“Of Madagascar I can say to naturalists that it is truly their promised land. There Nature seems to have retreated into a private sanctuary to work on models other than those she has created elsewhere. At every step one encounters the most strange and marvellous forms,” wrote the French naturalist Joseph Philibert Commerson (1727–1773).

This fascinating part of our world that most of us know through the computer-animated franchise of its name is Daniel Austin’s area of specialisation. It is a country the British photographer and travel writer tries to visit every year. He is the co-author of a number of books about Madagascar and its wildlife. Also, the founder of the Madagascar Library and the Secretary of the Anglo-Malagasy Society. Daniel has lectured about Madagascar on group tours within the country and back in the UK, including at the Royal Geographical Society.

He owns an extensive and impressive collection of photographs from the island – on its flora, fauna, people and artifacts – many of which have been widely published in field guides, magazines, tour brochures, museum exhibitions, greeting cards and calendars.