Travel By Public Transport

Hi,

My wife and I (Americans, mid-60's, French speaking, living in South Africa) are planning a trip to Mad next May. We would like to travel by public transport to get closer to the culture and people. Our plan is to ride in vehicles that travel on the tar roads, mostly in the Highlands plus Ankarafantsika NP. We plan to stay in lower mid-range accomodation. Does this sound like a good way to experience the island without the expense and the group factor?

We have friends who went to Mad on a group tour recently. They complained a great deal about the hassle factor of street vendors and beggers on the island. Has this been your experience? Would public transport insulate us from some of this?

Thanks.

Hi.

Your plan sounds good enough. Taxis brousses will certainly avoid the group factor and they're cheap. Ankarafantsika is very worthwhile. On the tarred roads you can also take in parks at Andasibe, Isalo, Ranomafana an Zombitse. But why stick to the tarred roads?

How hassled you feel by beggars and vendors depends on how well you can handle it. On and around the Avenue de l'Indépendence in Tana you'll be permanently approached and it's true that that can be a pain. But just be polite, firm, friendly, don't lose your cool and sooner or later they'll go away. They're part of the experience and they'll only spoil your day if you allow yourself to get wound up about it.

Don't give money to kids, however persistent they are - someone is always waiting behind them to take it off them. If you don't eat all the bread you're given in your hotel for breakfast, take that with you and give it to the kids. It gets rid of them faster and actually does them some good.

Outside Tana, and in Tana away from the centre the problem of beggars is much less. There are far fewer of them and in my experience they don't tag along like the ones on Indépendence.

People wanting to sell you things are routine. In Tana, it's household goods, carvings, belts and traditional musical instruments, in Antsirabe it's low quality gemstones. You don't have to buy and after a while they go away. At taxi brousse stations and halts en route, the food sellers are providing a service which your fellow passengers often welcome. Try what they have to offer - it's usually well prepared.

Remember that the vendors have a family to feed, and if they seem too persistent it's because they really need to make a sale or they or their kids may go hungry - so try and stay friendly even while you're telling them you're not interested in a Rolex made in China.

My wife and I (Americans, mid-60's, French speaking, living in South Africa) are planning a trip to Mad next May. We would like to travel by public transport to get closer to the culture and people
Not at your age !
Travelling by public transport in Madagascar is not very easy and I am not sure you can stand this. A young person with physical fitness may have the required tolerance but absolutely not you. Imagine a taxi-brousse having 12 seats nonetheless occupied by 18 people. Malagasy people are used to such conditions but not us . I don't try to discourage you though. I met a group of Belgian women aged around 50-60 years old. They travelled by 4X4 and though it was the best option for them, they still felt exhausted. The roads are bumpy. The rides take a lot of hours .Think about the 4x4 alternative. It seems to me the most preferable.There are better ways to know Malagasy people besides public transport.

We have friends who went to Mad on a group tour recently. They complained a great deal about the hassle factor of street vendors and beggers on the island. Has this been your experience? Would public transport insulate us from some of this?
Yes, part of my experience in Madagascar was being hassled by vendors and beggars. There is no other way than being assertive and say 'NO' when you feel like saying so. Far from being hassled, I really felt compassion to these poor people. However, we can't solve the economic problems of Madagascar. Public transport won't solve the problem. As white-skinned you will always be conspicuous and it is obvious you will be approached by some beggars. However, beggers can be found in large cities esp. Antananarivo. In the villagers or countryside you will not be bothered at all.

"Not at your age !"
"A young person with physical fitness may have the required tolerance but absolutely not you." ?????

Oh MadManascar come on !!!! You know, I've enjoyed reading your postings, and before you went to Madagascar your questions addressed some really interesting points, but this is ageism of the worst kind. How on earth do you know that these people "absolutely" do not have the required tolerance? Why in the name of any deity you may happen to believe in do you assume that someone of their age can't handle taxi brousse trips?

At the risk of completely destroying whatever image I might have on this forum, you might like to know that I'm over sixty myself, that I frequently travel by taxi brousse when I'm in Madagascar, and certainly not just on the blacktops, and that I often enough out-"stand" and out-"tolerate" twenty somethings who are completely shattered by the experience and climb out of the vehicle swearing never to darken the door of a taxi brousse again. Correspondingly, I find it absolutely hilarious when I read a posting by some guy who is presumably three decades or so younger than I am telling my contemporaries that they (and by implication I) are past it!

Sure, physical fitness helps - I can still trek the Masoala Peninsula. How do you know that Dave and his wife aren't physically fit?

Dave, the description MadManascar gives of taxi brousse travel is accurate in most cases - time-served vehicles packed with more passengers than they should have, uncomfortable seating, badly maintained suspension, bumpy roads and long journey times. Only you know whether your implied decrepitude has advanced to the stage where you can't handle that. The mere fact that you're in your sixties has by itself nothing to do with it - I know that, which MadManascar, much as I respect the guy, doesn't and cannot (yet!).

If you do feel a bit apprehensive about this kind of travel, there are one or two ways to make it easier. Between Tana and Mahajanga, which is the route you would take for Ankarafantsika, there are full-sized Mercedes buses in addition to the ubiquitous minibuses. These are not overcrowded, though as they seem to be ex-German army, they're not luxurious either.

Most taxis brousses on the tarred roads are Japanese minibuses. You can travel more comfortably if you book the seats next to the driver (warning: the Malagasy call these "the seats of death"!), or, slightly safer, seats in the row behind the driver. There's usually more legroom there. To get these, you may either have to book a day in advance or choose a vehicle that hasn't yet begun to fill up, which will mean waiting longer before you leave.

Hiring a 4x4 is comfortable and gives you flexibility, but it's also expensive, and you miss out on the contact with the people. Leave that sort of thing for youngsters with a soft upbringing and less tolerance...(!)

I wish you well, whatever you decide to do - Madagascar is a fantastic country.

PS MadManascar: Of course I realize that your advice at #2 is entirely well-meant and not at all intended to be insulting - but seriously: having a date of birth in the 1940s doesn't automatically mean that you have one foot in the grave and you have to take extra care that the other doesn't land there as well. And I hope you'll find that out for yourself when the corresponding time comes round!

Hello Marogisa ? How are you today ?
I'm sorry that my attitude seemed to you as ageism but my intention was completely different. I did not want to sound patronizing either. I just wanted to be responsible while giving advice to Dave and his wife and be sincere to the mere truth which may vary from person to person. I am not so young either ( 40 years !).
However, as human nature reveals, most grown-ups ( at least over sixty years old ) are less compromising than young people and look for more comfort in their travels. Partly because their budget allows so and partly because our tolerance is exponentialy decreasing by years. There are still some who venture to do the Masoala park ( and I really appreciate you for this ) but it is still rare !
Let me regret my words a bit written in the previous answer. If Dave and his wife are going to take short rides ( 3-4) hours they may tolerate this. However, if they are going to take a long ride as I did from Tulear to Fort Dauphin, I am not sure they will be able to stand it.
It took me two days and a half. We were 120 people crammed in a canvassed truck, wind and dust came inside. Our clothes and hairs were filthy. Smalls babies were crying. Some people had to vomit from time to time.There was not enough room for my legs and my bones really ached. And to put it much worse, one of the truck's wheel punctured. There was no extra one and we had to wait 12 hours till the truck's company sent us a new one. We could not sleep, we could not shower and it was really a nightmare !
When I encountered Dave's question and considering his age, I thought it would be more responsible to be politically less correct and adhere to real facts. Could Dave and his wife pass through the experience I have just described? I'm not really sure ( and I don't want to sound a hero either - it was a nightmare for me) !
Madagascar is a very interesting and beautiful country and Dave should not give up the opportunity to see it but he has to be mentally prepared to potential hardships.

Good Day to all !

Someone advised to eat street vendor food or the food people sell from the road, I advise strongly to not eat it ever. How do you like worms, because if you eat street food that is what you stand a high chance of getting, they are very hard to get rid of and a lot western doctors do not know how to diagnose them.

With regard to transport, I lived and traveled by taxi brousse from Manakara to Tana, the capital all the time. I found that the station owners do have a good system they adhere too, for example, they usually only put 12 people in a car because they do not want to get in trouble with the police. The best thing to do is go to the station you will be leaving from and find a reputable brousse that is careful, book your tickets (usually they have a book and you can see the seats you are booking) and find out how many are going. If they book more than 12 people, be firm, and say you will not go. That is the best and safest thing to do.

As to comfort, the seats are not that bad. I recommend getting the seat up front, nearest to the window. If you cannot, then try to get the seats near the windows. If you book a day or more in advance you can get good seats, and in my experience the station owners respect the reservations you make. When you are booking look around the main station and see where which brousse station the majority of Malagasy are going. Generally there is a word of mouth system among Gasy as to which stations to go with and which not. Don't trust the guys who try to lead you to one, they are generally paid and are a shifty bunch who will swindle and try to steal, even luggage.

You wrote you speak French, if you can learn some key phrases in Malagasy, it will help immensely with how you are treated. When I first arrived in Madgascar as a NGO worker I was advised to not speak French as the Malagasy respect more Vazahas (out of towners) who try to speak their language. The majority of folks you'll deal with outside of hotels will may not speak a lot of French, and may be rude if that's all you try to speak with them.

Feel free to email me the specific towns, with your stating point and destination exactly, and I can try to round up the names of reliable taxi brousse. My inlaws live in Madagascar and travel a lot still by taxi brousse. Malagasy03@hotmail.com

Regards.

Aprily

Hi MadManascar,

I’m fine, as I hope you are. You’re right of course that taxi brousse travel south of the tarred road to Toliara is absolutely no picnic and you need to be prepared for it. My only quibble with you was the idea that being aged over 60 would be a deciding factor. I’d do that sort of trip again any time – but as I’ve said elsewhere, my sense of what constitutes enjoyment is possibly perverse. As Dave and his wife are apparently aiming to stick to the blacktops, the Toliara-Tolagnaro trip probably isn’t going to be an issue for them (not that I’d want to put them off).

Aprily, the advice each of us posts here is always going to be coloured by our own individual experiences, and different people will advise for or against the same thing. I was the one who advised to eat street vendor food and food from roadside stands and I stand by my recommendation that people do that because otherwise they’re going to deprive themselves of a very positive experience. If you’ve picked up worms and you’re convinced that roadside food was the source, then you’re going to be dead against it, of course.

I spend a minimum of two months a year in Madagascar and have done for a number of years now, and I travel by taxi brousse unless a flight is absolutely unavoidable. I live with a Malagasy family and travel with members of that family and I frequently eat together with them food from roadside stands, vendors at taxi brousse stations, small restaurants at taxi brousse comfort halts and anywhere else where food is on offer when we feel hungry. In all the years, I’ve never, ever picked up a worm, and neither have my kids when they’ve accompanied me. The only parasite I’ve ever brought back was lamblia, and you get them from contaminated water rather than from food that’s been cooked at some stage.

If you’re not convinced that your doctor can diagnose tropical worms, then ask him or her what lab they’re going to send your samples to and check out the lab to see if it’s competent – or change your doctor. As a matter of routine I get stool, urine and blood samples checked via a lab in South Germany that is well experienced in tropical medicine after every single trip to Mada. They know what to look for, and they know how to find it if it’s there, so I’m confident of my ground when I say I don’t get worms from eating roadside food. In fact I’ve never even had a dose of diarrhoea from it.

You also seem to have had some bad experiences where I wouldn’t necessarily expect them. Touts trying to lead you to a particular taxi brousse are a feature of almost every taxi brousse station I’ve ever been to, and of course they’re paid to do it. Why would they bother otherwise? But to call them “a shifty bunch” does seem to me a bit hard. They’re guys that have got themselves and a family to feed, and they really need the commission they’ll get if they persuade you to use “their” taxi. That’s why they’re so pushy and why on occasion, especially in Tana, they may even fight each other over you. With one notable exception, which was basically my own stupid fault, I’ve never been swindled, not even at the notorious south station in Tana, which is not only alarming for first-timers, but where many of the touts possibly do deserve the description “bunch of rogues”. And it’s not in the interest of anyone working for a transport company, even as a tout, for a passenger’s luggage to be stolen. It’s a lot less stressful if you don’t go into a taxi brousse station or anywhere else expecting to encounter people who are waiting to rip you off. In my experience, at least, Madagascar just isn’t like that, not even its taxi brousse stations.

And while I agree with you a hundred per cent that Malagasy people react very positively if you can speak even a few bits and pieces of the language, and everyone should make the effort to do that, the idea that someone would be rude to your face just because you addressed them in French runs counter to everything I’ve ever experienced. That doesn’t mean they won’t have fun with friends and family afterwards at the expense of the vazaha they meet and their perceived peculiarities. They do. Immensely! But for Malagasy people to actually be rude to you face-to-face? Only if you do something that they perceive as intentionally offensive, and speaking French to them just doesn’t fall under that heading. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second to speak to someone in French if I needed a bit of help or information.

Hi "couple",

I think your plans to travel to Madagascar sound great and really, why shouldn't you? Your going to either love/like Madagscar depending on what your expectations are. Do you want an adventure or a vacation? I've lived in Mada for 1.5 years during the previous 2 and can honestly say that I've had mostly an adventure with a little bit of vacation sprinkled in. Being that I don't come with much money, I have normally always used the public transportation (taxi brousse, back of pickup trucks, rickshaws((pousse pousse)) and I have lived to tell about it. I'm not going to kid you, it can be absolutely exhausting but as long as you have a clean bed and shower at the end of the day, you can endure any fleeting discomfort. I have stayed at the flea bag hotels(don't bother, life is too short) and the medium range hotels(normally the best option for the money) and the high end hotels( again, do you want a vacation or an adventure?). If you want an adventure, expect to be uncomfortable at times, you may get sick on your stomach or even take home a little critter. But in return, you will have a better understanding of the Malagasy people, will probably learn a little Malagasy along the way and see and experience the things that the "tourist" never do. You can go the vacation route to, which in my opinion would be hiring a car with driver and staying at the higher end hotels. You will enjoy yourself and not completely exhaust yourself, which is not being a wimp. My mother who is in her 40's came to visit and we opted for the "vacation" route for her benefit. She was not equipped even for luxury in Madagascar and went home thouroughly exhausted and not too impressed with Mada. Her expectations were not commesurate with the real island which is not your laid back, sleeping in a hammock under a palm tree, pina colada in hand, tropical vacation. Myself, on the other hand, had absolutely no expectations whatsoever and everything along the way has been interesting and what no defines for me the meaning of Madagascar. I've known people of varying ages(teenagers to older folks) who have all appreciated Madagascar and really enjoyed their experience there. I hope you enjoy your trip and please feel free to ask for hotel,restaurant and driver recommendations in Tana or Toliara.

If you are using taxi-bruisses, as previous correspondants have pointed out they can be a bit stressful - no matter how old or young you are, if there's 24 people plus everyone's provisions for the market, crammed into a sweltering min-bus made for 14, well......!

I'm six feet, with long legs and bad circulation in my feet. It was only when a friendly hotel-manager pointed out to me that I could buy 2 tickets for myself which would allow me to sit in the front with the driver that I actually began to enjoy (a bit) travelling by "public transport" in Madagascar. OK, there's 2 of you but I'm sure you could negotiate something similar. Just buy your tickets the day before. And another tip. As you arrive at the tax-bruisse station to buy your tickets look for the most modern looking taxi-bruisse you see, note the company, then, yelling that you already have a reservation to the army of touts, make straight for that company's office. Its not fool-proof but it does lessens the odds a lot!