Exploring Sakalava culture and medicinal plants on the island of Madagascar

In spring 2025, I travelled to Madagascar to document the medicinal plant knowledge of the Sakalava community of Boeny Miray. The indigenous Sakalava of western Madagascar still live in close relationship with nature, and their culture is deeply interwoven with the spirits and guidance of their ancestors. Read on to discover biodiversity hotspot Madagascar and the fascinating culture of the Sakalava kingdom.

From the beach of Boeny Miray, you can see the outlines of the houses and hotels of the city of Mahajanga across the bay. But here, in the community, we are surrounded only by sand, palm trees, small houses woven of satra palm leaves and pirogues (traditional fishing boats). I was seated on a mat woven from satra , in front of a house constructed of the same plant material. A young girl of perhaps 6 years old held out a ring on which several freshly caught fish were dangling. Do we want to purchase these for your lunch? Our research team had just arrived at one of the clusters of houses dotted along the coast. We were speaking with community members to document their knowledge of medicinal plants. The two men living here, Tomboravo Petera and Manatozara, were particularly interesting, as they are both plant doctors. I did not understand any of the knowledge they were talking about. All our interviews in the community were conducted in Malagasy by local students Celestine and Antonine. So, in this moment, I just enjoyed the ocean views and conversations in broken French with our host Joary.

The need to document traditional knowledge

Six months prior, I had never heard of the Sakalava ethnic group and neither had I imagined I would be visiting Madagascar in my lifetime. However, through a serendipitous string of events, I was invited to this beautiful African island by Kanto Razanajatova of the local Tanjona Association. The request was to facilitate an ethnobotany training for master students at Mahajanga University and lead fieldwork to document Sakalava ethnobotanical knowledge. The lives of indigenous people and local communities everywhere are increasingly impacted by modernisation and climate change, leading to a loss of traditional knowledge. Even though they still live a mostly traditional lifestyle today, the Sakalava are keen to safeguard their cultural knowledge for future generations. Their traditional knowledge is shared orally, and there are not many written accounts of their culture. Therefore, this work aims to publish a book with medicinal plant knowledge to return to the community.

Madagascar, a biodiversity hotspot

Before my departure, I studied up on Madagascar’s biodiversity and cultural diversity. I learnt that Madagascar is the world’s fourth-largest island, almost 2.5 times larger than the United Kingdom, and a global biodiversity hotspot. Madagascar is located 400 km from the African continent, off Mozambique. The island nation of Madagascar separated from Africa an estimated 170 million years and the Indian subcontinent nearly 88 million years ago. Because its flora & fauna have evolved in isolation, they differ greatly from those of nearby continental Africa, and are in many respects unique. Over 90% of an estimated 15,000 known species in Madagascar are endemic – which means they occur nowhere else on earth – and new species continue to be found. The island is also home to a wide variety of ecosystems, ranging from dry forests to tropical forests, and from spiny forests to coral reefs and mangroves. Unfortunately, Madagascar is suffering from illegal deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, the overexploitation of natural resources and the effects of the climate crisis.

All these factors combined are making the country one of the world’s highest priorities for biodiversity conservation. There has been a push for the protection of Madagascar’s biodiversity, and several Protected Areas have been created since 1927. Today, the network of Protected Areas encompasses over 10% of the land area of Madagascar, and has grown by more than a third over the past two decades. However, measuring the effectiveness of Protected Areas in terms of preventing deforestation or providing alternative livelihoods can be challenging, with little long-term biodiversity monitoring data available. The preservation of Madagascar’s biodiversity is not only essential for the protection of global biodiversity. For the Malagasy people, it is a crucial source for their basic needs of subsistence.

The Sakalava kingdom

Madagascar is not only known for its biodiversity but also for her cultural diversity. It is inhabited by 20 different ethnic groups, the largest three are the Merina, the Betsimisaraka and the Betsileo. The Sakalava kingdom once ruled the majority of Madagascar until it was defeated by the British and French military in the 19th century. Yet, their kingdom continues to this day, with an estimated 2 million Sakalava people living all along the west coast. The Sakalava live in close relationship with nature and have a rich ethnobotanical knowledge of plant uses for traditional crafts, building and medicinal and spiritual plants. They maintain a strong connection with their ancestors through ritual and the practice of tromba or spirit possession. Living mediums enter a trance to channel the voices of deceased royalty, ancestors or sometimes nature spirits. These spirits offer guidance and protection, and help maintain a strong connection with the past. Daily life is immersed with ritual, ancestor worship and a range of taboos known as fady. Every year around July, at the fanompoabe or ‘Great Service’, Sakalava people and spirits from all over Madagascar and abroad flock to Mahajanga. Here, a week of ritual and celebration centres around the cleaning of the relics of their three most important historic kings.

Documenting medicinal plant knowledge in the community

The initial ambitious plan was for a month of fieldwork in 3 different Sakalava communities, with 15 research pairs consisting of students and Sakalava youth. Due to funding and time restrictions, this changed to a much more feasible approach; one week of field research in one community. We were hosted by the Sakalava community of Boeny Miray, not far from the coastal tourist city of Mahajanga. Their territory consists mostly of dry forest, and fishing is their main means of subsistence. This is a very similar lifestyle to that of other Sakalava people who live along the west coast of Madagascar. Our Malagasy research team consisted of Celestine and Antonine, who were among the students who completed the ethnobotany training at Mahajanga University. We were joined by botany professor Botovao Auguste Ramiandrisoa, who brought much-needed botanical expertise. Lastly, I invited student Feliste as my Malagasy – English translator to supplement my rusty French. Our Sakalava host Joary Joarson was our knowledgeable guide during the week.

We started our research with a community introduction at the sacred Lake Amparilava. In the following days, we took many freelists to determine the most important medicinal plants, and interviewed 27 community members about their knowledge of medicinal plants. We also spent several hours in the dry forest and tropical forest amidst satra (Bismarck palms), bozy (the sacred baobabs), madiro (tamarind) and many plants endemic to Madagascar like mandravasarotra, romba and tsimatiririnina (Madagascar periwinkle). These folk names are often very interesting as they describe the characteristics or effects of the plant. For example, madiro means ‘sour’ (which makes sense if you have ever tasted tamarind fruit!) and mandravasotra means ‘destroyer of difficulties’. I realised I was completely plant blind here, as I just saw a forest with many anonymous trees and bushes, while our guides could name each one and tell us their uses. On our plant walks, we took many photos and notes. The main task was for our botanist professor Auguste to identify the botanical names of the medicinal plants and collect voucher specimens when identifications were challenging.

In our hours at camp, we processed large amounts of research data, and after work we jeard fascinating stories about Sakalava culture from Joary. I understood that daily life is immersed with ritual and symbolism, from regular rituals with ancestor spirits, to rituals around life events such as birth, marriage and death. The direction houses are built, and the direction they face, is significant too. For example, the ‘head’ or narrow part of the house must face north and can’t face the sun, while burial tombs face east, to where the sun rises. Incredibly, I learned from our host that tromba includes not just ancestor spirits but also spirits of nature such as the forest, the water, the stars and the rainbow. Through their human medium, these spirits impart knowledge and wisdom, including the uses of medicinal plants. The spirit world and the ancestors are so beautifully interwoven and present in daily life here. I wondered if this is how ancient human cultures always lived, before we lost our ways to modernisation. I was expecting to learn a lot about the local medicinal plants, yet I was just as much inspired and awed to learn about the rich culture of the Sakalava.

The outcomes of our ethnobotanical research

We documented over 200 medicinal and spiritual plants in only a week. Because the needs and benefits of the work were explained by Joary, many community members openly shared their knowledge with us.
Professor Auguste also managed to determine the botanical names of about 50% of the medicinal plants. However, I still have quite a lot of data to process and complete. I need to translate some of the data from French or even Malagasy, and I will need to get translations for the folk names to understand their meaning. I also need the botanical identifications of the majority of the plants. Finally, I want to verify the knowledge I documented with the community and then publish a book in Malagasy to return to them. For all these activities, I am hoping to secure funding in the new year.

Protecting biocultural diversity

In addition to the ethnobotanical research, I am now also supporting the Association Sakalava Boeny Miray. Joary officially founded the association in 2024 to unite the coastal community for the protection of biodiversity and culture. The association has already significantly reduced illegal fishing practices and charcoal production on the islands by regular patrolling and collaborating with the local government and gendarmerie. They also want to provide a secure future for women and children by teaching cultural and environmental skills and knowledge, including Sakalava cultural knowledge, artisanry and environmental education. It is now widely accepted that indigenous people and local communities are best suited to protect and care for their territories. For the Sakalava community of Boeny Miray this is no different. They are best suited to monitor, protect and care for their own territory, however they do need financial support. If you feel called to learn more and support the association, I invite you to visit the GoFundMe fundraiser page.

Stay tuned for more stories about the Sakalava people, their medicinal plants and the magic of Madagascar!