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Madagascar\u2019s cliffs, rolling plateaus, and winding rivers weren\u2019t shaped by a single violent event. Instead, the island\u2019s breathtaking landscape took form through two massive tectonic rifts that happened tens of millions of years apart.<\/p>\n
These shifts tilted the land, redirected rivers, and sculpted the island\u2019s dramatic shape \u2014 steep cliffs dropping into the Indian Ocean on the east and gentle plains stretching toward the Mozambique Channel on the west. Together, these forces created not only a striking landscape but also one of the most biologically rich ecosystems on Earth.<\/p>\n
Long before Madagascar stood alone in the ocean, it was part of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. About 170 million years ago, the first big tectonic break separated it from Africa. The crust folded upward, forming a massive western escarpment, and rivers flowed east toward the Indian Ocean, cutting deep valleys into a rising plateau.<\/p>\n