Madagascar Tourists

Madagascar.

Tourists in Madagascar.

That's us! Just to prove that we were there. Travel in Madagascar is never easy. Roads collapse, bridges get washed away. Many roads in remote areas are just dust trails and it is necessary to cover your mouth when travelling to prevent inhalation of large quantities of red dust. The drivers are used to travelling long distances each day to get you from A to B. and they will stop for frequent breaks or photo opportunities. However it is advisable not to drive at night as there are literally too many people and animals walking the roads in pitch black conditions and an accident is bound to happen. We have driven hundreds of miles over all sorts of roads in Madagascar and have had only one road accident and a couple of punctures. That's not bad going, especially the punctures as I would get more of them on Ireland's roads which are supposed to be way better.

You will always get a good reception in the rural areas of Madagascar where the locals go out of their way to even welcome you into their homes. I cannot recall anyone in Europe ever inviting me into their homes in all my years of travel there. In a way Madagascar reminds me of the way Ireland used to be 20 or 30 years ago, where you got a genuine welcome wherever you travelled. I hope the traditional Malagasy welcome never changes because it is one of the charms of the place. Tourists are commonly called Vazahas which is possibly a slightly derogatory term. I have asked what it means and been told it means foreigner but it can also be translated as "he who has money, owns a car, a well built house and has a good looking wife"! However I do get the impression that it is a slightly affectionate term used by the Malagasy to label all foreigners. We produced howls of laughter once by calling a bunch of Japanese eclipse chasers "Vazahas" from the window of our vehicle as we drove past them. They laughed, their drivers laughed and our drivers laughed so much they nearly crashed. So a word that produces so much hilarity between so many different races cannot be all that bad. Rest assured you will be called this name by tiny children who give the impression that is the one and only word they know and possibly the first word they learn to say. Just smile back and wave. The grin which will be returned in your direction is well worth whatever the word means.

As mentioned elsewhere, speaking a little French goes a long way towards helping you make your way around Madagascar, although English is becoming more common. Learn some of the Malagasy words for common phrases,like "Veloma" which means "Goodbye" or "Misaotra" which means "Thank you". You will also need to get your head around the ridiculously large wads of Ariary, the local currency, which you will get when you change your Euros or Dollars into cash. There is no money bag on the market which will hold all the notes the bank gives you. We felt ridiculous walking out of the bank the last time we changed money. Even though we were prepared for the large wads of cash we still did not have enough pockets and bags to put it all. I felt guilty walking through the line of Malagasy workers waiting to cash their wage cheques in the bank. I had more money for 3 weeks in the country than they would earn in a year or more in many cases. The only time I have seen Malagasy people look ill at ease with tourists is when you drag out these large bank rolls to pay for a Three Horses Beer or a small carving in a market somewhere. Split your money up into different storage areas around your person or amongst your luggage. The Malagasy are by and large very honest in my experience. I left a camera bag, complete with cameras x 2 and money, in a market one day and walked away not missing it at all. After a few minutes a young Malagasy boy of about 13 or 14 years of age ran up behind me, tapped me on the shoulder and handed me my bag. I was shocked, firstly because I hadn't missed it (probably the rum the night before) and secondly because he had returned it intact and flatly refused to take a tip for being so honest. He told me he was happy to help. Of course I checked to see if everything was still in the bag after he was gone and all was intact. All this succeeded in doing was making me feel miserable for doubting the young man. He had walked away happy at doing a good deed, he thought he had made me happy by returning my property, instead I felt bad because I had doubted him. Ah the western mind is difficult to understand at times.

There are plenty of web sites advising you on what vaccinations to take before you go to Madagascar. It is difficult to avoid getting ill at some point on these trips no matter how careful you are. The mossies do bite hard, the scorpions do sting, there are no poisonous snakes although they do bite, don't play with the local dogs no matter how cute they look and don't ever try and pat a Ring Tailed Lemur..

Click on the photos button above left to see our images of Vazahas in Madagascar