Because of its eons-old isolation, Madagascar has the distinction of being an evolutionary wonder. It's home to an incredible number of different species in a surprisingly small radius. On top of that, approximately 97% of the wildlife of Magascar is endemic -- found nowhere else in the world. This makes it a biologist's paradise. However, this also means that Madagascar is cut off from what we know as normal existance, and is laps behind the first world. Time means nothing there. A person's net worth hinges on how many pots of rice a day they get to eat, or how many yards of rope they have. Language and culture barriers, combined with bureaucratic red tape, can also make it a biologist's worst nightmare.