ATM's

Hi there,

The availability is generally excellent in important towns. Almost every bank has one and they're generally open 24/7 with a guard on duty outside.

The major exceptions up to now have been towns in the north-east, north of Toamasina/Tamatave, but they're catching up. There are still definitely no ATMs in Mananara and Maroantsetra, but there is now at least one in Sambava, and a person who I think is very reliable tells me there is also one in Antalaha.

To keep transaction costs down, use the BNI, which allows higher single withdrawals than the other banks. At present, if the ATM is well stocked you can get 385 000 ariary in one go (if you ask the guard, he'll likely say 350 000 is the maximum. Not true - try it out). Others limit withdrawals to 200 000, so that you have to make multiple transactions, which gets expensive.

To be on the safe side take a Visa card. Some ATMs (BNI again) are now accepting Mastercard, but this is not yet (mid-September this year) true of all of them.

One problem can be the machines running out of cash. This can happen late evening and especially at weekends, and more often in smaller towns than in Tana. Once a machine starts to get low, it progressively reduces the maximum amount for individual transactions. If you need a lot of cash, try and make your withdrawals weekdays and fairly early in the day.

For a cash reserve, take euros - you can change them easily at any bank, so there's no reason to go to the expense of buying dollars. Make sure your notes are in good condition - no tears and no sweat stains (if you're keeping the notes in a money belt or pouch next to the skin, put them in a freezer bag to protect them).

Enjoy your trip.

Dear friend!

Many thanks for the useful information; next question if you don' t mind:

Is there a flight from Fort Dauphin to Betioky??

Hi

There are no commercial flights to Betioky. You'd need to fly from Dauphin to Toliara and get a taxi brousse.

Betioky didn't have an ATM when I was there, by the way, and it is probably to small for you to rely on finding one there at present.

There was no ATM there in May so I don't think there's any now.
Taxi brousse between Toliara and Betioky costs around 20.000 Ar
and takes good part of the day. Between Andranovory and Betioky
takes around 6 hours to cover 100 km. Extremely bad road!