Travel buddy from Tana?

Hey all! I just arrived in Tana yesterday and after having my wallet stolen (then returned) and paying $20 per taxi ride, and looking up tours that all seem to cost thousands of dollars, not to mention the locals all telling me that I'm going to get robbed if I walk anywhere alone, any time, I'm starting to feel a little out of my depth with my thoughts of traveling alone for cheap and I'd love to meet up and adventure with someone. I'm in Tana right now and in Madagascar until Oct 25th, basically just want to explore, see the wildlife nature and culture and do it as "local" as possible. If you're interested drop me a line!

Details: Canadian Female, french speaking, budget traveler

Hey,
Sorry to hear you're not having such a great time.
I'm a british solo traveller, (39) but not arriving in Tana until 4th October (next saturday).
As things stand, i'm meeting up with a female (27) from germany (met through LP forums) & we're gonna head west towards reserve foristiere de kirindy and allee des baobabs before heading back to tana, then straight out to andasibe for a couple of days then possibly on to the pangalanes before she leaves on the 11th.
My itinery from then is still a bit sketchy but im probably going to head to ile aux nattes for a few days on the beach then either attempt to get to parc national de masoala or, more likely, head south and try to fit in Ialatsara Lemur Forest Camp, Ranomafana, Reserve d'Anja & Andringitra before heading home on 25th october.
I'm aware you're already there and you'd have to wait around for nearly a week but the offer to join us is there if you want it.
For what it's worth, the person i'm meeting is also a female solo traveller and hasnt reported any problems so far (she's already been there for over a week).
Hope everything turns out ok. Send me a message if you fancy joining us.

Thank you for getting in touch! As it stands I will be meeting up with a couple of people today and seeing what their plans are, and yesterday I decided to join a tour starting Oct 9 with a small group, since all of the locals here have counseled me against traveling solo or by taxi brousse.

If any of my plans change I'll get in touch and maybe we can all head to Antsaribe together!

Thanks again,

Julia

I understand you've been spooked but, according to most of the people i've spoken to, Madagascar is a relatively safe country for travelling. Everywhere has its dodgy bits and taxi brousses should be avoided at night but sometimes its unavoidable. Once you get out of Tana i'm sure you'll start to feel more comfortable.
As i said, the person im meeting is already there and travelled solo 27 hours on a taxi brousse from Tana to Diego with no problems at all.
Glad you've got something sorted :)
But yeah, give me a shout if plans change.

Hi,

We are arriving (2person) on 4th of October and will stay for 3 weeks and hired a 7seats 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser, there is still 4 seats available if you are interested and want to share the cost for a part of the journey.

We have still fexible plan but want to visit the parks around RN7, look around Toliara and to the east of Tana.
For Tsingy I think we wont have time.
If you are interested contact me.
Cheers,
Miklos

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Hi julia,
wondered how you got on in the end? Was / is your tour any good? Hope you've had fun :)

Hi Julia,

That't too bad about being spooked by the locals. I have been to Madagascar twice (2005, 2013) and have used the taxi brousse extensively, especially when locals have pre-booked flights almost a year in advance without having to actually purchas the tix, then deciding, last minute, that they're not gonna buy them! (uggg) I do realize that in the last few years (after the coup), things have gotten a tad hairy. As a male traveller, I guess it's a little different regarding safety. However, if you avoid some southern patches of road (ie towards Fort Dauphin) and beaches north of Tulear (ie Ifaty), then you have a great chance of coming out of this, unscathed. The North is where you shoud get to for great wildlife and general safety. Parque National Marojejy and some of the other reserves up there (ie Daraina and Analamerana Special Reserve). Anyway, I guess by this point you've done your trips. As mentioned by the British traveler above, West Coast (ie Kirindy reserve) is also a great place to stay for a few days to see Sifakas, Giant Jumping Rat, Fossa, and possbily (but not likely) Madame Berth's Mouse lemur... I spent three night looking for it, but to no avail :( I hope all went well