Madagascar - Not the Movie!

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Millions of years ago when Gondwanaland decided to split up in the continents we have today it left an island in the middle that we now call Madagascar. Madagascar is the fourth biggest island in the world and just off the south east coast of Africa. I just needed to get that out of the way, because if I mention Madagascar everyone asks me if I enjoyed the animated motion picture. Although the movie was one of my sources of information before I left, I didn’t really expect it to be the same so I also had a lot of help from the Bradt destination guide. Nicolien and I were chosen as the first ones to go and see Madagascar, because no one in the office had been there and we had a lot of requests from clients to add it to our portfolio of African countries. As we always do before starting a new destination we do research and we visit the country and the hotels. Can’t send people to a country you haven’t checked out first.

After an early morning flight departing from OR Tambo at about 9 in the morning we arrived at Nosy Be airport at about 7 at night. Sounds like a long time flying but it normally only takes three and a half hours to get there, but as luck would have it we caught flights via Fort Dauphin which is at the south of Madagascar and then we flew to Antananarivo, where we waited for about three hours and then we went on another flight to Nosy Be. A good way of seeing Madagascar from the air and also to realise how big it actually is. I like arriving at places at night because you try and guess what the place will look like with the small bit you can see at night, but at the end you are always surprised. What I could see was jungle and the people arriving back from work in their main village of Hell-Ville, that’s it. I had to wait in anticipation till the next morning.

Our first night was at the south west of the small island of Nosy Be that is situated just off the coast of North West Madagascar. We stayed at a place called Mansion le Perfumes, which is a small guesthouse with just a few rooms. I was surprised with the size of the room and the view the next morning looking out on a small bay with one of the 50 small islands called Sakkara just in sight on the right. I woke up really early the next morning like a school boy going on his first day to school and went to the beach that was only about 50 meters away. It’s totally different to the beaches of Zanzibar with a lot of rocks here and there, but nice warm and clear water. One of the guests at the guesthouse was already in the sea swimming cooling down after a warm night.

Our busy day started just after breakfast where we were off to look at the hotels on the island. The hotels here are much smaller with the biggest resort being the Amarina Hotel that is situated on the west side of Nosy Be. We had to go there by boat because the roads were still in bad condition after the cyclones earlier in the year. The other smaller hotels were close by the guesthouse where we were staying. They are all much on the same level and all similarly decorated, but well looked after and very tastefully decorated in the local Malagasy style.

The island of Nosy Be is a very poor one where the people are very dependant on the tourism, Ylang Ylang plantations and their own rice fields especially after the sugar plant was closed because of a dispute with the government. This left a lot of Nosy Be people without a source of income and that’s why everyone had to start their own rice farming which explains the many rice fields all over the island. The small island is still very much dominated by the French language and it’s not that easy for South Africans to communicate, but a lot of the hotels and resorts are starting to put all their menus and other signs into English as well. This communication problem I think makes your stay so much more adventurous and the language barrier makes me feel like I am in a land far far away.

We stayed only two nights on Nosy Be and we were off very early the last morning to go back to Antananarivo. The capital of Madagascar that is just called Tana by locals. A City boiling over because of its rich history of kings, queens, wars and castles. The town was named after a 1000 warriors that protected it, if I am not wrong. We didn’t see a lot when we waited at the airport the first day because the airport is situated a few kilometers away from Tana itself and I think we were a bit too afraid of missing our flight. We were picked up as we landed in Tana but not to see the city and all its beautiful old buildings yet, but we were off to the east of Madagascar where the well known Perinet National Park is situated. This transfer was 3 hours through some of the most picturestique towns that is built with red clay and the contrasting green rice fields in the background and then suddenly the narrow roads through passes and mountains, over rivers and past a dam wall. Although a long ride there is enough to see and keep you’re eyes busy all the way. Arriving in the Andasibe area it almost felt like visiting Graskop in Mapumalanga with big evergreen trees all around and the late afternoon mist lying low making it feel like its about 2 hours later than what it really is. We stayed at Vakona Forest lodge, which is situated in the middle of the natural forest with rivers and bridges connecting the pathways from the one room to the other. Dinner was a three course meal that was very welcoming especially after a long day of flying and driving. After the dinner we were off on the nocturnal walk, each person with his or her own torch and camera to see if we can spot the lemurs in the wild. Just 5 meters from the lodge it started to rain but we didn’t turn back and went forth just seeing chameleons and giant green moths. Still worth the walk.

The next morning I was up again to take in as much of the fresh air I could and also to take pictures around the lodge of the bridges and the beautiful orchids. After breakfast we were off again, but this time to visit the lemurs in the park. On our way we visited Lemur Island just outside Vakona, but I will recommend that you visit the island after your visit to the Perinet Park because on the island you get much closer to the lemurs because they are tamed after years staying on an island that’s surrounded by a man made lake. Some of the Brown lemurs will even jump on your shoulder if you get closer. So rather go and see them in the wild first. In the Perinet Park we saw a lot of the same lemurs but what they look like and how they act in the wild. Other than that we saw a ground chameleon and neon coloured frogs. A must if you go to Madagascar! After a visit to the park we were on our 3 hour drive back to Tana.

Once we arrived at Tana, we only had a few hours to drive to the top of the mountain where the castle was situated. Looking over the biggest part of the city. From the top you can see the lake in the middle of the city with the “Black Angel” (Statue that was placed by the king of Madagascar years ago to look after the people of the city) towering out like the Statue of Liberty in New York. Tana is a beautiful city where the different cultures of Madagascar come together: French, African, Malaysian and Malagasy. You can see it in the building styles and the cuisine with French loafs being sold on each street corner. To experience Madagascar I won’t stay at the bigger hotels like the Carlton and the Louvre but choose the smaller ones that’s got so much character and high standards of quality. I would also advise people to rather go and buy local T shirts at the supermarkets then at the markets or the T shirt specialty stores, because the same T shirts are so much cheaper. We stayed at a 3 star hotel not to far away from the airport where we, again had to catch a flight to another small island just off the coast of Madagascar.

After visiting a few other hotels close to the airport we caught our flight to the east of Madagascar where the Pirate island of Sainte Marie was situated. It’s a long narrow island with beautiful beaches and is a Mecca for many snorkelers. The island was still under the ruins and devastation of the cyclone they had in April, but it wasn’t difficult to imagine how beautiful it really is. We stayed at Princess Bora that is just a 5 minute traditional ox wagon drive from the airport (Not for everyone, because it shakes a lot!). A beautiful almost 5 star lodge and they had really good French cuisine and some of the best service you can get. Princess Bora made me think a lot of the up market lodges in the Okavango Delta.

The next morning we were off again to visit the hotels or what was left of them after the cyclones on the island. Again all these lodges where unique to the ones on Nosy Be and a lot of the tourism is focused on the whale season and diving, although this is also a good place to have your beach holiday without the big crowds of Durban. This is the ultimate honeymoon destination because it’s more secluded and exotic than a normal Mauritius honeymoons. Most of the resorts are situated on the west side because of the winds from the Indian Ocean coming from the east. This is also unfortunately where the yearly cyclones come from. I had a bit of time to snorkel before seeing the most beautiful sunset over the channel and the mountains of the Madagascar mainland in the background. Again I will sell Sainte Marie to any South African because it wil appeal to most. Before we knew it we were again back to Tana where we visited 10 hotels before we ended off at our hotel the Pavillon de l'Emyrne. A very nice and unique hotel but we were only thinking of our flight back to Johannesburg that we had to wake up at 03h00 for.

Madagascar is a different destination to the other places we have on our portfolio and I will say a must see for people still looking for that excluded island type destination. I will also say that it will definitely appeal to wildlife, plant and even geological enthusiasts because of all the unique wonders that is scattered all over this beautiful diverse island. Oh yes at least I learned a few words in French and it will be appropriate to use a well known line now: “Bon Voyage!”

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