About Daniel Austin Books
Daniel Austin's fascination with Madagascar began in his teens, long before he managed to make his first visit - but once he did, he was hooked, and the trip changed the course of his life. In the two decades since, he has clocked up around 30 visits and now spends several months of each year exploring the island country. Now occupied full time with all things Malagasy, he leads small-group tours to the island (danielaustin.co.uk) as well as guiding and lecturing on expedition cruises, is secretary of the Anglo-Malagasy Society and founded the Madagascar Library (an archive of 7,000 books and documents about Madagascar: madagascar-library.com). He has co-authored Bradt's Madagascar guidebook since its ninth edition, as well as co-authoring Bradt's companion title Madagascar Wildlife and the book Madagascar Highlights. Hilary Bradt's career as an occupational therapist ended when potential employers noticed that the time taken off for travel exceeded the periods of employment. With her former husband George, she self-published her first guidebook in 1974 during an extended journey through South America, thus founding Bradt Travel Guides. A backpacking guide to Africa followed. For the first 25 years she combined writing guidebooks and running the company with leading adventure and natural history tours to South America, Africa and Madagascar. Her in-depth knowledge of these places has brought her numerous lecture engagements and commissions for travel articles. She now lives in semi-retirement in Devon, indulging her interest in sculpting as well as writing regular press articles and Bradt books. Her contributions to tourism have resulted in her receiving an MBE plus four lifetime achievement awards, and being made an Officer of the National Order of Madagascar. For more, visit hilarybradt.com.
