The first mention of the Pirate Republic of Libertalia was in a 1726 story by Daniel Defoe. According to Defoe, Libertalia was founded around the Baie des Français by Captain Misson, a French adventurer with a Robin Hood bent who sailed the seas freeing slaves and avoiding bloodshed whenever possible. He teamed up with a defrocked Dominican priest, Father Caraccioli, to set up a communist Utopia.
The photogenic Allée des Baobabs in western Madagascar has done much for the popularity of this giant tree. Madagascar is home to seven of the world's eight baobab species, of which six are native and endemic (the seventh species is that found on mainland Africa, the eighth is in Australia).
The little village of Behenjy, about 40km south of Antananarivo on the RN7 is famous for its duck and its foie gras. In fact, much of the duck and foie gras you'll enjoy in Tana's restaurants come from around here.