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What started out as a random night out on the town with my friends, ended in a trip to the islands with the new man in my life. Destination… Madagascar! A country less traveled and now I know why. When I was doing my research online, I discovered that there was very little information available about this exotic island. So, with our bags packed, passports ready, high excitement levels and only a 3 hour flight from my home country South Africa, we arrived in the capital, Antananarivo (or Tana for short). Madagascar is about 1000 miles long and 350 miles wide, of where Itavo airport is situated smack bang in the middle of the island. It feels like disembarking from a time machine. It’s hot and very humid, bodies hustling and bustling through a very outdated and confusing airport. Finally finding an ATM that works, I become an instant millionaire exchanging $1 for about 3 600 of their Malagasy Ariaries. There are 4 other airports located around the island, which I recommend taking flights out to, to explore Madagascar, rather than driving long distance. Booking a flight out to one of them is ideal while at Itavo, because I discovered that they are always only scheduled for departure on the following day. It is the Malagasy way of keeping you in the capital for a night! The taxi drivers overwhelmed us leaving the airport, with our luggage getting carried off in 4 different directions by 4 different drivers, all wanting us to go with them. No or very little English spoken by any of them, we were using mostly sign language in the form of pointing fingers and exuberant hand gestures, to communicate our intentions with the excited men. I remember reading online that the locals who went to school could speak French, but those who didn’t were only versed in Malagasy, which I found to be a very guttural language consisting of words made up of mostly consonants and less vowels. Awkward to listen to and even more so to attempt to speak. When we eventually managed to get all our belongings into one taxi, we learned that the transport was rather cheap and not too much haggling was necessary. We drove around the city looking for an affordable place to stay for the night, before heading down to the South of the island next day. The infrastructure of the city is very poor and everything is a little difficult. It is extremely dirty and very busy. Horse drawn carts and very old cars are the main mode of transportation. Definitely not for the fainthearted. Renting a car in Madagascar was extremely expensive for some reason, so we decided to hop on the local transport for our trip to the baobab forests in the South West. It was the typical African experience, with the 14 seater minibus loaded with 35 people (us included), chickens, a baby goat and a very heavy top load of luggage tied on with a variety of ropes and sheets. A 100 mile journey took 20 hours and this is why I mentioned it would be better to fly directly out of the capital to one of the four airports around the coast! Anyway, accommodation, food and transport is cheap, but it does come at the cost of sometimes being uncomfortable. Because of the past destruction/exploitation/mining of Madagascar’s wide variety of endemic plants, animals and valuable minerals, whatever remains is neatly kept together at sites for easy viewing/exploring by visitors. For example, the world’s largest outdoor mineral market is situated just outside the capital, stretching for a couple of miles and it’s totally worth a visit. We spent 3 months travelling from the Southern tip right up to the Northern tip of the island, the scenery consisting mostly of rural rolling hills layered with rice paddies. We also made some time to explore local islands off the North West coast. Beautiful turquoise waters, little fishing boats, tropical fruit forests and a sea littered with little islands, whilst all still keeping the mainland in eyes view. Would I go back? Absolutely! It is an out of this world destination and it changed my perception of life.