almost all of which occur nowhere else. But many of these life forms face the very real threat of extinction. A combination of weak governance, collusion between larger NGOs and international mining companies and the plundering of its remaining forests – mainly by China – has resulted in the loss of over 1.2 million hectares (7%) of its tree cover between 2001 and 2012 (Global Forest Watch) and as a result, many species are becoming increasingly vulnerable to oblivion.
Never before, has carefully managed, low impact nature-based tourism played as vital a role towards contributing to conservation as is currently the case. With this in mind, the authors included details about the work of smaller NGOs such as Association Mitsinjo, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and charities such as Money for 
Madagascar and the Madagascar Development Fund. Among many others, these organisations have produced admirable results thanks to painstaking work, often under spartan conditions in remote parts of the country. The authors were fortunate in that their book was beautifully illustrated by Gerald Cubitt, referred to by many as ‘the Godfather of Wildlife Photography’. They also had input from experts in various fields of interest, be it cultural or natural history. The book is obtainable via Amazon here: Madagascar (Globetrotter Travel Pack): Amazon.co.uk: Derek Schuurman, Nivo Ravelojaona: 9781780094175: Books
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