Madagascar and Mauritius – Two Indian Ocean Island Nations

One of the great things about living in Africa is learning about places that I knew very little about before. Rishi and I recently returned from a trip to Madagascar and in March, we visited Mauritius. These two island nations are well off the radar of most Americans, who may associate Madagascar with a DreamWorks animated film, or perhaps with rainforests and lemurs. As for Mauritius, I confess to knowing virtually nothing about it before planning our trip there. In two separate blogs on Mauritius and Madagascar, I've written about our experience as travelers, but in this entry, I'm taking a closer look at the history, culture, and economies of the two countries. 

Though these two nations may be geographically proximate Indian Ocean neighbors, requiring only a 1,069 km, 1 hour, 40 minute flight to travel between them, they are in many ways worlds apart. Madagascar, at 587,713 km², is the world’s fourth largest island (after Greenland, New Guinea, and Borneo), with diverse geographies and ecosystems. We spent two weeks there and saw only the capital, Antananarivo, and a few spots in the north of the Island. Mauritius is so tiny – 1,860 km² -- that one could easily drive around the island’s exterior in a day, hugging its beaches along the way. 

Madagascar has 287 times the land area of its Indian Ocean neighbor Mauritius, which is at the far eastern edge of this map. Oh, see that other nearby island, Réunion? That’s the overseas department of France that made headlines recently when wreckage from Malaysian Airlines flight 370 was found ashore.

During the breakup of Gondwanaland, Madagascar split off from Africa about 160 million years ago, and subsequently from the Indian subcontinent about 88 million years ago. Its long-term isolation led to a high rate of endemic species, estimated at about 90% across animals and plants combined. 

A few of Madagascar's endemic species, clockwise from upper left: diademed sifaka lemur, crested drongo, traveler's palm (not a true palm but actually a member of bird of paradise family), comet moth, amber mountain rock thrush, and Sanford's brown lemur.

Human habitation of Madagascar is traced to the arrival by boat of people from Indonesia starting around 350 BC, followed by Bantu peoples arriving from across the Mozambique Channel about 1000 AD. It was ruled by local kings until a central monarchy, called the Merina, united the country in the 19^th century. Following the collapse of the Merina monarchy in 1897, Madagascar was a French colony until 1960 when it gained its independence. Official languages are Malagasy, which has Malayo-Polynesian roots, and French. English is not commonly spoken.

Mauritius seems a newcomer by comparison, both geologically and in terms of human settlement. The island is estimated to have been formed by volcanic eruption only 10 million years ago. And Mauritius was not inhabited until it was colonized first by the Dutch (1638-1710), then France (1710-1810), and finally Britain (1810-1968). The Dutch brought slaves, mostly from Madagascar, and the French brought more slaves, from Madagascar and elsewhere in Africa as well. The British abolished slavery, but instead relied on indentured servants from the Indian subcontinent to work the island’s sugar cane fields.

Hindu temples are everywhere in Mauritius, due to the large number of Indians
who came there as indentured servants during the British colonial period.

Mauritius has no official language, though government business is conducted in English and road signs are in English as well. However, among themselves, Mauritians are more likely to speak a French-based Mauritian Creole, and various Indian languages are commonly spoken as well. Rishi and I found that when English wasn’t working, I could communicate with people in French, and sometimes he could use Hindi.

Since becoming an independent country in 1968, Mauritius has benefitted from a stable democratic government. The 2015 Ibrahim Index of African Governance ranks Mauritius first overall among 54 African nations.[i] In Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, 2014, Mauritius garners a score of 54, well above the worldwide average score of 43. [ii] This ranks Mauritius as the 47^th least corrupt county, tied with Costa Rica and Hungary. Mauritius is relatively prosperous as well, having transitioned from an agricultural low-income country to a more diversified economy, though sugar is still an important component. Tourism is huge, with lots of visitors from South Africa; Europe, especially France and Germany; and China. It seems like nearly every attractive beach has been given over to large resort hotels. Other major industries include textiles and financial services. Per the World Bank, gross national income (GNI) per capita in 2014 was $9,710, putting Mauritius solidly into the upper middle income category. [iii], [iv] 

Madagascar, alas, is another story. The country is really poor. Per the World Bank, gross national income per capita in 2014 was $440, making it one of the ten poorest countries in the world. No doubt, an unstable government and corruption aren’t helping. Since gaining independence, it has experienced four republics (basically over turnings of the government, including one assassination), each with a new constitution. More recently, a coup in 2009 resulted in an interim government that was not considered legitimate. As a result, Madagascar lost foreign investment and donor funding, and the nascent tourism industry was set way back as well. The country has since returned to a democratically elected government, with a new president and National Assembly elected in 2013. But major infrastructure, such as roads and water systems are severely lacking, another factor hindering tourism as well as agricultural exports industry. Only 51% of the population has access to improved water systems and only 12% to improved sanitation facilities. Nearly everyone with spoke with lamented that corruption is rampant. Indeed, Transparency International’s ranking puts Madagascar at 133 of 174 nations, right beside Nicaragua. It scores 49.1 (29^th out of 54) in the Ibrahim Index.

Compounding Madagascar’s problems is its rapid population growth. While traveling through the country, one can’t help but notice how so many young women, girls really, have a child at the hip or on the back. This is a country where the babies are having babies. The fertility rate (births/woman) is 4.5, so population growth is huge.

Bringing this all back around to the subject of travel, having returned from these two countries, I’ve been mulling over the question of whether I’d like to return to either of them for further travels. When it comes to Mauritius, I feel that the cliché “been there, done that” applies. It's actually a bit overdeveloped for my taste. Madagascar, on the other hand, was very diverse and interesting, despite the challenges of traveling there. Though it’s very poor, tourism is no doubt one of the keys to developing the Madagascar economy and supporting the preservation of its unique ecosystems. So perhaps I will go there again.

[i] http://www.moibrahimfoundation.org/iiag

[ii] http://www.transparency.org/home

[iii] http://data.worldbank.org/topic/economy-and-growth#tp_wdi. Also used for other data on income, fertility, access to infrastructure, and other data for both countries.

[iv] http://data.worldbank.org/about/country-and-lending-groups: For the current 2016 fiscal year, low-income economies are defined as those with a GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method, of $1,045 or less in 2014; middle-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of more than $1,045 but less than $12,736; high-income economies are those with a GNI per capita of $12,736 or more. Lower-middle-income and upper-middle-income economies are separated at a GNI per capita of $4,125.