Madagascar Travelogue

ANTANANARIVO (Capital)

We love love love Madagascar! We went to Madagascar a few years ago now, but it has remained one of our favourite countries. In fact if it were more stable we would probably be living there, or on Ile Sainte Marie (Nosy Boraha) as we love it so much. Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world and we only got to see a very small part of it. The scenery is fantastic, the people are lovely and it has a very relaxed feeling to it, and it has the prettiest money/bank notes that we have seen. We arrived in the capital of Antananarivo and took a taxi from the airport to a hotel that we had chosen from our guide book where we planned to stay for just one or two nights. It was dark when we arrived at Hotel Indri, which was probably just as well because it was rather horrible and would look even more depressing in daylight. Our room was very large but it was so dark and damp, and the bed was one of the most uncomfortable we have ever had the displeasure of not sleeping on. We were both too tired from our flight to care too much, and we sat outside the front on a private terrace with a drink. The front wall was made up of carved breeze blocks and every now and then a tiny childs hand would appear through one of the gaps begging for money, and the hotel manager would come out and tell them to leave. Bright and early next

morning we went to the tourist office, the lady who worked there could not have been more helpful, we told her where we wanted to go and what we would like to do, and she arranged everything for us.

ANDASIBE

We had agreed on a car with a driver to take us up the coast towards Toamasina (Tamatave), stopping off here and there at various places of interest, mainly Andasibe for the Parc National d'Andasibe-Mantadia (Perinet Reserve). We could either do a round trip returning to Antananarivo or travel one way and then just pay for the drivers return trip alone, which is what we did. We left early the next morning, very pleased to be leaving the Hotel Indri. The drive was pleasant and the scenery was pretty, eventually we came to the Parc National d'Andasibe-Mantadia (Perinet Reserve). We went out in to the forest with a guide (compulsory) looking for Lemur, well you can't go to Madagascar and not see at least one Lemur. The best time to see the Lemur is early in the morning around 7am before it gets too hot, unfortunately we were much later than that and just when it looked like we were not going to be lucky our guide spotted some Lemur way up high at the very top of a tree ~ success, now we could head back for a much needed drink! Madagascar is known for the Lemur, 90% can only be found there, the other 10% are native to the Comoros. We stayed the night there somewhere in a lovely thatched roof bungalow, but the name has escaped me. It could have been the Hotel Feon'nyala? Anyway, we had a lovely meal there sitting out on a pontoon overlooking a very picturesque lake. From memory the bungalow was very pleasant, en-suite and with a nice comfortable bed complete with mosquito net. We also visited a reptile farm, which makes it sound far more substantial than it actually was. Basically it was a back yard, which was full of rotten dirty old cages which housed various different reptiles. There were lots of iguana and many other lizards, it was nice to get out of the car for a while and stretch our legs.

TOAMASINA (Tamatave)

It must have been the following day that we arrived in Toamasina (Tamatave) and we said goodbye to our driver. We had only intended staying for one night in Toamasina before flying on to Ile Sainte Marie, but we had difficulty getting a flight so we stayed for about 3 days/nights. Toamasina is a lively enough place though so we were more than happy to be delayed. We chose the Generation Hotel which provided good service, a large clean room with a fan and very helpful friendly staff. At night the hotel restaurant was incredibly busy with guest and non guests. You could eat inside in the large dining room or outside the front of the hotel in a covered in patio area which is what we chose to do. After we had eaten we would sit and play some scrabble (along with books we always took our travel scrabble everywhere with us, you need something to pass away the hours spent waiting for planes, trains etc when travelling). By now we had mastered the art of travelling light, and I mean very light. When we originally started our travels we took so much stuff, clothes and all manner of things that just seemed to get heavier each day and we found we didn't use or need most of it. So after a while we only ever travelled with cabin luggage which saves a lot of time especially when flying, as once you are off of the plane and through customs you are guaranteed to be first in the queue for taxi's or whatever your next mode of transport is. Also by being one of the first people out of the airport we found that we didn't get the hassle from the touts as much as you do if you come flooding out with lots of other travellers (except for once in Zanzibar, but that's another story)! Anyway back to the scrabble, the staff at the Generation Hotel were very friendly to us and would often come out to the front terrace and chat to us between serving the guests inside. They would stand for hours on and off watching us play and eventually one of them asked us what this game was, so we explained. I don't think he was very impressed, I guess it doesn't sound that exciting really does it but it kept us sane! The local Pousse-pousse (pull-pull rickshaws) boys would hang out at the front of the hotel chatting to us and trying to cadge a beer or a cigarette. After a while they had talked for so long about taking us for a ride that we thought why not, even though we didn't really want to go anywhere. Well we picked the right day because it had seriously rained during the night and the roads were flooded so it was nice not to have to be ankle high in water and travel in luxury down the road to the Salon de The. I'm not sure how comfortable we really felt about be pulled along by a human beast of burden, but the pousse-pousse drivers need to earn a living for themselves and to pay for the rental to the pousse-pousse owners so ...

On our last night in Toamasina we treated ourselves to a more luxurious hotel, mainly because it had a swimming pool and when we went to have a look round the sun was shining and the pool looked so inviting. Anyway by the time we had returned to the Generation Hotel and packed our stuff the sky was beginning to look a bit dull. We checked in to the Hotel Le Neptune and were just about to change in to our swim wear when the skies opened and it absolutely poured with rain for what felt like hours. So much for our plan of going for a nice cooling swim, in fact the rain came down so fast that the pool couldn't cope with it and there was water everywhere. They say that the east coast only has two seasons; the wet season and the season when it rains! We still managed to make the most of our night at the Hotel Neptune, we spent an enjoyable evening eating our dinner overlooking the swimming pool - what a view!

ILE SAINTE MARIE

We eventually managed to sort out our flight to Ile Sainte Marie, which would be aboard a twin prop plane, a first for us. The Air Madagascar plane was so small it didn't look very air worthy, and with just a couple of seats either side of the aisle, just like concord ... well actually nothing like concord! The flight was very short, we were offered a cold drink (in a can) and a packet of biscuits. It was all very sophisticated!

We spent most of our time on Ile Saint Marie (Nosy Boraha) a 57km long island just 8km off of the east of Madagascar. We stayed at a few different hotels there, the first one was the very cheap and cheerful Betty Plage at the north end of the island, where we had a lovely en-suite bungalow set overlooking the sea among the palm trees. The bungalow was simply furnished with a comfortable bed, and complete with a non torn mosquito net, which we thought was excellent as we have stayed in much more expensive places with no nets or torn nets, and you need all the help you can get to avoid the bite of a hungry mosquito! They had their own generator for the electricity and each night at 10pm on the dot the power would go off, unless we were in the bar/restaurant playing cards or chatting with the owners and then obviously we would be allowed to have a late night! The staff at the Betty were so helpful and charming that we stayed on longer than we had originally planned, and the food was excellent, all freshly cooked, it was a real pleasure staying there. The Betty Plage was right away from practically all of the other tourists and travellers which meant it was even more peaceful than the rest of the island which was lovely. We would go out and walk right along the mud tracks through the neighbouring villages stopping for a drink in a little bar we found, which was little more than a mud hut where we would share a beer or two with the resident chickens etc. At the time we were there Ile Sainte Marie was beginning to overtake Nosy Be; it's west coast counterpart as the prime tourist destination in Madagascar, hopefully it has not been spoilt too much. Ile Saint Marie was much more beautiful, quieter and considerably cheaper than Nosy Be too, it was a picture paradise of coconut edged beaches, stretches of rain forest, coral reefs, very shallow sea and lots of historic interest. It all felt too good to be true, and you know what they say, if something seems to good to be true it probably is, but that was not the case here, it really was paradise. The capital is Ambodifotatra which was the only real town, the rest of the island was made up of numerous tiny villages. Obviously you only have to look at the lush vegetation to know that it rains a lot all year round, apparently the island gets about 3.5 metres of rain every year! We went in May and we did see quite a lot of rain, often getting completely soaked whilst out walking, and with the humidity it was fun trying to get our clothes dry again! The best time to go for the drier weather is around the end of August to the end of November. Ile Sainte Marie is prone to cyclones, although thankfully we didn't experience any. We are not beach or sunbathing people, which was just as well as there was not a beach in the capital of Ambodifotatra, we were happy relaxing and wandering round enjoying the scenery and slow pace of life.

Madagascar's oldest catholic church is there, it dates back to 1857, and was a gift from the Empress Eugenie of France to the island. There is also an old granite fort which dates back to 1753 at the southern end of the town, unfortunately it is out of bounds to the public as it serves as a military post. There was a market on Tuesdays and Thursdays when it is considered taboo to work in the fields. There was a place where you could hire motorbikes; Studio Flash, unfortunately we were unable to as the rain was conspiring against us both times we tried! Another hotel we stayed at was the Hotel Lakana, which was considerably more expensive than the Betty Plage but being restless souls we thought we would give it a try. Hotel Lakana looks lovely, there are some bungalows attached to the jetty which we quite fancied but they do not have bathrooms, you have to use the communal ones back on land, and as we are no longer teenagers we like our own bathroom if possible, so we opted for one of the bungalows on dry land which came complete with en-suite. The room was very nicely furnished and the bathroom was lovely, lovely that is until we went to have a shower, the shower works by a short bursts tap, so every 30 seconds or so the water goes off, this didn't happen at the Betty Plage! So you either had to put up with the water stopping every few seconds or stand with one hand on the tap to keep it running constantly, or get someone else to shower with you so that they could keep the water flowing, which is the best idea as it's not easy to shower and wash your hair with one hand! The Hotel Lakana was a lot busier than our last hotel, mainly with English people, and as when we travel the last thing we want to do is talk about England we were rapidly going off the place. Hotel Lakana has supposedly one of the best restaurants on the island, which after we had eaten there one evening didn't give us much hope for any of the other establishments! The food was so mediocre that I can't even remember what we ate, still the room was nice enough and we weren't going to be there for long. Richard had a birthday whilst we were on Ile Sainte Marie, followed a couple of days later by our wedding anniversary, so we decided it was time for yet another change of hotel. We had heard that the Hotel Soanambo was quite luxurious but didn't have much character, but as we were not over enamoured with the Hotel Lakana it could be the place for us. We don't rely on travel guide books at all, we rarely make accommodation reservations preferring to stay in hotels that take our fancy at the time, but we do usually take a look through the relevant guide book for the handy maps and the translation section. Anyway, we went along to the Hotel Soanambo to have a look round as we had walked past it previously and it did look nice, so we thought we would see what birthday deal they could offer us, well you don't get what you don't ask for! The manager was happy to help us, and so we moved from The Hotel Lakana to our new home ~ Hotel Soanambo. Our bungalow was set right on the beach looking out over the water, glorious. The bungalow itself was large with a separate bedroom, the bed being a solid concrete clock upon which sat the mattress and it had a huge new mosquito net. There was a nice big lounge area and a nice clean bathroom. Happy with our beach front bungalow, Happy Birthday! Apparently there was a tennis court at the hotel as well as a swimming pool, and the longest jetty we had seen so far. You could walk out to the end of the jetty and relax on the loungers, sipping a drink and enjoying the view and the peace and quiet. The water was very shallow from the beach right out to the end of the jetty so you could actually walk out in the water, although it was very rough under foot. Closer to our bungalow the water was gloriously warm and although far too shallow to swim in it was great to just float about. The swimming pool was quite close to our bungalow and I would go in and splash about like a crazy person, I'm not crazy, I just can't swim! There was an older man and his girlfriend who used to sit sit by the pool near us sunbathing, and every now and then when the noises of my near drowning got too much for them they would look up disapprovingly in my direction, but I didn't let this put me off of learning to swim! One afternoon I was once again splashing around when the man decided that he would like a swim too. So without further a do he dove head first into the water and as he came up to the surface he let out an almighty scream, because I am a crazy person, the water was absolutely freezing! I don't think I have ever seen someone with such a confused look on their face or move so quickly to get out on to dry land! I bet he always sticks his toe in first before he goes swimming now! I just thought that as this hotel had an empty pool I might as well take full advantage of it and learn to swim, which after about three days of splashing around like a maniac, I can, it might not have been a pretty sight but I was happy! Whilst we were staying at the Hotel Soanambo we decided to go for walk across to the other side of the island, the east coast which was so vastly different to where we were staying. At that time there were no hotels or anything, just miles of untouched beaches it was so beautiful. We strolled along for hours and we only saw one other person, a fisherman untangling his fishing nets. When it came time to leave Ile Sainte Marie we were both very sad to go as we had had such a lovely time there.

ANTANANARIVO

Back on Madagascar in Antananarivo, we booked into the small Hotel Raphia which had been newly refurbished. Unfortunately the rooms were not en-suite but our room was large and we liked the friendly staff and the little garden. During the night though I couldn't stop sneezing, it appeared the name Raphia was more than just a name. There was raffia everywhere in the room, covering the door, the wardrobes the bed head, and now I found out that I was allergic to it! So we decided not to spend too much time in the room, and we found ourselves in Le Buffet Du Jardin a restaurant/bar which seemed to be very popular and busy. Obviously we were taking medication for the prevention of malaria, and we found that the horrible side effects of this medicine were alleviated when we drank alcohol, no seriously! After the first few hours sat happily drinking and chatting had passed we decided that it was pretty pointless moving on anywhere else as we were very comfy where we were. We hadn't intended to stay for quite so long but the time just seemed to fly by, there was so much to watch, all these different people coming and going. It wasn't long after we had first arrived in this bar that we realized why it was so popular, and why there was a quick turn around of male customers. It was a pick up joint for 'businessmen' and the local prostitutes! The funny thing was how it was all done, considering that the concerned parties obviously knew what they were there for you'd think it would all be very straight forward and quick. But it took quite a while for the 'couples' to pair up. First the man would sit down at his own table and order a drink, and then after a while he would begin to make eye contact with the lady who took his fancy, and then he would send a drink over to her table, and eventually they would sit at the same table and chat for a while before finally going off somewhere to seal the deal! It almost appeared like a regular normal dating scenario, guess that's one way for the men to ease their conscience! It wasn't usually long before the lady would reappear and sit down and then do it all over again with a new customer. We found it amusing to watch, in fact we ended up spending 11 hours in that bar that night ... it probably had more to do with the ill effects of the anti malaria drugs than the entertainment though, neither of us could be bothered to move, we kept saying just one more drink and then we'll go ... neither of us were even slightly tipsy. I don't think the beer contains much alcohol and we should know because we polished off a lot of the 1 litre bottles of the local Three Horse Beer! We both loved everything about Madagascar, apart from the 'businessmen' and their 'girlfriends', which after a few days makes you feel very uncomfortable, mainly because of the large age difference, these lovely young girls and these awful old men - yuk! They seemed to follow us around too, from the mainland to the Ile Sainte Marie and back again, the same men sometimes with the same girl sometimes with a new one. It makes you feel quite sad but I guess everyone has to make a living. To get away from the sniffles that occurred at the Hotel Raphia we spent the last night at another hotel, an Ibis right in the centre near to the Buffet du Jardin. These large chain hotels are all the same in every country throughout the world but at least you know exactly what you are getting. This hotel had an added extra for us, we asked if we could get up onto the roof and someone kindly unlocked the stairway and we went up and it was well worth it. The view from up there right over Antananarivo in every direction was fantastic, so if ever you are there make sure you go up for a look. Another Hotel worth popping into is the Hotel Colbert, described in our guide book as a throwback to French imperialism at it's best - or worst, depending on your perspective (non-French expats complain to surly staff). It's main competition is the Hilton, but obviously the Colbert had a more unique feel to it, and we loved it. Whenever we travel and whatever hotels we are staying in, be they low budget or top end, we always go in to the 'better' hotels, sometimes just to take advantage of their air conditioning but always to check out the bar! We were treated like royalty at the Hotel Colbert, along with the drinks we ordered we were given a couple of large plates full of snacks, yummy! We had taken another traveller, who we met at the Raphia Hotel, with us and she loved it too, although she was concerned that as we were all rather casually dressed we would be asked to leave! We had popped in to the Hilton too, but only because we had heard that they had an internet service there, which they did ... and lots of lovely air conditioning, and more importantly cakes!

So in case you didn't get it, we LOVE Madagascar and wouldn't hesitate to return there if ever the opportunity arose, fantastic country, fantastic people, fantastic time :)