The fabulous folly of Madagascar's Pangalanes canal

In the late 19th century, French colonialists embarked on a madcap project to dig a channel eight times longer than the Panama Canal. These days it's a wild and weird home for the birds

During this strange, cloistered year, I've been finishing off a book on Madagascar. With no view and no space, my mind has often wandered back to that island's gigantic landscapes.

At nearly 1,000 miles long, the island has left me with a rich cache of memories: cactus deserts, long pale beaches, vast cathedral-like limestone formations (tsingys in Malagasy), and forests that plunge from 1,000 metres down to the sea.