EXPLAINED: 7 | Vintage Vibes

Southern African leaders meet in Madagascar to chart path for self-reliance

Southern African leaders are meeting in Madagascar to decide how to make the region more self-reliant and less vulnerable to global economic shocks after years of instability and falling foreign aid.

Radio France Internationale · Aug 17, 2025

Is this Tekken 8 character redesign better than the real thing?

A reimagined Miary Zo looks more like the original concept art.

Creative Bloq · Aug 5, 2025

Rare fossa cubs born in Paris zoo as wild numbers shrink in Madagascar

Three fossa cubs have been born at a Paris zoo – a rare event for one of Madagascar’s most elusive and endangered mammals. The births offer a small but important boost to conservation efforts for a species that few people have ever seen, and which is disappearing fast in the…

Radio France Internationale · Aug 3, 2025

How the climate crisis and aid cuts could devastate global supplies of vanilla

IN FOCUS: Vanilla farmers in Madagascar, a country that supplies up to 80 per cent of the global crop each year, face a difficult future as the climate crisis and aid cuts bite, writes Nick Ferris

The Independent UK · Jul 17, 2025

Africa’s plants: a database project has recorded 65,000 species – and is still growing

The African Plant Database lists 65,000 species of flowering plants, ferns and conifers found on the African continent and Madagascar. Since 2006, every plant species ever documented in Africa and Madagascar has been included in the massive online database, with about 200 new species added every year. Cyrille Chatelain is…

The Conversation · Jul 10, 2025

Bravo girls! DiGiulian and Ordóñez send first female free climb of Madagascan big wall

26 years after it was established by an all-star women's team, Sasha DiGiulian and Marianna Ordóñez have become the first women to free climb Bravo Les Filles in Madagascar

Advnture · Jul 8, 2025

300-year-old pirate-plundered shipwreck that once held 'eyewatering treasure' discovered off Madagascar

Researchers think a shipwreck off Madagascar was a Portuguese treasure ship captured by pirates in 1721.

LiveScience · Jul 3, 2025

Row over Scattered Islands revived as France and Madagascar hold talks

French President Emmanuel Macron and Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina will meet in Paris on Monday to discuss the future of the long-disputed Scattered Islands – a chain of uninhabited islets in the Indian Ocean with big geopolitical, ecological and symbolic value.

Radio France Internationale · Jun 30, 2025

Zanzibar’s baobab trees used to be a valued part of society – drone images help prove it

Baobab trees may be a proxy for measuring long-term use of land by humans. They live long, have economic benefits, and are used as shrines and markers on landscapes. Archaeologists have long suspected an association between baobabs and human settlements. Wolfgang Alders, who researches early urbanism and the first migrations…

The Conversation · Jun 29, 2025

Eldest daughters often carry the heaviest burdens – insights from Madagascar

In recent years, the term “eldest daughter syndrome” has gained traction on social media, as many firstborn daughters share how they had to grow up faster. They often took on caregiving and supportive roles in their families.

The Conversation · May 21, 2025