From the sacred stone

First taste of Madagascar

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December 11th 2010
Another late arrival sees us haggling yet again over a taxi fare, this time in French outside Antananarivo's Ivato airport. We settle on 30,000. Sound a little expensive? Fortunately we're dealing in Ariary and 10,000Ar is about NZ$7. At this time of night its a fair price to the central city. We're staying in the slightly seedy part of Haute-Ville and apart from a few girls of the night on the ... read more

Africa » Madagascar » Antananarivo

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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 seco... ... read more