Madagascar Stories


Happy Independence Day, Madagascar!

I arrived back in Antananarivo just in time for Independence Day - July 26.  The festivities actually started on the 25th with the longest fireworks show I have ever seen.  It be honest, after about 45 minutes I got cold and went inside!  But it was great to get to watch it from the balcony of my hotel which is very close to the lake where they were se...


Finally... a good bike!

From Ambalavao, I decided to head to Antsirabe, a town about three hours south of the capital that I had heard positive things about.  I had about a week left in the country and I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  After investigating a bit about a popular three day dugout canoe trip down a river, I opted to just explore the town for a few days and ...


From the Serengeti plains to Yosemite!

I was very excited to get back to Ambalavao and organize a trek in Parc National d'Andringitra.  I knew it wasn't going to be cheap but the photos I had seen were spectacular so I didn't really care.  The flat, golden, grassy plains of the southeast felt like I was back in the Serengeti and the mountains around Ambalavao looked similar to Yosemite with ...


Fresh fish dinner for under a buck!

One of the more visible testaments to the poverty, and perhaps also the wide division between the rich and poor here, are the "pousse-pousse" drivers.  Literally meaning "push-push", these are basically rickshaws like you'd see in India but most of them aren't powered by bicycles, but by barefooted (sometimes in flip flops) guys that run to get you to y...