It's been a full day in Madagascar, and while I haven't yet fallen in love with the country, I'm hoping that once I leave capital city Antananarivo (which I have only just figured out how to pronounce) and start seeing some of the countries wildlife and scenery I'll finally see what the hype of Madagascar is all about.
The thing is, travelling through Madagascar is hard work. I've done my fair share of long journeys via bus, recently through Namibia, but the roads in Madagascar are barely even roads. From what I've heard the intense rains the country receives destroy any roads that are created. So I'm not exactly looking forward to the 650km journey, which is supposed to take around 15 hours, that I'm catching tonight. Its a night bus that leaves at 6pm for Morondava, a town on the west coast of Madagascar and is close by to the Avenue of the Baobabs, ie. the whole reason I'm going there.
I woke up at 5:30am this morning and decided I wanted to go to Morondava today rather than spend another day in Tana. A taxi-brousse (a minibus) during the day to Morondava would not be feasible, especially as they arrive after dark, and once it is past a certain time there are no cabs to take you to your accomodation. Also, apparently if you arrive after midnight, which is likely, you have to sleep on the bus until morning! I was advised to go to this one taxi-brousse station to go and buy my ticket for a bus in the evening. After finding a cab driver to take me, who only spoke French and Malagasy, he took me to the station. It was a bit of a slow journey, and we were stuck behind a taxi-brousse for most of the trip, one of which was packed completely full, to the point where there was a guy literally hanging out the back with the door open.
Arriving at the taxi-brousse station was not a fun experience. As soon as we got there touts were coming up to the cab trying to take me to their bus. I had my taxi driver take me to the one that I had written on a piece of paper that my accomodation had recommended me, but I'm not entirely sure if it was the right one. People were crowding around me as I was buying my ticket and weird guys kept touching me on the arms (not like just brushing their hand on me, putting their hand on my arms and leaving it there) which made me very uncomfortable and very annoyed. This was made worse when I was told the trip would cost 250,000 arirary, around $100! I didn't do the conversions fast enough in my head (I didn't really want to bring my phone out which is what I had been using), but I wasn't even carrying that much cash on me. I was a bit wary of being scammed, but they did have 250,000 written next to the Morondava sign so I took it to be true. In the end I paid 100,000, but on my ticket (which is written in Malagasy), it costs 50,000. So I basically paid double for the ticket and I think the 250,000 fare was for something else. I was quite mad at myself, and the whole situation, and it has made me want to leave Antananarivo even more now. It's an okay city to look at, with interesting colonial buildings, but the whole city is too chaotic for me.
After coming back from the taxi-brousse station I had one last walk around Tana. It was warm, I was sweaty, and I didn't find the supermarket I was looking for so I could buy snacks for tonight. Madagascar has been a bit more difficult than expected, and one of the first countries I've visited where English is not widely spoken. But once I finally get to see some wildlife it should all be worth (so if my parents are reading this [which I know you are]), please don't be too concerned about me just yet.
Lets see how this bus trip goes???
Edit @ 6pm: Sooo after looking at my bus ticket a second time it appears as though my bus ticket is for tomorrow, despite thinking I was buying it for tonight (I really should learn some French). Was upset for a moment because I thought it meant I would have to spend another full day in Tana, which just seemed like a waste of time considering I only have two weeks in the country. But the girl at reception looked at my ticket, called the number on it and established that the bus to Morondava leaves at 6am tomorrow morning. This has made me considerably happier as I'll actually get to see the Madagascan countryside and it should be safer travelling during the day anyways (still mad about getting ripped off on my ticket though). And I get to sleep in a bed tonight!
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