Madagascar: Landscapes Around Antananarivo

The landscapes around Antananarivo are characterized by terraced rice fields and rolling hills that dominate the region. The rice paddies are an essential part of the local economy, with their flat, stepped structures designed to maximize water retention for cultivation. Irrigation canals run through the fields, ensuring a steady water supply, and people can be seen working the fields. In many places. Especially around hills, the land is stripped bare of the upper layer of its red soil to allow for brick production, the basic of local house construction. Deforestation is offer utter and severe all around the capital.