Places to Visit on a Madagascar Wildlife Holiday

A Madagascar wildlife holiday is a wonderful chance to see some of the country's unique animal species - but it's also a chance to explore some of the truly unique landscapes as well. It's often an underrated pleasure of a tour looking at the animals, and wildlife enthusiasts often find that - even subconsciously - they enjoy the benefits of seeing animals in a habitat and environment they are suited to, instead of in the artificial confines of a zoo or similar institution. Here's a quick look at a few of the places that you might visit on a successful wildlife tour.

Central Highlands

A mountainous region in Central Madagascar, the region stretches to 800 metres above sea level - although there's no need to worry you'll need climbing gear to explore the lower areas. On a Madagascar wildlife holiday, a visit to some of the areas surrounding the mountains can reveal plenty of the country's animal life - it's home to species of bats, rodents, tenrecs, and lemurs. Since the Central Highlands are separated from the Northern Highlands by a low-lying valley named the Mandritsara Window, it's a place where you can see animals that are very rare in other regions.

Isalo National Park

For travellers interested in a wide variety of terrains, there's nowhere better to explore than Isalo National Park. It features plenty of different environments - from sandstone formations and deep canyons to grassland and palm-tree lined oases. Those on their Madagascar wildlife holiday will find plenty to look at - the park is home to over 80 species of birds, 30 species of reptiles, and several different species of lemur, including the Ring-tailed Lemur, Red-fronted Lemur, and Coquerel's Giant Mouse Lemurs. The wide expanse of the park means trips may need a longer duration in order to have a hope of seeing the widest possible range of animals - they can last from several hours to a week, or even longer!

Avenue of the Baobabs

While it may not be the first location that springs to mind when contemplating a Madagascar wildlife holiday, this iconic area can really give a feel for the country and its incredible flora and fauna like no other place can. With baobab trees about 30m in height and over 800 years old lining a dirt road, it certainly has a unique atmosphere for a traveller eager to learn as much as they can of this wonderful country and the animals living in it.

Marissa Ellis-Snow is a freelance nature writer. If you're looking for a Madagascar wildlife holiday, Naturetrek specialise in expert-led natural history and wildlife tours worldwide. Naturetrek bring over 25 years of experience to a Madagascar wildlife holiday and other spectacular regions on Earth.

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Super Committee Looking for Places to Cut the Federal Budget - Census on the Chopping Block

It is truly amazing how much money was spent on the census in the US in 2010. In fact, I was quite bothered by the results, because the data was obviously skewed and incorrect. As a businessperson I follow all the statistics from the federal government, because I know it helps me make decisions.

Even though I am retired now from the franchising industry, I often consult small businesses and startups and therefore I need access to that information. Quite frankly if the government can't do a better job, at a better price, collecting this information, then maybe they shouldn't do it at all. Okay so let's talk about this for a second shall we.

Currently, corporations in America have far more data than the US government when it comes to the demographics of the US. Not only that, but by the time they go through your social networking page, and all the other data available, they know more about you than a burglar might learn burglarizing your home and going through all your personal files. Seriously, and we all know that's true, so let's not kid ourselves.

Recently, on Halloween 2011 there was a rather spooky article in the Wall Street Journal. The article was titled; "U.S. Census Confronts Budget Ax," by Ben Casselman. The article stated;

"Washington politicians often battle over what economic statistics mean and what to do about them. Now, they are fighting about the statistics themselves. The House Appropriations Committee didn't explicitly cut the 2012 economic senses; the panel cut President Barack Obama's proposal of a $1 billion census budget to only 855 million."

Now then, there's an obvious solution to this problem, and there is a way to get better data and better results, and more statistically reliable reporting by merely hiring the US post office which is also in debt to do the census for the government. After all the US postal workers already go to every house, and they pretty much have a good idea who lives there. Secondly, no one hates their postal person, and chances are the citizens won't lie to them when filling out the form.

Not only that people can fill out the form and leave it in their mailbox and the post office can pick it up, or folks can just drop it in the mail. That solves two birds with one stone and helps the U.S. Postal Service with their incredible budget problems. Why is it that people in Washington can figure this out? It's such a simple fix. Please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Future Concepts. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net/

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