Blogs from Antsirabe, Madagascar, Africa

Wednesday 28 February – drive from Antsirabe to Morondava Today was going to be another driving day but longer – around 500kms. After breakfast and checking out of the Hotel Royal Palace. On the edge of the city, as we drove out, we saw the only beer factory in Madagascar. It was the Three Heads Beer factory which was founded in 1956. Beer is very cheap (in our terms) in Madagascar – just over $1.00 AUD for 650mls. You can buy it from a shop for 1000 Ar ($0.45 AUD for 650 mls). We then completed our drive through the city then continued along the productive, volcanic valley for about an hour. We saw extensive erosion and mud slides and saw the destruction of a cyclone which hit the Island 6 weeks earlier. Rivers had washed ... read more

Wow, so a lot has happened since the last update... 7/15/17 We decided we were well enough to head out on the bikes. We had asked a local guy who reportedly knew the roads very well and he assured us that our selected route could be done in a day by bikes. So feeling confident and ready to ride, we headed out of Morondava in the direction of Belo sur Mer around 6:30am. We caught the sunrise outside of town and really enjoyed the first 15 miles. Some of it on the highway with lots of other bikes and zebu carts, some of it dirt road through local villages and farms and a supersweet 'this is biking in Madagascar' river crossing. After the river crossing the next 10 miles or so were okay. Mostly rideable with ... read more

Antsirabe is the third largest city in Madagascar and the capital of the Vakinankaratra region. The city has population of over 180,000. In Madagascar, Antsirabe is known for its relatively cool climate, its industry and the high concentration of pulled rickshaws or "pousse-pousses", amongst other things. This info coming from wikitravel, so now to get there we have to come back to Tana from Andasibe, as the road only goes that way, along the way we have to pick up Misa, our back up guide(in training). She is still in training and Gary, the owner of Remote River Expeditions asked me if it's ok is she joins us, I said no big deal, we picked her up in the outskirts of Tana before heading west. The scenery is filled with ricefields, and zebu, similar to cows ... read more

After the chaos of our Tana departure, the trip to Antsirabe is fairly orderly. The road is in excellent condition and it's its constant meanderings around the hills of the Central Highlands that stretch out the journey time. Of course we have a totally unnecessary food break, but it's good to be reminded at times that I'm still in Africa. We pass numerous examples of terracing, as well as the curiously square buildings that speak of Asia rather than the circular affairs I've been used to seeing over the last few months. I spot adverts for Baby Foot, which I guess must be the local expression for foosball. I'm surprised by the number of cyclists on the road, given some of the gradients, but the tarmac's so good that going by bike must be an attractive ... read more

Geo: -20.5183, 47.4197... read more