Mada on your own?

Hi all,

I want to go to Mada next year, but am having problems to decide whether to do that on my own, or to join an organized group tour. I saw lots of posts about renting a car with or without a driver, but that is not an option.

If I join a trip, it will probably be the 30-day trip by Dutch company Koning Aap, but I would rather travel on my own.
Still looking into where I want to go exactly, but it won't be much off the beaten track. I want to go into a couple of parks, do the train ride to Manakara (if it runs again), Canal des Pangalanes. The Koning Aap tour also includes a 3-day trip on the Tsiribihinariver, which sounds fantastic. Whales, some snorkeling, well, like I said, pretty much on the beaten track.

My French is ok, and I have travelled on my own before, so that's not a problem. Just wondering whether using local transport would slow me down so much that I wouldn't be able to do what I want in 4 to 5 weeks. Or whether I can go where I want without hiring a personal driver. Are there enough good tours you can join with local tourist organizations to get into the parks and other places without public transport? Is long distance transport frequent enough, so you don't get stuck in a town for three days? Do you have to book domestic flights a long time ahead?

Would be great to hear some stories about independent traveling.

Thanks,
Liesbeth

From people I spoke to who were travelling independently, it seemed that public transport networks are pretty good. I travelled on my own but with a guide and driver.

Traveling solo is great in one way because you can tailor make your trip of course and decide when to stay at a sighting and when to move on. However, I also found it had some drawbacks. I wanted to see the wildlife and so we discussed the importance of getting some really good local English-speaking and bird-savvy guides and Jenita, my guide had lined up several for the trip (nearly all the parks require you to have a local park guide). However, we were let down a few times by these guides. In Andasibe, we were told when we arrived that the guide we booked had been asked to guide his last client for a few extra days. So he dropped us and Jenita had to find a replacement at very short notice. At Ifaty, the guide Jenita had spoke to about guiding us decided to take another tour group instead. The guide we were given tended to disappear off for a long time and seemed rather un-entusiastic. If it we not for some other guides effectively handing us sightings, we would not have seen as much as we did.

Similar story in Isalo too. We did, however have very good bird guides in Ranomafana and Zombitse. And even with these "issues" we still saw most of the birds and all but one of the lemurs I hoped to see. We also got lucky with Fosa along the main road one morning when leaving Ranomafana and also a ring-tailed mongoose.

The second issue is that there are very few english-speaking people in Madagascar, and if your french is rusty to non-existent (as mine was) then this can be very isolating at times, as your guide and/or driver will tend to eat apart from you (because of how it works with the hotel). It was really nice when I met other english-speakers who invited me to join them.

Thirdly, everyone expects a tip, and this can get expensive if you are traveling alone- and I think that is also why getting the best guides is so hard if you are traveling alone (bigger groups = bigger tips).

Because of the way I booked, it cost me 1900 euro for a two week trip that covered all the guiding, transport, accommodation and most meals. This didn't include the internal or international flight. Spending money when I was out there amounted to about £180. This covered tips, lunches and my last excursion, which my guide would have paid for however, we didn't think I had time. So when I got to the airport and found out my flight was delayed I took a last minute trip to the croc farm and paid for this myself.

All the best

Jo

Hi Liesbeth,

I would strongly advise you to organise your own travel and visits if that’s what you’d like to do. You have plenty of time, and although travel by taxi brousse will be slower (and much more uncomfortable, it must be said) than hiring your own vehicle, it will not hold you back too much, as in areas “on the beaten track” there are usually frequent vehicles, several per day.

The main problems are that long- and medium-distance taxis brousse don’t leave until they’re full, and the waiting around can be tiresome. The best thing to do is to find a cafe close to where your vehicle is and eat or drink something while you people-watch.

A corollary of that is that it is often difficult to pick up a long distance brousse after breaking your journey to visit a park, as they’re already full (although as one person travelling alone, you may be squeezed in, especially if the conductor knows they’ll be dropping someone off shortly). Even in this case, though, you won’t be stuck for ages – the solution is to get a local vehicle to the nearest major centre which is a starting point for long distance vehicles. Examples would be from Andasibe to get a local brousse to Moramanga, or from Ranohira (Isalo NP) to Ihosy.

On most routes, especially south and east of Tana, you should avoid night-time travel as there is a risk of banditry, but that would apply to a private car as well.

To travel down the Tsiribihina you have various options. For example you can make your way by taxi brousse to Miandrivazo and make contact with piroguiers there. Or you can contact a local operator at Antsirabe – this might be particularly useful if you want to combine the river trip with a visit to the Tsingy de Bemaraha, as they can arrange for a 4x4 to meet you at the end of your river trip. If you PM me, I can give you the e-mails of a couple of guys who did a good job for me years and years ago, and who are still operating out of Antsirabe. The problem with the Tsiribihina nowadays is that it tends to get overcrowded, and it does make a difference if your tent is the only one on the sandbank or is one of twenty...!

If the train from Fianarantsoa to Manakara is still not operational, you could consider the less known trip from Moramanga and Andasibe to Tamatave, especially as you’re considering going to the Pangalanes. Also, Madarail runs (fairly expensive) weekend specials from Tana to Andasibe and Antsirabe, which you can book at the station in Tana, although there’s no regular passenger service on these two routes.

For whale watching, you’ll need to go to either Sainte Marie or Maroantsetra for the Bay of Antongil. I’ve described in detail the various ways off getting to Maroantsetra in earlier posts.

You can book most domestic flights at pretty short notice – 48 or even 24 hours. The main exceptions are routes operated with the small Twin Otter aircraft, and destinations such as Maroantsetra which are difficult to reach by other means. Also, the very few domestic flights that link important towns without going through Tana tend to get booked up well in advance.

As far as parks are concerned, there are relatively few that can’t be reached by taxi brousse, and these are off what most people might call “the beaten track”. If you’re staying on the “beaten track”, you’ll have no access problems. In the national parks, you’re required by law to engage a guide who is accredited to the particular park you’re visiting. Community run parks outside the NP system also usually require you to take a guide – not least because this brings money to a member of the community. Other private parks and reserves have a variety of policies.

The problems reported by #1, at least as far as the national parks are concerned, are due to her tour operator promising something he was never going to be able to keep. Some NPs won’t allow booking, as they give clients to the guides in turn, so that everybody gets a chance. If a client decides to stay an extra couple of days, s/he will almost invariably keep the same guide. “Bookings” don’t have priority. Many guides don’t trust Tana-based operators to keep their bookings and will take a client who is there and ready to go (I’ve lost count of the times I’ve been told stories by guides of tour operators who have let them down in some way). Also, if there is a conflict between the client’s requirements and the skills of the various guides – for example if the best bird experts have ropey English, the park will often make its own decision on priorities. As in NPs groups are limited to 7 per guide (above that, they’re split, with additional guides), the idea of guides waiting for or opting for larger groups is not such a problem. Outside the NP and community reserve system it may well be.

To be accredited, the guides have to go through an evaluation process, and with very few exceptions (there are always some who spoil things) they’re very knowledgeable about their parks and where best to find the animals and birds the clients want to see.

And by the way, not everybody expects a tip, though of course no one will refuse one if you offer it. You should in any case apply the same principles you apply at home. If someone has done you a service and you’re satisfied with it, give a tip, if not, don’t.

Taxi drivers don’t expect tips, staff in the small restaurants that taxis brousse stop at don’t, taxi brousse drivers and conductors don’t, rickshaw drivers don’t, in fact most people you come into contact with don’t expect a tip. I tip park guides and porters if they’ve done a good job, porters at Ivato and in hotels if I let them carry my baggage, chambermaids in city hotels, and restaurant waiters if they’ve been friendly and pleasant, and that’s about it. In fact even then I’ve been criticised by Malagasy companions for tipping people they believe shouldn’t be tipped. There’s also no “10% culture” – if you tip a waiter 1000 or 2000 ariary, that will equate to a substantial percentage of his/her monthly wage.

I’ve been travelling the country for years now without the benefit of a tour operator and wouldn’t do it any other way. Go ahead and enjoy it.

Thanks for posting your explanation of how the guiding system works. It does seem to be a bit ambiguous, because I am aware of a group who were able to book their park guide well in advance and he was available (though I believe they also had a few problems). I was certainly led to believe that some park guides had been lined up and "booked" in advance, because in Andasibe we had initially made plans to camp somewhere with this guide (until a bridge went out so we didn't do this in the end). So obviously there is some promising going on that is not fulfilled which I think is a pretty bad show. Either they (the parks and the TAs) should be clear that guides are allocated on the day or the park guides should keep their word if they promise to be available for a certain booking.

As regarding tipping, I was actually made to feel very awkward for not tipping on several occasions. Some people are quite pushy actually in their requests for tips, especially the porters at the airport, the zebu cart drivers and some of the park guides. Just IMHO of course.