Art Nomads in Madagascar: It called to us as a dream destination. We dreamt of impenetrable rainforests, majestic Baobabs, soaring mountains, lush valleys. An exotic land, with exotic animals, many found ONLY on the island… singing to us that we’ve got to “move it, move it”.

No, we didn’t expect that last part. We DID hope to see lemurs, and several kinds, at that.

In October and November of 2024, we spent more than a month in Madagascar, both on the main island and on Nosy Be.

Given logistics considerations (Getting to Madagascar, below) we decided to split our South Africa adventure(s) with a visit to The Red Island (so called because so much of the soil is rich in iron).

We did some research (not enough, mind you) and decided based on our findings to book a private driver & guide for 3 weeks, a self-catered week of relaxation on Nosy Be, and a self-catered week to/from/in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. That’s not how it turned out: ***Our detailed itinerary is here***.

What follows is a sample of the reality/ies we experienced over five weeks. Here’s what you can expect when traveling to Madagascar, and our tips to help you plan and enjoy the very best Madagascar visit.

A (very) brief history of Madagascar

Madagascar, a group of islands off Africa’s eastern coast, was first settled by peoples from Indonesia and Africa, who grouped together in roughly 11 regional “tribes”. Despite the current government’s wishes, (it promotes one unified Malagasy people) people do still tend to identify with, and practice some of the customs of, their family’s tribe, regardless of where they themselves now live.

Partially as a result of inter-tribal conflict, Madagascar became a French colony / protectorate in the mid 1800s. During WWII, the Vichy-sympathetic government lost a short battle with British marines, and the island was effectively ruled by England until 1946, when it was returned to French rule. Madgascar gained independence in 1960, with the French leaving over a few transition years.

As Anthony Bourdain said on his visit, the French left behind some beautiful buildings and the French language. While the language remains prevalent (second only to Malagasy, of which there are numerous official dialects), the architecture has largely faded into if not ruins, neglect and decay.

The language is still very prevalent; we advise visitors to have at least tourist-level French under your belt.

Getting To Madagascar

How to get to Madagascar?  You’ll be flying.  You can get direct flights into the capital, Antananarivo (aka Tana) from a few European cities and several African ones. It’s not cheap.

Our biggest drawback, at time of planning, was expense.  It’s a relatively tough island / country to get to, thus expensive.  Oddly, the best prices we found for flights were from Paris, Frankfurt, and Johannesburg.

Given this, we split our South Africa time with our Madagascar trip (it also helped reset the SA visa clock).

You can also apparently fly directly to Nosy Be, an island off the northwest coast, from various cities in Africa, including Addis Ababa, and from Europe. Wish we’d have known that, though these flights appear to be seasonal, and do not operate during rainy season.

Once in country, Madagascar Airlines is your choice for island-hopping and even flying between cities, which is actually a smart option if you’re short on time, as the roads are not great. See more on that, below.

Getting Around Madagascar

Do I really need a driver & guide?

I can rent a 4×4 and drive myself, you say.  Yeah, no, we don’t recommend it.  We didn’t recommend it in Botswana, and we REALLY don’t recommend it in Madagasgar.

The short answer is: it depends on where you are going, but mostly because the roads are awful.  During our trip, we averaged about 40km/hr on the “good” (quotes very intentional) roads, and 20km/hr elsewhere. The (pending) exception to this is up north, where a massive road-rebuilding project promises 60km speeds on fresh tarmac. Post-2025, you *should* be able to self-drive from Diego Suarez up to the tip and back.  Whether there are actually car rentals available, you’ll have to see.

Anywhere else, you also need someone who speaks Malagasy, and possibly French.  In some of the small villages and river crossings we encountered, negotiations were only in Malagasy. Besides knowing the language, guides will know what prices are correct/fair.  You’ll want an *experienced* driver as well, one who knows the way – you cannot trust Google or Waze here, as some roads are mere direct paths through a desert landscape, and when they become too rutted, someone else simply creates a new track.

Between Tulear and Antananarivo, the roads are passable enough that you could make the drive. You could fly from Tana to Tulear, rent a car and drive back. You’ll pass a number of the best sites and parks along the way, so if time is tight (this trip takes several days without stopping) it’s an option.

Finally, we’d suggest a driver simply because the actual driving is exhausting. Constant shifting, driving on/off shoulders, through sand, switching in & out of 4-WheelDrive, etc. One arm is going to look like Popeye.

Public Transportation: Not so much

Madagascar has no passenger rail service except along the east coast. There is also no “bus” service like in most of the world.

Between towns, you’ll find a public transport system called taxi-brousse, which makes the overstuffed minivans in Asia seem positively organized and luxurious by comparison. We’re pretty adventurous, and *thought* we’d take a taxi-brousse to Andisibe (more later) but once we actually saw them in action, we realized it wasn’t for us. They’re cheap, no question. Maybe a couple $USD between cities. But: Locals first, overcrowded and carrying ridiculous amounts of cargo, there’s no guarantee you will get a seat. A breakdown could easily turn a 4 hour ride into 14. Or more. Again: you do you, but we don’t recommend for any but the most adventurous, hardened and minimal-luggage traveler.

Fly

Madagascar Airlines offers intra-national service between Antananarivo and Tulear, Diego-Suarez, Morondava and others. Do not expect flights to depart or arrive as scheduled. In October/November 2024, one-way flights between Tana and Nosy Be were about 180EUR per person, and took just under 2 hours. Driving would take several days. and a ferry.

Religion & Culture

Malagasy people generally adhere to a unique blend of Christianity and animism. That is, they go to church, whether Lutheran, Protestant, Catholic etc., but they also believe strongly in offerings to the spirits of their ancestors, sacred rocks & trees, and more. Burial practices for some tribes even include entombing the dead in mountain caves for 3 years, exhuming the remains, stripping away flesh (leaving it to the elements) and reburying the bones & finger/toe-nails in either family vaults or higher cliffside caves. This exhumation-reburial is a big party, we’ve been told. We did not get to witness an actual exhumation, but did experience a parade of vehicles on their way to one. It’s a big deal.

Some parts of the country are predominantly Muslim. We did hear the calls to prayer in a few towns, but overall it wasn’t prevalent.

You’ll learn there are many “fady” or sacred rules, such as not wearing a hat in a sacred cave, not using nature as a restroom (to be avoided, whenever possible), not building a home with rocks, and the biggie: don’t point with your index finger.

Many Malagasy people, even non-Muslims, do not eat pork. But you’ll find it on some menus in various larger towns.

Ask your guide about customs and taboos where you will be, or visit this site for a primer.

Safety

Other than Antananarivo, we’d suggest Madagascar is generally very safe to visit. In smaller cities we felt perfectly safe walking during the day. There was no fear, for example, of someone snatching our cellphone, as we were constantly warned about in Johannesburg, Quito and other cities.

In most Madagascar towns, the biggest threat to your safety is traffic. Vehicles often pass way too close to each other and the shoulders or sidewalks, and often drive too quickly through small towns. Be very aware when crossing the street or intersections.

We did have a few instances in Tana where people tried to convince us to visit closed sites via “private tours”. These are obvious scams.

We do not suggest walking in Tana at night, nor with large amounts of cash – at any time.

Health, Medical, & Sanitation

Vaccinations & Malaria

Madagascar is a malaria zone. We’re not doctors, but we followed their advice and began taking malaria pills prior to arrival in country. Of course, we’ve been in Africa for 4 months at this writing, and have been taking them since midway through our first Egypt visit, in August.

We also made sure all our vaccinations were up to date before leaving the US, especially Hepatitis, Tetanus and Yellow Fever. You can get a full list of required and suggested travel vaccines for any destination here.

Emergencies

On our trip, we had a couple experiences with the healthcare system in Madagascar. We won’t go into details about the first, but it caused us to get a pretty good look at a rural hospital. It was grim. The patient was transferred to Antananarivo, where we assume there were more modern facilities, with electricity and plumbing.

Make sure your insurance covers medical evacuation to appropriate facilities. As nomads, health insurance is tricky for us, and there were really only a couple companies with plans which worked. We’re using Genki.

There are pharmacies scattered around towns and cities (not villages). These stock first aid, antibiotics and things like sunscreen (which is really pricy here). In Nosy Be, where I sought advice and treatment, the staff were competent and caring. I did not need a script for the antibiotics they recommended on my second visit (why they didn’t suggest those on the first visit I don’t know). I think prices were slightly less than we’d have paid in the US, but certainly no screaming deal.

Beyond the obvious, like your personal medications, we highly suggest packing your own antibiotic ointment like Neosporin, bandaids and hand sanitizer/wipes.

Personal Sanitation

Madagascar, while lovely, is currently a 4th-World country and it’s likely you’ll experience some sanitation challenges. There are western-style toilets in most of the larger cities, and of course the more you pay for your lodging, the higher the chance you’ll have them.

However, in more rural settings, roadside, and almost universally in the National Parks, you will likely find pit / squat toilets, generally with no running water. Or toilet paper. It’s almost essential to carry your own hand soap, sanitizer, and some “white gold” – napkins, toilet paper, etc. We suggest taking the remains of a roll with you from your hotel or AirBnB and stashing it in your backpack.

Food & Drink

What is the food like in Madagascar?

Once again, we’ll lead with: it depends on where you’re going. Obviously on the coasts, you can expect fresh seafood. In the interior, more chicken and zebu. You’ll actually find zebu, a Madagascar-specific kind of cow, everywhere. Much like Bubba’s shrimp, you’ll find Zebu meatballs, minced zebu, zebu steak, zebu brochette, zebu bolognese, and more.

Food is cheap by western standards, especially if you’re not at the fancy resorts.

A “Full American Breakfast”, more than most folks should eat, was around 25000 Ariary, or $5-6. Given the French influence, it’ll likely contain a croissant, baguette AND crepe(s), all with butter, jam, and honey on the side. Coffee/tea, fresh juice. Rarely any meat, but often with yogurt. One hotel even offers a shot of probiotic! We usually ordered the eggs as an omelette, and were never disappointed.

Dinners ranged from $4 to around $10 if we were splurging. Even Langoustine (essentially large Caribbean Lobster) is around $10. Roadside, you can find sambos (samosas) for around 1000Ariary each. A plate of zebu meatballs, rice and beans: $1-3.

Something else that’s not like the US or Europe: Food handing/safety. As we mention, water isn’t potable, and yet everything is washed in it. Cooking is done in pots over charcoal stoves – there is virtually no electric or gas. Just assume that at some point you’re going to get sick. Have some imodium on your must-pack list.

Mains / Proteins

Again, you’re going to see Zebu on menus everywhere. Zebu are working animals, and the chickens (also duck, goose) are free-range. This means the meat has little fat, and both are subject to overcooking. Be warned & aware.

We found that road-side, the zebu meatballs were the way to go. The exception was a delicious marinated zebu filet at an Irish pub in Antananarivo. We know. But combined with a few $2 mojitos, it was a good night.

We know there many are interesting dishes like Ravitoto, a meat dish served with cassava leaves, which we’ve had, once. It was good. Cassava leaves have an interesting, kind of bitter/peppery but chalky taste. And there’s Romazava, a kind of meat & veg stew. It’s just that you’ll probably have to go out of your way to find traditional Malagasy eats. Typical tourist hotels won’t have them on the menu.

Rice is ubiquitous. Yes, it’s a veg, but because it’s such a large part of Malagasy diet, we’re including it as a main. In fact, you’ll likely even find a rice porridge of sorts served at breakfast. At lunch, a common local meal is simply rice with some (chicken) broth to moisten it. In rural areas, many “snacks” (small restaurants) will have pitchers of cooked ricewater on the table; locals generally drink a glass of this after the meal. Our guide, driver and others all explained it made them healthier, stronger.

Mostly, you’re offered plain white rice. Sometimes, if you’re special, you can get red, which is slightly sweeter and nuttier.

Interestingly, while the country is a net food importer, it ships much of its “good* white rice out, and keeps the lesser, broken-grain stuff for the people. The Malagasy eat a TON of this stuff, and you’ll be given way-too-generous heaps with most meals. We also found yellow, curried, and coconut rice (riz coco) on the coast.

Apparently owing to Indonesian roots, you’ll also find a good deal of Mine Sao, a sort of Asian pasta & veg salad (in fact, pasta salads in general are huge here). Some we’ve seen sold at roadside stands looked absolutely amazing. The one we tried in Tana, was not.

Fried foods are also common. For breakfast, you will find a type of beignet, owing to the country’s French colonial times, though they’re different from those in France and not sugar-dusted like those in New Orleans. You may also find a savory version, but made as a rice cake.

Sambos (samosas), fried triangles of dough stuffed generally stuffed with seasoned minced meat and onion, are common and pretty tasty. You may also find a sort of pepper-popper; a sweet-spicy pepper stuffed with meat, deep fried; we enjoyed these around Ranomafana. You’ll find other deep-fried bits: banana (a favorite afternoon snack with coffee), and too many other options to count. Most are pretty cheap; expect to pay a 200-600 Ariary each.

There’s one hard rule: Get them *fresh*. You’ll see why.

Fruits

Also ubiquitous: Mangoes. Originally brought from India, these trees are like weeds here, even growing in conditions nothing else can. The many varieties ensure year-round harvests: you’ll be eating mangoes at breakfast, almost guaranteed.

There are also bananas nearly everywhere, so they’re also cheap. Pineapples here and there. A little Papaya. Watermelon in Antsirabe (which is kind of Madagascar’s agricultural “salad bowl”). Mangoes – did we mention mangoes?

You’ll want to at least try Baobab fruit while you’re in Madagascar. We actually first tried it in Nungwi, Zanzibar (Tanzania) and found it pretty tasty.

Vegetables

You’ll *see* delicious-looking greens in every town; you will rarely get them served to you. The staple vegetable seems to be a blend of sauteed carrot, zucchini and green beans. Potatoes are also common, usually as “frites”, but sometimes sauteed. We found the tomatoes, especially on the main island, to be delicious. Maybe better than those we enjoyed living in Italy for 4 months!

Cassava is a big staple for Malagasy folks, we’re told, and you’ll see it grown nearly everywhere, but not once did it appear on a menu where we ate.

You shouldn’t eat the lettuce in Madagascar, as it’s likely washed in river water, but you can enjoy peeled veg. One of the very best ways to do that is by ordering “crudite”, which unlike our western expectations, is usually a mix of shredded cabbage or cucumbers, carrot, red onion and some chopped tomatoes, with an oil & vinegar dressing. Honestly, some of these have been world-beaters!

Overall, the food *we* experienced was not typically heavily spicy / seasoned. It’s generally subtle. You can ask for sauce piquant / chili / piment if you want spicy, and most places can happily accommodate you. We did experience a really interesting and delicious hot sauce made from (preserved?) lemon and chili. Good stuff. It’s home-made, and will often be served in a reused water bottle. Like everything else: honey, rum, fruit, etc.

Speaking of honey (Fr. miel), you’ll find it sold everywhere on the mainland, and based on Mr.’s taste-testing, it’s verrrry good, with different flavor profiles by region. It’s pretty cheap, so if you like honey, buy some from a roadside and carry it as you go. We wish we had.

What to Drink

Water

The water is NOT safe to drink by anyone other than locals. You need to drink, and brush teeth with, bottled water only.  The main brands, Eau Vive and Cristalline are generally around $0.75-1.5 for a 1.5L bottle, depending on how fancy the store is.

Soft Drinks

There is one major soft drink manufacturer/distributer in Madagascar, representing over a dozen different brands: THB beer, World Cola (their official license from Coca Cola apparently expired a couple years ago, but it’s much the same product), Caprice ( in Grenadine, Orange and Bombon Anglais (a weird, banana candy-confection-like) flavors), YouZou (lemon lime) and others. Diet versions of these are pretty much unobtanium. There are a couple kinds of fizzy soda water, and surprisingly, tonic water is available in bother regular and sugar-free versions.

Beer, Wine & Booze

After our experience in London, we were thrilled to find beer is gloriously cheap. A 65cl THB ranged from $0.80 to $2.50, the latter being mostly at schmancy resorts. You can find Vodka for as little at $2 for 750ml, Gin for slightly more, and rum (rhum, here) from a licensed distillery, $1 a half-pint. For the locally-made moonshine-level kerosene stuff, maybe $1 for a liter. Maybe 1.5L. Warning, it’s rough.

You can find wine in big towns like Antisirabe, Tulear, Tana etc. Stick with the South African stuff. The French slap some ridiculous duty on, making it pricier than it should be (like in Tahiti). Madagascar has a nascent wine region, using imported Italian rootstock, but it’s just not there yet. Especially when they charge more than the South African stuff, which you can find for around $5-8USD.

If you want to enjoy a $2 mojito, rock on, but make sure the glacons (ice cubes) are made from purified water. Otherwise; stick with beer or wine.

Money

This one is easy. Cash rules in Madagascar.  Outside of the capital, Antananarivo, (and even within) you’ll be hard pressed to find many places which accept credit cards.  You can prepay some of your lodging via sites like booking.com of course, but even then we had several which were cash on arrival only.  Even most activities like dive operators only accept cash no credit cards. Carrefour, a major grocery chain, does accept cards.

The local currency is Ariary, and during our visit varied from 4500-4800 Ariary / USD.  You can get the latest exchange rate at www.xe.com.

Depending on your tour operator, you may need to wire funds in advance; we could really only do this via our bank in the US. As of November 2024, Wise and XE.com do not serve Madagascar.

ATMs are mostly found in the “big cities” like Tana, Antsirabe, Morondava, Tulear, etc. The most common bills dispensed are 20,000 and 10,000 denominations, but you’ll want to have 1000 and 5000 notes on you for roadside stands. Many ATMs have withdrawl limits of 500k or 800k ariary; roughly $110 – 170 per transaction.

You can generally hit them multiple times in one go, or visit another machine down the block. You’ll be literally carrying fat stacks of cash. Most also tack on a 10k Ariary ($2.50) fee per transaction, so get the max withdrawl you can. Or, you can use Schwab Investor Checking, which reimburses ATM fees worldwide. Plan ahead.

When to Go

Madagascar has dry and rainy seasons. You do NOT want to come during rainy season. Our guides told us time and again that wherever we were at the time would not be passable during rainy season. Stick to April-October, fine-tuning based on your schedule and migration patterns of whales, whale sharks and other megafauna if that’s your thing. We spent October to mid-November and we were ok, but had some torrential downpours on Nosy Be to warn us against later arrivals.

We saw a lot of country that was brown, “dry forests” they call them here, a far cry from what we’d dreamt. We can only imagine how amazing they’d be just after rainy season when seemingly-dead trees and brush spring to life.

On the other hand, when it’s lush, it’ll be harder to spot animals like lemur and chameleons. They won’t need to stay so close to water sources (in Kirindy, we had verrry thirsty lemurs drink right from our hands).

Where to go

Where should you go in Madagascar? Obviously that depends on what you like. There are beach towns, if that’s your thing. Some of the beaches are very fine. There’s decent diving and snorkeling.

But let’s face it – you want to see Lemurs. And Baobabs. Maybe Chameleons.

The Baobabs are relatively easy – there are several species, and you’ll find one or more species in pretty much any region you choose to visit.

We can (***and do, on this page***) tell you about the North, and what we call the South/West. We ended up not going to the East, to Andasibe-Mantadia, which is weird, because it’s in theory the easiest and therefore most popular place for foreign visitors. We’d really thought we’d be able to self-drive or taxi-brousse that bit, after Nosy Be (where we ended) and the reality is: the logistics got too expensive and messy.

We cannot tell you about the deep South of the country either, because the roads there are even more formidable that what we experienced, and frankly, we just didn’t have time.

Speaking of time…

How Much Time Should I budget for Madagascar?

Our trip lasted 41 days- almost 6 weeks – and we could have spent it better.

Our insufficient pre-trip research meant:

We missed out on multi-day camping treks in several of the parks.

We spent time on segments and in places we in retrospect could have skipped or cut down.

We missed out on longer hikes in spectacular places.

We changed from 1 week beach/down time to 2, due to logistics. (And then Mr. got injured, which put a damper on water activities for a bit)

You also need to reallly understand the times & distance issues with these roads. The map may say 150km, but that could be 8 hours drive time.

So our short answer is: allot as much time as you can possibly afford money-wise. In a month an a half, we only saw probably 30-40% of what one might want to.

At time of writing this, I’m both kind of done with Madagascar, and wishing we had longer. Given the expense and logistics of getting here, I really don’t want to miss anything. But we haven’t been anywhere this long since leaving the US, and, well, I am tired of power cuts, poor internet, undrinkable water etc.

But we’ve seen nothing of the east coast, only a couple of the smaller islands, and nothing of the far south. There’s SO MUCH more to see and experience.

A caveat: if you want to visit, don’t wait until you’re later in years. There’s almost no place(s) that you can do via typical motor coach (Isola and Ranomafana are notable exceptions). And we found exactly -0- “Accessible” sites. Hospitals are not to “western” standards. If you have mobility or other health issues, Madagascar is not your friend.

What you’ll See

Madagascar Flora & Fauna

On Land

Lemurs

As we’ve said every paragraph: it depends where you go. One of the neatest things about Madagascar is that while it hosts 118 species of lemur, many of those are endemic to only one particular forest – or even one particular section of a forest. Case in point: in Ranomafana National Park, you can find the Golden Bamboo Lemur, but only in a small area. Same for the Greater Bamboo Lemur. There are other lemurs in the park, they just stick to their own neighborhoods.

Lemurs are protected nation-wide, so they’re not particularly worried about humans. Some are pretty habituated and will put on a show, or even come beg for / attempt to steal food (Isola). We found significant differences in behavior between species, with some being very monkey-like in movement and attitude.

We think we saw some 20 species, out of the 100+ which are endemic to Madagascar.

If you’re lucky, (or if you go to Kirindy National Reserve) you’ll spot fossa, which are technically related to dogs but act and climb trees like cats. They hunt lemur, and are kinda freaky looking. This one was fairly habituated to humans, so we didn’t feel in danger, but I wouldn’t want to come across a truly hungry one in the wild.

Some animals, like Boa Constrictors, really sit out the dry season and only come out after rainy season. There are Nile Crocodiles in some of the rivers; their numbers depend on the season. Chameleons can be a pain to spot – but that’s kind of the idea, right? Some are *super* well camouflaged. Others are right in your face. You’ll likely share your lodgings, breakfast table etc. with various geckos and lizards.

You will want to make sure you have a couple night-walks scheduled in various parks (where allowed); there are several diurnal lemur species, like the tiny and cute mouse lemur, and a number of chameleons, spiders etc. that are impossible to spot during the day. Have a headlamp or adjustable flashlight. Super bright and you’ll scare them off, too dim and you won’t see anything.

If you’re into birding, (we enjoy them but it’s not our focus), you may want to look at this site. We did see some really beautiful and elegant birds. We found Kingfishers, Bee-Eaters, and Flycatchers especially interesting and beautiful.

Now is probably a good time to mention: if you can you really should have a phone with an amazing zoom, like the Samsung Ultra 24, or bring a dedicated camera and lenses. We had an aftermarket telephoto lens which fit our phone, and it helped, but as you can see, we have nice pics, not generally amazing ones. If space is a premium (as it is for us) by all means get one.

Baobabs

Yasssss… there are Baobabs in Madagascar, and yes, the Instagram images of fabulous sunsets along the majestic Avenue of the Baobabs are for real, and yes, it’s totally worth being one of several hundred other worshippers enjoying a sundowner in that spot. Please, leave the drone(s) in the car. It’s not a rule, but the noise kinda ruins the vibe. Be considerate.

Depending on your itinerary, you will see hundreds of examples from 3 different species in many areas of the country, many of which are revered as sacred sites. You’ll also see delightful little wooden Baobab sculpture souvenirs almost everywhere, and some are quite nice. We were often tempted, but as nomads, we really can’t acquire things.

Aquatic Life

Sadly, our in-water experience was really limited by Mr.’s scooter injury, which kept him out of water the entire time we were on Nosy Be.

Mrs. did snorkel and dive a bit, and had great time swimming with sharks, sea turtles, a variety of exotic fish she’s not seen before, octopuses & “lobster” (langoustine), and some fantastic coral.

In theory, whales and whale sharks are the megafauna draw, but they weren’t really present during our visit. We did have some dolphins race us on our way to snorkel around Nosy Tanikely. They won.

The Landscape / Countryside

This is probably the unsung hero of Madagascar. While it’s a large island, it’s similar in size to Texas or France, not, say, the entire US. Yet Madagascar’s landscape is probably as varied as the whole continental USA.

You’ll experience rainforest and jungle, bone-dry desert, other-worldly rock formations, a near-clone of Colorado/Utah and terraced rice fields like SE Asia. Not in one day, but certainly within a week of driving. Oh and coastline ranging from fine sugar-sand beach to treacherous volcanic rock.

Even with all the time we had, we still couldn’t go slowly enough to really soak in all the majestic variance.

The Malagasy People

You’re also going to see beautiful, mostly very friendly, hard-working humans who are very poor. The average Malagasy subsists on less than $2 per day. Outside the major urban centers, you’ll find villages with dirt-floor shacks, housing folks who farm, or mine, or break rocks all day to make a living.

In many areas, the children rush to any car carrying tourists, waving excitedly and screaming for “Bombeaux” – candy. In some villages, even giving these children your empty water bottle(s) can make a difference. Most made-at-home products sold by the roadside- honey, hot sauce, rum, etc. are sold in theses re-used plastic bottles.

In some areas, there is literally no water naturally available, (it has to be trucked in) and our driver & guide handed out bottles they’d refilled in the major town before. Sadly they didn’t tell us about this prior, or we’d have happily filled and distributed the half-dozen bottles we had.

During an early leg of our tour, mothers and their children requested school supplies: notebooks, pen/pencils etc. Sadly, we didn’t know this in advance either and were unprepared.

Though, honestly, we’re not sure you can be prepared for the amount of begging you’ll encounter – especially if you are, or look like you’re from the US / Canada.

Before you Go: What to Pack / Bring / Do before traveling to Madagascar

Conclusion: Is Madagascar worth a visit?

The reality is, Madagascar is well worth your visit, and the country really needs tourism dollars.

Is Madagascar a good country for Digital Nomads?

In a word, no. While relatively inexpensive, especially compared to Europe and the US, Madagascar’s unstable power grid and spotty internet availability/uptime would make life as a digital nomad very difficult.