Introducing Antsirabe
There seems to be a pousse-pousse (rickshaw) for every person in Antsirabe (ant-sira-bay), a bustling city where the look and attitude is classic highland Madagascar. The urban oasis in a rural desert is an almost elegant place where the fresh air, cool climate (nights can be freezing) and therapeutic springs led Norwegian missionaries to build a health retreat in the late 1800s. When the French came to town, Antsirabe became a chic spa getaway for wealthy colonists wanting to escape Antananarivo’s hustle.
Today, the city thumps to a uniquely Malagasy beat – it’s colourful, chaotic, cluttered, gritty and poor. Brightly painted rickshaws crowd wide palm-lined boulevards, their drivers hustling hard for enough fares to feed their families, and gangs of scraggly children and young mothers with furrowed brows beg on the streets.
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