It all began about 150 million years ago. In Africa, in the region of modern-day Mozambique, tremendous earthquakes and catastrophic floods resulted in a sharp split between Greater Gondwana and the island we know today as Madagascar. The 'premature isolation' created one of the most peculiar characteristics of the island: its enormous and extraordinary biodiversity. Madagascar boasts over 10,000 species of plants and flowers, 340 species of reptiles and amphibians and 265 bird species.