Google announced that Street View has come to Madagascar, which is said to be the world’s oldest island.
According to Guinness World Records, Madagascar became an island around 80-100 million years ago, when it split off from the Indian subcontinent. It has an area of 587,041 km² (226,657 miles²), and ranks as the world’s fourth largest island.
“For almost 88 million years, the island of Madagascar has stood off the coast of Southeast Africa,” says Alex Starns, Street View Technical Program Manager at Google. “From the tropical humid and dry forests of the interior, home to ring-tailed lemurs, to the mangrove ecosystems along the coast, the island is home to some of the most unusual and delicate ecosystems on Earth. Now for the first time, through our Trekker Loan partnership with conservation organization Blue Ventures and the Department of Water and Forests: University of Antananarivo, the Madagascar Ministry of Culture, and Madagascar National Parks, you can take a virtual journey to Madagascar with Street View in Google Maps.”
Take a look at some of the imagery:
“Though beautiful scenery abounds in Madagascar, the country is also facing real challenges due to the increased demand placed on natural resources,” says While much of the plant and animal life has remained abundant over the centuries, this incredibly rare biodiversity is increasingly being fragmented by human activities. To shine a spotlight on ongoing conservation efforts, Blue Ventures collected imagery of some of the island’s most compelling scenery, including areas where effective conservation is increasingly critical to community livelihoods, climate change preparedness and for safeguarding biodiversity.”
You can learn more about Google’s project here.
Images via Google