Madagascar
Introduction
Facts
- Climate
- Peope
- Language
- Religion
- Food
- Transport
Travel Tips
Itinerary
INTRODUCTION
Madagascar, the world's fourth-largest island, lies in the Indian Ocean, separated from Mozambique on the African continent. The country has almost the same size as France.
Remarkable are Madagascar's diversity of landscapes and its unique flora and fauna. Within just 650 km, the terrain changes from long stretches of windswept coastline to lush rainforests, cool central highlands, and rugged canyon country reminiscent of the American south-west. The island is home to an assortment of plants and animals, which have evolved separately from those on the African mainland; in fact, most of Madagascar's plants and animals are endemic to the island. Over half of the world's chameleon species are found in Madagascar, and they have come to represent the country almost as much as its lemurs (monkeys).
Madagascar has several dozen national parks and reserves covering approximately 3 % of the country's area. These parks are available with a visitor permit and often is it obligatory to hire a guide. This country is an experience for nature lovers!
FACTS
CLIMATE
Because of its altitudinal variations and north-south extent, Madagascar experiences a variety of climatic conditions. This results that the most of the precipitation falling on the east coast, the eastern slopes and in the far north while areas south-west of the highlands remain dry and arid for much of the year. Most of Madagascar is characterized by distinct wet and dry seasons. Officially, the wet season lasts from November to March and the dry season is from April to October.
PEOPLE
The inhabitants of Madagascar are known in English as Malagasy. The country has an estimated total population of about 14.7 million. The Malagasy are descended primarily from Malay-Polynesian mariners who arrived on the island about 2000 years ago. Although the country shares one culture and language, the Malagasy people are officially divided into 18 tribes, whose boundaries are roughly based on old kingdoms rather than on ethnic characteristics.
As tourists we had a very good impression of the Malagasy people. They were friendly and hospitable. Mostly they respect white persons and they are not just watching after your money like in many poor countries. Of course there are several of kids and poor people whish are begging, but this is mainly in the towns.
LANGUAGE
Madagascar was a French colony between 1896 and 1960, this results that there are two official languages: Malagasy is the everyday spoken language while French is often used for literary, business and administrative purposes. The number of French speakers diminishes away from urban areas and tourist attractions. Relatively few people speak English outside major tourist and population centers.
RELIGION
During the 19th century, Madagascar was the site of extensive Christian missionary activity. Today, at least 45% of Malagasy are Christian, divided between Protestantism and Catholicism. Close to 10% of the population is Muslim. They are concentrated in the northern and western parts of the country. Hindus and Buddhists constitute about 1% of the population.
FOOD
Dining in Madagascar is generally enjoyable and inexpensive. There are a wide range of cuisine options, both Western and local. Local food is rice served with boiled zebu, fish or chicken. Normally you have to ask for vegetables. The rum is excellent. It is often enhanced by the addition of vanilla beans, sugar or even lemon grass.
TRANSPORT
Traveling in Madagascar is often not easy: roads are rough, transport infrastructure is minimal and distances are long.
The main public transport are "Taxi-brousse" (bush taxi), whish are used between cities and towns. They transport all from people and animals to rice sacks! The taxi-brousse are slow, unreliable, uncomfortable and sometimes unsafe, but they are a part of daily life in Madagascar, a good way to get to know the country and people.
The rail system, made up of over 1000 km of tracks is originally consisted of four main lines.
Air Madagascar is the only flight carrier providing domestic commercial services, and it has an extensive network of flights throughout the country.
Another transport possibility is to rent a car.
TRAVEL TIPS
The best way to explore the island is at a slow pace (which you will be forced to take anyway). Some roads can be inaccessible in the rain season. Concentrate on getting to know the Malagasy, on immersing yourself in Madagascar's culture and on discovering the island's natural wealth.
We would recommend a visit of minimum three months, if you really want to know the different parts of the country and the Malagasy people. Each climatic region in Madagascar is associated with a different vegetation type, which is really worth to see.
ITINERARY
Time: 22 of February - 30 of March 2002
We took a non-stop flight from Paris to ANTANANARIVO (capital, normally called Tana) with Air Madagascar. We got unexpected picked up at the airport from our in advanced reserved hotel. The town it self has quite a good standard with clean streets, nice houses and little traffic. Every day it is a huge market in the center with all kind of food and souvenirs.
After two days we took a taxi-brousse to MAHAJANGA. We drew through untouched landscape. That means it looked untouched, but in the reality the hole area was burned down for some years ago. About 70 % of the forest in Madagascar is burned, because of farmer fields. Mahajanga is a nice town, but it's not much to see there and no beaches. It was very hot - about 40°C!
On the way back to Tana we visited a NATIONAL RESERVES AMPIJOROA, where we stayed at an idyllic camping. With a guide we went to see wild Lemurs (monkeys) and crocodiles. We also saw our first gecko, chameleons, spider (climbing at the back of our guide!!) and a real Goa-snake!
Our next excursion was a pirogue-journey at the TSIRIBIHINA RIVER. To get there we took taxi-brousses back to Tana - Antsirabe - Miandrivazo. After some organization, we could at least start our adventurous tour. An empty trunk of a tree should carry four people (pirogue, guide + us two), water and food for three days and our luggage! For the night we camped in small, poor villages. They were very fascinated to see white people. During these days we saw all kind of birds, Lemurs, a crocodile and chameleons.
The amazing river journey was unfortunately finish and we continued by car down to MORONDOVA. At the way we drove through the famous "Allé of Baobabs" - with these special and huge trees. We returned by bike the day after to make some pictures. Morondova is quite a boring town, the beaches are beautiful but the water was dirty and unclear. The water temperature was actually too hot to enjoy a bath!
We planned to take a sailboat with a guide along the coast down to Ifaty. But after five days the weather conditions was not getting better, so we decided to take a plane to TOLIARA.
North of Toliara, we stayed at a dream beach in IFATY. We were almost alone at the idyllic beach with our tent. The water was very clear and we saw all kind of fishes while snorkeling.
Next stop was the NATIONAL PARK ISALO. For five days we went on a trekking with two guides in wild and variety nature. We walked through huge canyons with flowing crystal-clear water, endless straw steppes surrounded of bizarre rock formations. Because of the heat we could have a fresh bath every day in the several natural swimming pools.
In the direction back to Tana we decided to visit the NATIONAL PARK ANDRIGINTRA. We had to walk 16 km to reach the village where we should stay. It was a gorgeous place with rice fields all over surrounded by steep mountains. With a guide we climbed PIC BOBY, 2'658 m. (second highest peak in Madagascar) and the tour took us 12 hours.
The last place to visit was the town AMBOSITRA where they had plenty of souvenirs-factories. Special nice are the wood-products.
After five weeks traveling we returned to TANA where we enjoyed our last days before returning to Europe. A total different world!
