Travel Blog » Africa » Madagascar

Madagascar Travel Blogs

Background: Formerly an independent kingdom, Madagascar became a French colony in 1896, but regained its independence in 1960. During 1992-93, free presidential and National Assembly elections were held, ending 17 years of single-party rule. In 1997, in the second presidential race, Didier RATSIRAKA, the leader during the 1970s and 1980s, was returned to the presidency. The 2001 presidential election was contested between the followers of Didier RATSIRAKA and Marc RAVALOMANANA, nearly causing secession of half of the country. In April 2002, the High Constitutional Court announced RAVALOMANANA the winner.

Madagascar

Map of Madagascar

Madagascar's Flag

Hostels in Madagascar
Latest Madagascar Blog Entries
Madagascar Photos

By JulieandDarian
June 27th 2008

#49 - Highland villages on the RN7 Africa » Madagascar » Ambositra

Curious village girl
Sakaivo village

Anbositra and the highland villages 22-25 June 2008 Well, do we have some stories to tell about our 2nd week in Madagascar! Bush-taxi trips, pousse-pousses, wild weather, village chiefs, bandits and a unique national celebration made the past week one to remember. Choosing to give the pricy tourist busses the flick, we quickly got the gist of the local bus (aka taxi-brousse/bush-taxi) system and left Antananarivo in our wake, heading south on the smooth and pleasant RN7. Our first stopover was Antsirabe, a large highland town that was in colonial days a weekend destination for th [View Full Entry]

By GScharffenberger
June 25th 2008

Long Absence Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo

Hey all, Very sorry for the extended absence. I had a little while with nothing very exciting going on, as well as being quite sick for the past few days. Here is a short update on what's been going on. Work has been "interesting," to say the least. I had been working on the website for the Ankoay and Carton Rouge projects and finally finished that up. I did run into a bit of a brick wall however. Working in Madagascar is a very different experience. It's been hard getting used to the relaxed time schedule when it comes to meetings [View Full Entry]

By LoneRunner
June 21st 2008

Madagascar Trip June 2008 Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo

View from the Rova
A view of Tana with the Anosy lake and the stadium

One word to describe what i felt is : Wow ! Madagascar got me in my mind and heart. My trip was too short but it was what i could manage, too many responsibilities ! I spent only ten days in Mada but already thinking of another trip there soon. So i started on the 8th June and landed in Tana the same day. Tana is short for Antananarivo, the bustling capital of Madagascar. Weather was quite cool as Tana is around 1300 metres above sea level. I had already booked a room for my first night in a cosy guest [View Full Entry]

By JulieandDarian
June 20th 2008

#48 - Touch down in Madagascar Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo

Taxi rank
Ever wondered where Europe's old cars go when their owners are finished with them

Antananarivo 16 - 20 June 2008 Bang! I was wrenched from a blissful sleep by a sudden pain in my knee, which had slumped into the aisle and copped the full force of the air hostesses drinks cart. ‘So sorry!’ she exclaimed, blinking a hefty set of eyelashes at me. It could be worse, I thought. I could be working, rather than on a plane to Madagascar for 3 weeks. ‘Its okay,’ I squeaked. I should have known it would be a challenging day when it took two hours to check in at Joburg airport, thanks to a downed computer system. [View Full Entry]

By Juan for Africa
June 12th 2008

Madagascar - Not the Movie! Africa » Madagascar

Lemur

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 [View Full Entry]

By GScharffenberger
June 9th 2008

BAREA!! Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo

The Group
Here's a small part of our group that went to the game.

What a weekend! Friday night was a great time at Mojo (the popular ex-pat bar). I've started making friends beyond the couple people I knew before coming. I had a great conversation with two guys, Patrick and Warwick (both are 6'6), and people in the bar thought it was the funniest thing they'd seen in a while. Most Malagasys are quite a bit shorter than the three of us. Everyone I've met here has an incredibly interesting story. Many work for AccessBank (a micro finance company), and many others are involved in projects just like mine. It's pretty interesting coming from [View Full Entry]

By GScharffenberger
June 3rd 2008

Down to Business Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo

Room View

Up until the last entry I had been getting my sea legs and adjusting to life in Madagascar. As of right now, however, no more! I started work yesterday at the Ankoay project. They took no time in giving me plenty to do (including a few hours of work I had to get done at home after I had left the office. All the people working on the project are, as they say, "tres sympas." Dr. Fano is a really enthusiastic (but at the same time very realistic) guy who is managing the whole project. As busy as he is, he [View Full Entry]

By GScharffenberger
May 31st 2008

I went to school here??? Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo

Aurelie et moi

Yesterday was quite the day. I decided that the one thing I wanted to do was to visit the school I attended when I was here. I only went to K-3rd grade, but my memories of the school are as strong as if I had just been there. I walked the two blocks from the house to the American School of Antananarivo, and was immediately overwhelmed. The place had changed so much! Many new buildings had been added (but the place still seemed smaller for some reason), and it wasn't a little five year old me running around, there were new [View Full Entry]

By mrayner
May 30th 2008

Week 2 - Getting in to the Swing Africa » Madagascar

Dolphin Pod

So, I’ve been in Cape Town now for nine days, and have only got the first week at BV blogged. Clearly, I need to write a little less. The rest of the five weeks followed a similar pattern - diving in the morning, workshops in the afternoon, teaching English to the Malagasy EcoGuides (although I didn’t do much of that), and learning Malagasy as well. Generally, afternoons had some kind of maintenance, chores or other duties, but some time to relax too. What I’ll do instead of giving such a detailed week by week description is just talk about the highlights [View Full Entry]

By mrayner
May 30th 2008

Week Three - Laguna Blu Africa » Madagascar

On the Pirogue to Count Sea Cucumbers

April 16 - 22 The highlights this week included an overnight trip to a small village up north by pirogue. While there, we would wait for the low tide at night and collect the sea cucumbers which were maturing in a pen, count and weigh them. It was another beautiful day (all told, there’d only be maybe three brief showers, after that first bad rainstorm at night, during the six weeks) and we arrived just before sundown. Kat and Anita, along with Angelo, the BV staffer whose project it was, cooked a great fish and rice dinner, and then we [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Africa » Madagascar

Madagascar Travel Blogs, page 4

Madagascar Travel Blogs

Madagascar