Day 18: Tuesday 11 Oct
Today, we left Tulear at 8.30am on the VERY long, two day drive back to the capital Tana, from where I would catch my flight back to Nairobi. We planned to drive to Ambalavao for a stopover tonight before continuing onto Tana the next day.
We stopped for lunch at the Zebu Grille in Ranohira, near Isalo National Park, where by an incredible coincidence, I met Thomas and Melanie again who I had met in Andasibe National Park two weeks ago. They'd headed off east to the small island of Ile Sainte Marie off the east coast of Madagascar, whilst I'd headed south. They'd then flown from the island to Tana and then to Tulear and we'd met up again in Ranohira, crazy! They decided they'd head part of the way to Tana and I offered them a lift in my car, which shouldn't have been a problem as I'd paid for the car and was paying for the petrol. They even offered to reimburse some of my costs although I didn't really want anything, the company would have been nice enough.
However, Potsy wouldn't take them unless they pay HIM some extra money! If they paid anyone, it should have been ME they paid since I was paying for the car, driver and petrol, but Potsy was adamant. Another example of Malagasy people trying to screw as much money as possible out of tourists. Thomas and Melanie didn't mind too much because they would have had to pay for a taxi-brousse anyway but I was really pissed off with Potsy, he was a real money-grabbing b*st*rd! Also, I found out that Thomas and Melanie had had "dealings" with Potsy before. In Andasibe NP, whilst I was doing one of my treks, he was offering to drive them to the east coast but I think he wanted too much money or figured he couldn't get back to the NP by the time I'd finished my trek. This brought back a nagging doubt I'd been having during my trip - the seemingly poor fuel efficiency of our car. I'd been wondering if Potsy had been "moonlighting" as a private taxi service whilst I wasn't using the car, which would have been out of order as I was paying for all the petrol. Conveniently, the electronic display of mileage and the fuel gauge in the car was "broken" so I couldn't check.
We eventually reached Ambalavao at about 6pm. Potsy seemed to have two driving speeds, one like a Formula 1 driver, the other like someone driving a milk float. At both speeds, his hand was usually glued to one of his mobile phones. My patience finally flipped this time and I told him to slow down as his tyres were screeching round hairpin bends. Melanie also had a bout of travel sickness, no doubt brought about by the excessive speed round the winding roads. We stayed overnight at the Tropik Hotel, at which I'd stayed on the way down. I had dinner and a couple of beers with Thomas and had an early night as we had an early start the next day.
Day 19: Wednesday 12 Oct
We left the Tropik Hotel at 7.30am in the morning. Thomas and Melanie decided they'd come as far north as Antsirabe with us, and of course, Potsy wanted some money for this. Despite my protestations, Thomas also paid me some money for a share of the petrol and car costs, but he shouldn't have been having to pay twice. In Antsirabe, Thomas and Melanie dropped their bags off at their hotel, then we had lunch and after saying my goodbyes, me and Potsy headed on back to Tana. The roads in Tana were pretty clogged up with traffic when we got there, but instead of dropping me straight back at my hotel (I'd booked a room at Les Flots Bleu near the airport), Potsy made a diversion first to drop some stuff off to a friend of his (which he seemed to have snuck into the boot when no-one was looking), then to pick his wife up, before finally dropping me off at my hotel at 6.30pm. A quick goodbye and I did end up giving him a tip, but considering his conduct and the issues I'd had him (having to pay for some of his food, forgetting to give me back some money I lent him, his bad driving, his possible moonlighting of the car as a taxi, and his charging of Thomas and Melanie for a lift), the tip was a lot smaller than I would have given if I'd had 18 days of exceptional service.
I had my final dinner at the hotel restaurant, and it was perhaps befitting in summing up my evenings during the trip that I was the only one in the large restaurant. There weren't even any annoying French people there.
Day 20: Thursday 13 Oct
So, it was time to say goodbye to Madagascar. With my trip over, I gave up on further attempts to try and speak French. A short taxi ride took me to the airport where, and I shouldn't be surprised at this now, I appeared to be short-changed when exchanging my Ariary back into Euros - the smallest note they had was 20 Euros and rather than giving my excess Ariary back, they just kept it. It was only about $15 worth but it was the principle of the matter, rather than give it back, there mindset was that they'd keep it and say nothing. I eventually boarded my Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi, Kenya, from where I'd be joining a Tucan group tour on Saturday for 4 weeks in East Africa.
So what did I think of Madagascar?
Well, the main reason I visited the country was the wildlife, with about 90% of the animal species endemic to the country (ie. found nowhere else in the world). On that count, the country didn't disappoint. Lemurs are virtually the only large mammals on the island and they came in all shapes, colours and sizes, from the Indri, with its black-and-white markings and teddy-bear face, to the Mouse Lemurs, the smallest primates in the world. Some of the wildlife showcased nature at its strangest - the Giraffe-necked Weevil with its disproportionately long neck, the amazing camouflage of the Leaf-tailed Gecko, the Three-eyed Lizard, and the amazing Chameleons. There were plenty of birds to keep me interested too (although I kept myself to the feathered kind).
The scenery was pretty spectacular too and there was great variety across the few areas of the country that I visited. The hike through Isalo National Park amongst the striated sandstone hills, the lush green valleys and arid, grassy plateau was probably the highlight. The other two National Parks comprised lush rainforest, among the few pockets of habitat remaining to the island's lemurs and other wildlife. Further south, the wonderfully eerie spiny forest was like nothing I'd seen before on any of my travels.
The people on the whole were friendly and welcoming, although I had some bad experiences with those involved in the tourism industry, ie. my driver and some of the National Park guides. In Madagascar, a job in tourism is the holy grail for those after the tourist dollar, but it appears it is these people (well, some at least) who try any means possible to screw as much extra money as possible out of the tourist, in some cases, resorting to unethical methods. It really left an unsavoury taste in my mouth. Poverty was very in-your-face, with many beggars.
Madagascar is, I suppose, a relatively cheap country, but for the individual traveller, maybe not so much. I chose to travel independently because I wanted to plan my own itinerary and thought it would be cheaper than an organised tour (I'd have to check the few tours I did like to see if that would still have been the case by the end of my trip). Hotels rarely had single rooms, so I was paying for a double or twin room all the time. The guide fees in the NPs were the same for a single person as for a group so could add up for the single traveller, although sometimes I did like having a guide to myself as it was quieter and I could enjoy the nature more. In fact, I heard that guides tried to pounce on tourists as soon as they entered a NP to avoid them getting together with others and sharing the guide fees.
Obviously, hiring a car and driver was going to bump up costs a lot but the alternative in Madagascar was using the taxi-brousse and that would have eaten up a lot more time and meant I saw less of the country. My car/driver costs accounted for 50% of my total trip costs. For a couple of people travelling together, the trip would have been very cheap - the car/driver costs would have been virtually the same, a little extra petrol maybe, the accommodation costs the same if sharing, the guide fees the same too. In fact, the only major extra expense would have been food and drink (and of course, getting to the country in the first place).
The food was good, and I didn't have any stomach problems, although in many of the tourist hotels, the selection of dishes was very limited. Taking into account the poor quality of the chicken, it was mainly zebu on the menu for me.
Money was a problem during the trip - ATMs often didn't work, there weren't many of them so you had to plan ahead, and dollars weren't readily accepted, unlike anywhere else in the world where carrying dollars is standard practice. You also had the silly exchange rate which meant having to carry large bundles of notes.
My driver/guide, Potsy, was pretty average I'd say. He'd recommend hotels in the places I stayed and would arrange a suitable guide for me in the NPs. However, in some cases, he was overly pushing in recommending a certain hotel and I felt he was just doing so because it offered a cheap room for himself to stay. His English wasn't great and it was a struggle to have any sort of conversation with him. Of course, he wasn't the person I'd arranged to have driving/guiding me, the original's car had broken down and he had asked Potsy to be my guide instead. If I'd had the time available, I'd have chosen someone else after having the chance to meet them and see how I got on with them rather than have someone lumped onto me. I also had issues with Potsy re. his apparent "moonlighting" of the car as a taxi and his charging of the couple I offered a lift to.
On many occasions, evenings were lonely affairs. I can't remember seeing another person travelling alone, they were all either in couples or tour groups, and it didn't help that as an ex-French colony, the majority of tourists were French. I'd travelled by myself before and although there were the odd evenings by myself, I'd met many lovely people who were sill friends. Madagascar proved to be completely different. It would be a relief sometimes to hear someone speak English. Many times, I wished I was propping up the bar in my local chatting to my friends back home rather than sitting by myself at dinner. After 3 years of travelling the world, was I becoming jaded and tired of travelling? In the short term, this question wouldn't require an answer as my funds were nearly exhausted and my non-stop globetrekking lifestyle would soon (temporarily at least) come to an end. Maybe I'd have to put a lot more thought in my choice of destination and travelling style, I already had lots of exciting ideas for destinations in this respect!
My guidebook stated of independent travellers "what they may miss out on is contact with the local people, and some of the smells, sounds and otherness of Madagascar". I usually like travelling by local transport on my holidays but the public transport issues in Madagascar meant I decided to hire a car/driver. Add in the language difficulties and it would mean I missed out on a lot of this "local contact". Where I did manage to visit a museum or historical site and find out about the different Malagasy tribes, customs and history, I found it very interesting. Maybe a better choice of driver/guide would have helped in that respect.
Overall, a very enjoyable trip, with wonderful wildlife and scenery, but not a lot of socialising. I'd definitely like to come back sometime as there are other areas of the country I'd like to see (such as other-worldly, UNESCO World Heritage-listed Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park) but the difficulty in visiting them makes them very expensive for a single traveller.
Now onwards to Kenya and my East Africa safari tour with Tucan!
Expenses (excluding food, shopping and tips): $242 ($1 = ~2,000 Ar)
Day 18: Tropik Hotel 44kAr ($22), Petrol 85kAr ($42.50)
Day 19: Petrol 65kAr ($32.50), Les Flots Bleu Hotel 61.5kAr ($31)
Day 20: Transfer to airport 12kAr ($6)
2 days car/driver fees €40 = $54 (€1 = $1.35), total $108
Final breakdown of costs:
Car/driver: $918.00 (17 days @ €40 = $54, €1 = $1.35)
Petrol: $238.00
NPs/other visits: $373.50
Accommodation: $526.50 (19 nights, average $27.70/night)
Food and drink: $291.50 (19 days, average ~$15.30/day)
Misc: $ 23.50 ($15 airport taxi, $2.50 SIM, $6 transfer to airport)
TOTAL $2,371.00
Back to Tana and end of trip thoughts
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Antananarivo, Madagascar
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1The Urban Jungle
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3Ranomafana National Park
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4Isalo National Park
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5Sun, Sand, Sea and Sex?
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2025-02-12