The Pleasant (And Not Spewy) Trip from Morondava To Antananarivo

I had been dreading the trip back to Antananrivo after the horrific trip I had on my way to Morondava and was weighing up my options. There was the taxi-brousse for about 45,000 ariary (about $19aud), flying with Air Madagascar for around 600-700,000 ariary, or hiring a private car and driver for 700,000 ariary ($285aud). Should I risk spewing to save over $250?? I couldn't really justify spending that much on the plane ticket when I was planning another (pricy) internal flight in Madagascar, so it seemed like all I could do was book a taxi-brousse ticket and hope.

I was searching for a slightly nicer taxi-brousse than the one I had arrived on, and stumbled into the the tourist information center at Morondava where I was told that tourists often use the Sonatra Plus service. She told me where to go and buy a ticket, and where the pharmacy in town was. I had resolved that I was not going to be able to get on a taxi-brousse again unless I had taken some kind of pill - one to prevent me from spewing, or at least something that will make me sleep the whole trip.

At the pharmacy I was greeted by several people behind the counter, and after asking about motion sickness pills and motioning to my stomach, I think the lady was under the impression I was pregnant and wanted something for morning sickness! I had to convey that I wanted them for a taxi-brousse ride and she quickly understood. They were selling each pill individually (out of the box) for 1700 ariary each (70cents), so I bought three and was on my way. Feeling slightly better I made my way to the office of the Sontatra Plus taxi-brousse service and bought myself a ticket to Tana for 45,000 ariary, where I requested a seat in the row behind the driver and next to the window (just in case). I was told that the bus would leave at 5:30am the following morning and I should be there at 5am.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at a restaurant leeching off their free wifi (because the power was still out at my accomodation), before returning to Hotel Trecicogne. My trip to Morondava was certainly made by the kind and attentive staff at this hotel who made sure I was well looked after there and I was a bit sad to say goodbye. For $10aud a night it was very good value. I organised a taxi to take me to the taxi-brousse office in the morning and sure enough when I left my room at 4:45am there was one waiting for me. 

taxi-brousse

 A dog at lunch I tried to take photos of 

 Sonatra Plus was strangely efficient for a taxi-brousse agency. They labeled my bag and put it on top of the vehicle, even giving me a receipt for my luggage (like you would checking in luggage on a plane)! What further astounded me was that the bus even had wifi, I was using my phone while waiting for the bus to leave and the guy at the office told me to give him my phone so he could put the password in. On their signs they had said that they had wifi on board, but I hadn't actually believed this - it was Madagascar after all. The only other place I've had wifi on a bus was from Abu Dhabi to Dubai where I was on an Etihad bus ... and this is quite a different place to the United Arab Emirates.

We left exactly at 5:30am and I proceeded to fall asleep until 8am when we had a quick stop. The motion sickness pills had made me very drowsy so I slept for at least half the journey, which I don't normally do on day time trips. This taxi-brousse trip was a million times better than my last, even without the fact that I wasn't spewing this time. The driver was very gentle, not doing the speed up, brake and swerve fast thing around potholes my last driver had done (that made my stomach very ill), but went very kindly around curves and holes in the road. It was actually such a pleasant journey I'm a bit sad I was sleeping for most of it! The bus was only half full as well, and the driver had two assistants with him. How were they making much money with 8 passengers for less than $20aud each?

After a quick stop for lunch (I actually ate food on this bus ride!) at around 1pm, we were pulling into the bus station at around 7pm. Getting into the city center of Tana was very, very slow as traffic was hectic but we got there. This was the same area I had caught my first bus, but the Sontra Plus office was not a shack on the side of the road, but actually a decent terminal, with an indoor waiting area. I can only imagine how much more I would have enjoyed my trip to Morondava if I had gotten on a bus with them, I mean I probably would have still been sick, but still.

My boarding pass and (very large) Madagascan visa ... why they needed to take up a whole page of my passport I don't know

Caught a cab to Madagascar Underground, the backpackers I had been staying at, and slept for a good 9 hours, which was a bit odd considering how much I slept during the day. Proceeded to then catch a taxi to the airport to catch a flight to Nosy Be (pronounced Noosey Bae), an island in the north of Madagascar where I will spend my birthday week at a beach resort with its own private beach (which apparently is also good for snorkelling on!). The taxi ride to the airport was not without its difficulties though. I had walked to the taxi stand and negotiated a ride for 40,000 ariary. I allowed around one hour to get to the airport, even though it is only 16km away as Tana traffic can be bad. Luckily I did because 15 minutes into the trip we broke down and the taxi had to be pulled over. I had a brief 2 minutes where I was stressing about missing my flight (should I hail another taxi?? There aren't any around!), but he got the car going again and we started moving again. Very slowly however as we were moving through some thick traffic, but we got to the airport a bit after 10am.

Checking in with Air Madagascar was easy and took 2 minutes, with everyone in the line before me taking at least 15 minutes to get their boarding pass (I assume because I was using my passport and there were Madagascan residents?). I had heard that Air Madagascar is basically the taxi-brousse of the sky, but our flight left on time and arrived on time in Nosy Be as well.

 In flight snack ... salted peanuts and raisons (?!)

I had an airport transfer arranged by Anjiamarango Beach Resort where I am staying for the next 6 days. It's a secluded resort on Nosy Be away from the city center where they have their own beach. I was greeted with a fresh pineapple juice and taken away to my bungalow which overlooks the sea. The beach isn't the nicest, but is pretty decent, and they have a cool infinity pool. The plane tickets to Madagascar were a 21st birthday present from my parents, staying a nice hotel for a week is my present to myself (though to be honest it's not that expensive, $55aud a night which I think is a good deal, considering I spent $80 for a much smaller hotel in Abu Dhabi (location I guess)).

Anyays going to spend the week evening out the weird tan lines I have on my feet (and on my back now too), as well as snorkelling at some of the islands near Nosy Be and hopefully can spot a few more lemurs!