Madagascar wasn’t a place that had been on my bucket list, but I sometimes like to take the country less traveled, less traveled and far. Madagascar is so far away that getting there was an adventure in itself. As you can imagine, there are no direct flights to Madagascar. I first had to fly to Istanbul where I had a 12 hour layover. Then I took a flight to Madagascar via Mauritius. Fortunately I was able to do a free city tour of Istanbul which included dinner, so that was better than sitting in the airport for 12 hours.
When I finally made it to Madagascar, I had scheduled for a car to pick me up as I find taking a taxi alone in a foreign country stressful. Fortunately my driver was waiting for me when I arrived, and there were no complications getting to the hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, I was extremely exhausted as I felt I hadn’t had proper sleep in two days. I called my mom to let her know I had arrived and went to sleep.
The official trip started the next evening, but I opted to join an optional walking tour of Antananarivo with other members of the tour. We met in the lobby of the hotel and then started our walking tour to the Queen’s Palace. Walking through the city of Antananarivo took a lot of patience and caution. The sidewalks are narrow, busy, steep, and full of holes. Additionally, as we clearly stood out, people and children constantly bombarded us asking for money or trying to sell us something we clearly didn’t need, like a mop or broom. At one point a small boy, maybe 3 or 4 and without shoes, followed us for many blocks wanting money. Antananarivo is an interesting city, but that was enough for me. I was ready to leave the city.
Our trip officially started that evening when we met our guide, Solufu. He is native to Madagascar and became a tour guide years ago on a whim. Originally he was a tour bus driver. The company asked him to fill in as guide at the last minute when the only other two guides on the island were not available. He reluctantly said yes, and he said that first trip did not go well. Being soft-spoken, he said he did a terrible job. I believe him! Fortunately he didn’t quit, and he is a great guide now!
Our first stop outside of Antananarivo was in Toliara, which is on the south western coast. We had to take a 6:30 am flight there which meant we had to be up and ready to go at 3:00 am. It was a quick flight, about an hour, and we got two snacks. Upon arriving we got into 4×4 vehicles and drove about an hour to get to our resort. When we arrived at the resort, it was absolutely beautiful and peaceful! However, we quickly learned that if you stepped foot off the resort onto the beach, you were quickly surrounded by kids or women trying to sell you wooden lemurs and other tchotchkes. We would be at the resort for a few nights, so we quickly planned some activities which included visiting a garden with baobab trees, a boat trip to a mangrove, and whale watching.
To get to the garden, we had to take a zebu cart. That in itself was an adventure. Three of us squished into a small wooden cart that was pulled by two zebus and driven by a young man. The roads in Madagascar are full of potholes and rough so it was quite the ride. Additionally, the zebu near me had stomach issues, and its backside was covered in poop. There was a slight fear that it would get on me!
When we arrived at the garden, a guide welcomed us and took us around talking about the different plants, trees, birds, and lemurs! We were very excited to see our first lemur of the trip. It was a beautiful and unique garden with all the baobab trees. After the tour we took the zebu cart back to the hotel.
That night I enjoyed watching the sun go down.
The next day we went whale watching. Four of us got into a small boat and then went to pick up our guide, a French man who has lived in Madagascar for about 20 years. We took the boat out to sea, a bit further than I would have preferred. The boat was small, the shore was far, and I broke my sunglasses. Whale watching becomes a game of, was that a whale or a wave? And, if I look the wrong way, I might miss something. We did see a handful of humps, we saw tails slap the water, and we finally saw a whale breach near our boat. It was incredible! This was my first time seeing a whale breach.
Our final excursion was a trip in a dugout canoe to visit a mangrove. This ended up being one of my favorite parts of the stay. The boat was made of wood and required three people to make it work. One guide would paddle in the back, another would steer the sail and the third… well, I don’t remember. He was doing something important behind me. It wasn’t the most comfortable boat as you sat on a narrow wooden plank. However, the view was beautiful, and it was interesting to see how they controlled the sail.
The boat trip there was about an hour long ride along the shore. We then arrived at the mangrove, and a large group of fishermen quickly greeted us. Well, greeted isn’t exactly the correct word. There seemed to be some tension between the local fishermen and our guides. They weren’t speaking English so we couldn’t understand them. After some back and forth for a few minutes, we were finally able to go. Apparently the mangrove is now a protected area, and we needed to pay a fee in the local village to enter. Our guide agreed to pay the fee, and we headed on our way.
The mangrove was pretty, but not too interesting. There were birds, trees, and a lot of little crabs. On our way back to the canoe, we were once again met by the local fisherman who then started following us. It would be a lie to say it wasn’t uncomfortable. We walked past our canoes to see the mangrove on the other side. We then saw wild pigs and started walking towards them. Continuing to walk we ended up in the local village which was built along the shore. No longer were we surrounded by a mangrove and fishermen, but a huge village of women, children, houses, and more wild pigs.
As we started walking along the shore, we were quickly bombarded by local children. They weren’t trying to sell us anything as this wasn’t a typical tourist spot. However, there were some children that did hold their hand out like they wanted money. The children all quickly surrounded one of the women in our group as she loved engaging with children. She would say a word, and they would all repeat it back to her. They followed her all the way down the beach. It was fun to see that they were still able to connect, laugh and find joy despite their inability to communicate.
When we got to the other end of the beach (where they had moved our canoe), I found out we took this walk because our guide was paying the mangrove fee. However, he wasn’t back yet, and we couldn’t leave without him. The group of children then decided to come and hang out with me. It was fun trying to engage with them. I would draw pictures in the sand, and they would all copy me. I played some music on my phone, and we danced. They were curious about my hair and wanted to touch it.
Through my tour guide, I was able to ask questions about school and told them I was a teacher. They go to school, but school was currently on a break. They sang the Malagasy alphabet for me, and we took a few photos. It was then finally time to leave. So we said goodbye, and I got on our boat and started our way back.
The problem was that the wind was now blowing in the wrong direction, and our boat started to take on water at one point. A boat trip that was supposed to take an hour ended up taking something close to three. The boat had to zig and zag and zag and zig. One guy spent half the time using a plastic soda bottle to scoop the water out of the boat. It felt like we were going to be stuck in the Mozambique Channel for a long time. Every time I looked at the shore, we never seemed to move. Fortunately the sail provided some shade, but sitting on a narrow wooden plank for hours is far from comfortable. Before we did our final zigging and zagging, Solufu called the hotel and placed a hamburger order for me, so lunch was waiting for me when we finally made it back!
Toliara was a good start to our Madagascar trip. The next morning we would leave the coast and head inland. We would also be traveling via a bus the rest of the trip, which meant long days on the road ahead, full of potholes, bush toilets, and incredible views from the road. Stay tuned!
Sounds like quite the adventure just to get to Madagascar. That’s a heck of a long layover, but glad to hear you were able to do some sightseeing in Istanbul for part of it. Baobab trees are beautiful. The boat ride back sounds like it was a bit stressful and uncomfortable, but it makes for a funny story afterwards!
Whenever things don’t go as planned, I always tell myself that it will make for a better story! I also tend to remember those moments more than the others. Now that I’m back on dry land, I can say it was a great experience. (I might have felt otherwise in the moment!)