Like a shy orphan, it has been sitting in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Africa for more than 100 million years. That’s a long time to be an incubator for new species of plants and animals, and the slow-cooking of evolution created recipes beyond our wildest dreams.

Wheels down in Madagascar

It’s always a shock to arrive. The tedium of waiting and the sadness of the poverty is a bit grim, especially if your plane arrives in the middle of the night. But by the next day, the charm and excitement of Madagascar seeps inside your soul: The smiles of the children, the hustle and bustle and the architecture of the city catch your attention. Houses in adobe, beige and yellow are jumbled onto the hills like a Cezanne painting.

Down below, one gets caught up in the traffic. Brightly painted rickshaws (pousse-pousse), Zebu-pulled carts (Zebus are an ancient breed of humped cattle) with wooden wagon wheels, bicycles, motorbikes, shiny 4×4 Land Cruisers, blue Mazda minivans and thousands of brisk walkers all compete for a piece of the road.

There are no traffic lights in Madagascar — not a one. The winding roads up to the Queen’s Palace were built for walking, not for vehicles.

Most shops have brightly colored fruits and vegetables neatly stacked: mangoes, onions, potatoes, peas, apples, strawberries, carrots, cabbages are on display alongside broad, shallow baskets of red, white and long-grained brown rice. The butchers hang legs of zebu and strings of sausages in the shop front, while live chickens squawk in rattan cages inside. …