Hi all. We just came back from Mada and here's our observations, hoping they will help other travelers.
WHO WE ARE:
- Richard, from Quebec City, Canada, 34 y.o.
- my girlfriend Isabelle, from Lille, France, 36 y.o.
THE LP ON MADA
+ it doesn't have heaps of info, which leave room for adventure. I put this in the positive category, because I find it sad to see travelers keeping their nose in the LP and never wander out.
- smaller book means less info, so the price should be lower as well... Then again, I kind of understand why LP doesn't put much effort in their book for Mada since most (i'd say 85%) travelers there are French, thus using the Guide du routard. In other words, they must not sell alot of LP for Mada.
- obviously, the writers were not on a budget. Example 1: you can read ''easiest is to take a taxi... '' in more than one places in the book. Perhaps, but its VERY expensive. Taking the public transports (taxi be) is 20 times cheaper and part of the fun. Example 2: the daily budget on page 12 says 60 euros per day. That's a little more than what we spent for the TWO of us (!!).
- the book says ''when bargaining, cut the price in half and work from there''. Wrong. I'd say cut the price in 4 and work from there. Example : I bought my hat 8000 ar. Starting price was 25 000 ar.
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
- Not knowing French will make things difficult, especially outside Tana and on the west coast. We had a hard time communicating and we both speak fluent French, so imagine.
- go with VISA, not Mastercard.
- NEVER pay everything up front when booking something. Pay half now, and the rest at the end.
TANA
- the telephone number published in the LP for hotel st-germain is wrong. The good number is 033 25 882 61. We recommend the hotel (well located, not so expensive).
- Sakamanga is THE cool hotel and restaurant in town, and everyone knows it, so book a rooom/table ahead. Totally worth it.
ANTIRABE
- its worth renting a scooter at Rando VTT (its on the map) and do the lakes tour. it cost 20 000 ar for a bike, and 40 000 ar for the scooter, so if you are 2, you get the scooter for the price of 2 bikes, and it makes the ride much more fun :-)
- The pousse-pousse tour. Interesting, but what they say about getting better prices straight from the artists is a lie OR bargain much harder. Example: a set of spoons (made out of zebu horn) straight from the maker was 12 000 ar. Same product in a market in Tana: 5 500 ar.
TSIRIBIN RIVER - TSINGY
- we organised the entire trip with COCO, a very good guide. You can contact him at Chez Billy. He says he's a naturalist, but we doubt that. Still, we recommend him because everything went well, he's good fun without trying to do too much, and his cooking is amazing!
MORONDAVA
- we rented a pirogue to go down the west coast from Morondava to Salary. We dealt with captaing FELIX, recommended by Coco, our hotel (Trecicogne, good place) and other tourists. We WOULD NOT RECOMMEND FELIX. For the first 5 days, it was fantastic, but then he abandonned us in Morombé!!! (Never pay everything up front....)
««« PIROGUES »»»
The sea pirogue is much more comfy than the river pirogue, and for both, here's a great advise: BUY AN UMBRELLA. This will give you shade and make the ride much better.
ANDAVADOAKA
- IMPORTANT: there is no diving there! All diving clubs are closed.
TULEAR
- we met a French guy settle there that does B&B. His place is wonderfull, but a little out of town, so he offers to pick you up. He has 2 playfull lemurs in is backyard. HE SPEAKS ENGLISH! Ask me for his email.
THE RN7
- Isalo and all other parks are worth seeing, but are pricey. We combined Taxi brousse and rides in cars/4x4 leaving empty. Pic Bobby was amazing.
AMBALAVAO
We loved Ambalavao; stayed at some place called 'tiensparis'. Good place. We organised our trip to Pic Bobby from there and dealt with Adrien (he's in the book, page 66) but only because he was cheaper. Still, his service was not the best and would have gone with J.C. instead (his office is at the taxi brousse station, can't miss it.) We followed a couple who went with J.C. and everything seemed a little better. A German living there told me ''Adrien used to be a fantastic guide and I did business with him for years, but now that his name is in the LP and Routard, he thinks he's god and now there's better out there.''
Voilà! Hope these info will help out others.
All the best
Richard and Isabelle
Edited by: vieuxsacados
