How I ended up on the west coast of Madagascar

How I came to find myself on the west coast of Madagascar. 

I hadn't planned to visit the west coast. Don't get me wrong it's not because I didn't want to it was just more of a time and money issue. 

Upon completion of my expedition in the eastern parts of Madagascar where I summited Pic Boby the 2nd highest peak in Madagascar and then over the next 10 days walked and paddled a further 210 Km to finish up on the east coast of Madagascar just south of a town called Manakara.

Over the following 2 days together with the 5 great new people I had the pleasure of completing this awesome challenge with (3 Brits and 2 Americans) not forgetting our amazing local raft guides Joe & Mi set about making our way back to Antananarivo. 

The first day was to be fairly easy breaking us back in to the finest roads Africa and Madagascar could throw at us.  Just a mere 6 hour drive to another town were we could enjoy a hot shower good food and prepare for the back breaking 11 hour ride ahead of us the next day.

For those of you who have traveled in Africa before and are familiar with the stands of roads you come across I'm sure you can appreciate why this was not going to be a fun journey. For those of you less familiar with African road standards. Let's just say tarmac / paved roads are a luxury here and even when you do get one gaping vehicle sized pot holes are very common. 

You will probably come to hear the phrase "African massage" when driving in Africa.  

This is not like any other massage you have ever experienced in your life. It refers to the bouncing of the vehicle throwing you around as you hit all the holes in the road and infact probably only serves to make you need a real massage or a chiropractor after you journey than you did before but TIA as they say.

Upon enduring the long bumpy journey back to Antananarivo it was time to have one last meal and drink with the team before everyone went there separate ways. Home for most people or onwards in my case. 

Later that night I awoke soaked in sweat and suffering from what I can only be describe as a severe case of food poisoning. I have always been very lucky up to this point whist travelling and I suppose the odds where inevitable that I had to get ill at some point during all my travels but I would not wish this discomfort on anyone. 

After a long night of severe vomiting and diarrhoea combined with alternating fevers and cold shakes and passing out on the bathroom floor I thankfully appeared to be over the worst of it.

The next couple of days were not great but thankfully nothing as bad as I experienced on that first night. 

So here I was sat in my now what appeared to be very empty hotel. Not assigning any blame but probably the very same hotel that gave me the food poisoning in the first place with 4 whole days to kill before my flight to Reunion. 

I was alone bored and slightly fed up and for the first time ever during my travels I actually questioned why I choose to travel to all these faraway places and take all these long trips. How I wished I could just be at home in my own bed recovering. 

So I decided I needed to give myself a boost also would be right to come all the way to Madagascar without visiting The Avenue of the Baobabs. So I packed my bags and went in search of a 4x4 and English speaking driver. 

It wasn't long before I came across a guy who spoke good English and drove a Ford everest 4x4. I've personally never heard of that model before but it seemed okay and we agreed on a price of 50 Euros a day plus fuel. 

Fuel prices in Madagascar are relatively cheap and costs between 45 pence and 55 pence per litre. So we set of on the 500KM journey to the west coast. 

The avenue of the baobabs 

Lemurs 

So I find myself sat in a hotel just on the beach in a town called Morondava.

This morning I visited the avenue of the baobabs (picture above) I plan to visit again early tomorrow morning for sunrise.


I also got to see some more lemurs.

Before checking in to my hotel and relaxing on the beach before enjoying the sunset with a nice cold beer (THB) Three Horses Beer that's one of the beer brands here in Madagascar.

Morondava beach 

Happy to be fully recovered and days like this remind me why I love to travel and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sunset on the beach