3 week trip in October/November

Hi there,

We arrive in Tana on 25th Oct and fly home on 16th Nov. We are a couple that are used to travelling on a fairly low budget and are looking for some advice and tips on getting around Madagascar and what to see, do etc. The rough plan we have is to head from Tana to Morondava first (spend a couple of days or so around there) and then backtrack to the RN7 and make our way down to Toliara over the next 2 weeks before making a beeline back to Tana.

So I guess some of the main points we would like to know are:

• journey times by bus (or taxi-brousse) between Tana and Morondava and then from there to Antsirabe or Ambositra. Also approx cost.
• journey time by bus or taxi-brousse from Toliara back to Tana in one journey, also approx cost.
• any tips for a beach side place to stay around Morondava and again in Toliara.

Along the RN7 we are intending to stop at Ranomafana NP, Andringitra NP and Isalo NP. We will have camping gear and intend to do some trekking (Especially at Andringitra). Any tips for these places would be great and also any other suggestions for stops on the way down?

We have not even thought about the costs of the trip and are not really concerned since next to the astronomical cost of the flight to get there it cannot be bad but any recent visitors that can share some rough costs would be helpful also.

Cheers

alsch

The highlight of my trip last December was hiring a sailing pirogue in Morondava down the coast. If the winds are good, you can make it to Toliara in six days. For me the winds changed dramatically against me, so i had to back track to Morombe and then take the Taxi-B down to Toliara. It was cheap, and that stretch of the coast is beautiful.

Highly recommended.

There are pics on my blog: http://obtuseworks.blogspot.com/

We were prepared to sleep on the beach, but made it to villages with rustic hotels each night. An umbrella was a critical piece of kit, along with dry bags.

Travel time Tana - Morondava seems to be 12-18 hours. Haven't done this so far but I'm thinking about doing it. Can let you know whenever I have first hand information.