Blogs from Madagascar, Africa - page 5

Monday 26 February – Mitsinjo Park near Andasibe-Mantadia (Perinet Park) We woke to a thick fog which cleared by 8.00am as we drove towards Mitsinjo Park near Andasibe-Mantadia. The weather has been moderately hot and humid during the day and coolish at night but not cold enough for a fleece. We had dodged the rain in Tana. NB: for those of you who want all the creature comfort of 4-5 star services for a holiday, I would suggest you don’t come to Madagascar. Our bed was even harder than the ones in Japan but no problems sleeping. Shower was cold, but they have fixed it. Our room was very clean in Antsirabe. Madagascans are very friendly and keen to help. As tourism is growing in popularity, facilities will only improve with time. Wifi and other technology ... read more

Saturday 24 February 2018 – to Madagascar We were on time leaving our lovely honeymoon suite to go to the Johannesburg International Airport after breakfast to fly to Antananarivo, known by the locals as Tana. After we had breakfast at the airport, and sorting out that we had been dropped at Terminal B Domestic instead of Terminal B international as we checked in at the domestic (with the insistence of an airport attendant that all bags, both internationally and domestically used the same counter), and then lining up for 15 minutes only to be told we were in the domestic security line and the international security was at the other end of the building, we boarded the plane on time. It was a very different setup. Two and a half hours later, we flew into the ... 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

So we figured out how to get to the middle of nowhere and guess what, there are villages there. So we traveled via taxi-brousse, without bikes, to a fork in the road, got off and then walked 10 kilometers to the town of Ampefy on Lake Itasy. We spent 2 nights in very basic accommodation and went for a long walk around the lake through villages and lush farm land. Lots of local people, children and zebu carts. The guide for the next part of our journey found us using vaziha (pronounced waza) radar. Vaziha means white person, so basically he asked around town until we were tracked down. We were picked up early in the morning on July 2nd by our guide from Remote River Expeditions, then we proceeded to travel to the middle of ... read more

43 hours after leaving our apartment, we walked into Tana-Jacaranda Hotel. The good news, we made it. The bad news, our bikes didn't. Not quite sure where they are, but hopeful they'll be catching up with us soon. We had a lovely lay over in Dublin, took the bus into town, walked around a bit, and had a Guinness and some pub food before heading back to the airport. We landed on the day of the pride parade, so the city was draped in rainbow flags and the streets were full of colorful (literally) folks. We continued our journey via Addis Ababa, and eventually boarded our flight and took off for Antananarivo. Upon arrival, we endured the 2 hour process of getting our visa stamps and waiting to pass through the one and only customs clerk ... read more