Road trip in Madagascar

We wanted to get from the Indian Ocean (east coast) to the Mozambique Channel on the west coast in a day. The road between Sambava and Ankify was a dirt road, but that is the rule rather than the exception in Madagascar so we didn't think much of it. In order to get the 200 miles from A to B we had two options - hire a private 4WD truck to take us there in a day or take the cheaper, but more adventurous, taxi brousse (many do not have 4WD). The first option would take about 10 hours and the second would take about 24 hours. We opted for the faster truck in order to gain one more day on the island of Nosy Be. In many ways I wish we had chosen the taxi brousse experience but I'm fairly certain that my bladder was really happy we decided on the truck. The man we dealt with in Sambava to hire the truck assured us we would have an English speaking driver. Nope. Our driver didn't speak a lick of English and he chewed on khat all the time to keep himself awake. But he seemed nice enough even though he drove like a bat outta hell.

We had heard there would be some mud and puddles on the road, but that it was nothing the truck couldn't handle. The road is actually looking quite nice here for us and the zebu herders on the road. At this point I was naively thinking to myself - "jeez, it is only 200 miles and we are flying - we should be there in no time right?" Hmmmm.

Drainage problems were clearly one of the bigger issues facing this "road". And why pay to purchase or rent big machinery to dig proper ditches when you have cheap labor? We passed several road crew camps - these were just some tarps tied up to provide shade and many men (all men) hand digging ditches along the roadside. I wonder if they dig new ditches each year after the rainy season ends?

Now I had a firm understanding of why it was going to take us 10 hours to cover 200 miles. At the end of the day, it ended up taking us 13 hours. We passed several taxi brousses completing this drive - the vans (these were not 4WD vans - they were little Toyota Hiaces, like the van Jay and I lived in while in New Zealand) were bursting with people and top-heavy with anything you can imagine tied to the roof of the van. There were two men holding onto the outside of the van so they could easily jump off whenever a large puddle, errrr, lake was encountered. These men walked into the lake to determine how deep it was and to determine the best route for the van. Every now and then the van would get stuck and people would pour out of the van to push it through the mud and water. Then they would all pile back in and ride until the next lake and then start the process all over again.

 Video of part of the drive - the conditions were even worse than the video implies! I promise! Imagine this for 13 hours. (p.s. we are not responsible for the music, that was all the driver's choice and we needed to keep him happy)

 Passing small African villages along the way

 An example of the top heavy vehicles we passed on the road

Finally! Pavement! This is a funny little photo but you can see the man is biking along with his catch of the day.

We stayed at this place in Ankify - the hotel was deserted except for the local dogs and cats. It was a huge but totally empty resort. Strange - but what a beautiful spot! After 13 hours in a bouncy truck, we didn't care and took the first room we saw.

 Lovely breakfast in the morning. The honey in Madagascar is to die for.

After breakfast we walked from the hotel to the ferry in Anfiky. A million men all surrounded us trying to get us to take their fast boat to the island of Nosy Be. I took this photo when we had finally decided on a boat that was willing to give us a decent price and we were watching the show from the seats in the boat.

Once we made it to Nosy Be, we wandered around the streets of the main town called Hellville. I couldn't help myself - I had to take a shot of all the jackfruit on the street by the old car.

The hotel we were staying at on Nosy Be was far away from the hustle and bustle of any town, so we needed to get out enough money to cover the cost of four days lodging, meals, and diving (no one takes credit cards in this country). Madagascar could use a larger currency denomination - our wallets were loaded and this is only the equivalent of about $90 US. Pretty funny.

Next up - diving and Lokobe Nature Reserve! We have to get in the water anytime we are near it and diving in Madagascar did not disappoint. Nor did all the marine life we saw from the boat, like this minke whale.