Thread 2816795

Hello anons.
I'm flying to Madagascar next week, for a month. Semi-work related, but will mostly backpack around. I'm landing in the capital, will visit Toamasina, Saint Mary's Island, loop around the north and go to Nosy Be.
Anyone been there? What to expect? How to prepare? What to see?
I speak fluent English, Spanish and my native slavic tongue. Will I be able to communicate with expats/some locals?
How dangerous is it in comparison to LatAm?

I was there 2013, a while ago. I went south from Tana though. When I was travelling there nobody was travelling during the night due to bandits. Never saw anything and maybe it was to scare us but that's what they said.

>>2816842
Huh. So I'm guessing buses at night between cities aren't an option.
How are the locals? Friendly? I can imagine expats/tourists are the same as everywhere, either retirees, hippies and alcoholic coomers.

>>2816795 (OP)
I don't know but that's cool as hell, will you be doing any eco-tourism? Please take pictures for us

>>2816848
people in the cities or along the main roads were more or less indifferent to tourists apart from the occasional begging (specially kids). when you leave the road then it changes and people were amazed to see you there and some kids even scared of seeing white people. Two anecdotes: in a town a very little kid (3 or so) started crying when he saw us and apparntly he thought we were ghosts or something. Then another day in a stop along the road next to a village spread the word of a car with tourists stopped there and all the village went out of their mud houses to see us. The thing that most surprised me is that out of like 100 people most were kids and teenagers. Crazy young population.

>>2816795 (OP)
Insane how straight that coastline is , ffs.

>>2816795 (OP)
Tsingy De Bemaraha National Park was really interesting.

>>2816850
I might. I have to visit the spots I mentioned within a month, other than that I can do whatever I want.
Will take photos and post in this thread if it's still up.
>>2816859
Interesting. I heard you shouldn't enter villages without a guide however.
How are the bigger towns?
>>2816975
Will add to the list.

>>2817107
>Will take photos and post in this thread if it's still up
Full trip report needed

>>2816859
How easy would it be for me to find a hot young peasant wife? Do they thirst for white men out there like in Kenya?

Hello anons, OP here.
Spent a couple of days in Antananarivo. Honestly not a lot of interesting things, just an endless favela. Whenever you walk outside you're surrounded by begging children and women with babies who will fuck off only if you tell them "I don't have [money]" in Malagasy. Sellers are less stubborn than in Latam or Morocco.
Locals are very amicable and nice. Many will try to converse with you just out of curiosity. A couple of words in Malagasy help a lot. I went to see the finals of the cup of Africa on Rue de l'Independence (I think that's the name of it) and it was pretty crazy, when they scored a goal I got showered with beer by all the teenagers around, some jumping on cars, blasting horns, etc. I don't think my eardrums will ever recover.
I just got to Tamatave (Toamasina) by bus, a 12 hour ride due to the roads looking like swiss cheese. I was, of course, the only white man on the bus. Turns out /pol/tards were right about Chinese taking over East Africa - there was a lot of people working on the roads, all in luminous vests with Chinese moonrunes on them, some with Chinese flag patches. Groups of 10-20 Malagasy/Bantu workers surrounding a lone Chinese engineer were common. I saw Chinese flag t-shirts and flags being sold by locals out their wooden huts.
Today I'm gonna explore Tamatave a bit. Will head north in three days, my plan is to hike around the entirety of the two islands - Saint Marie and Ile aux Nattes. First will take ~4-5 days, second 1 day.
>>2817132
Idk so far anon, I haven't tried the nightlife (trying not to drink for now). But I met a fellow slav in Tana who is a crazy 40yo coomer. He finds girls on Badoo, pays them a taxi (around 2-5 euro), a bottle of rum (2-5 euro) and gives them a 6 euro (30,000 ARY) """tip""" and they spend the night with him.
Two girls made a move on me, but again, I'm young, pretty good looking, tall and fit. I didn't follow through though, as I have a gf back home.

OP again. I wanted to loop around the north to Nosy Be after going to Ile Sainte Marie. Unfortunately I think I'll have to go back through the capital or go through the bush with some local, although idk if that's a good idea.
Pic related, lmao.

>>2819769
>gibsmedat money so I can pop out more starving babies!
Never change, Africa
How much are you paying for your rooms there?
>Chinese can get Africans to work
Remarkable. I bet they pay their workers in cash every day. Don't show up or don't wanna work? Fine, there's a dozen other young bucks loitering around the site ready to take your job on the spot. No need to use threats or persuasion.

>>2819769
>as I have a gf back home.
lol wut?!?

On the way to Sainte Marie island. The port town is 160 km north of Toamasina; yet according to the driver, the ride is 10 hours. I can see why - two days ago I went 11km north of Toamasina. The ride took 1.5h in a car. But we did stop a couple of times to let locals climb on the back so we can drop them off next village over.
Then, around 1 am local time, we'll take a small ferry to the island. Normally they wait til the morning, but the weather conditions are supposed to be good tonight.
>>2820233
Yep. The moment you get off a tuktuk you're swarmed by kids and women with babies begging for money. It's the worst in front of the supermarkets or restaurants where elderly french go to pick up 18yo prosties.
I'm paying around 15 euro a night in the center. But there are nice bungalows by the beach (you literally see the waves from the door) for 8-9 euro.
Yep. It's not difficult to find workers, there's a bunch of bantus squatting around every corner.

>>2819769
>>2820533
How rare is it nowadays to have good /trv/ posts like this? It's mostly tardguard talking about the time he went to Pattaya in 2013 or raging against successful people

>>2820533
Madagascar is the new Philippines
>Beaches
>Low COL
>Desperate poverty
>Plentiful fuckmeat
>Local men are non-violent
Interesting. Have you heard any stories of aggressive ripoffs, extortion attempts, violent theft or robbery?

>>2820701
>Have you heard any stories of aggressive ripoffs, extortion attempts, violent theft or robbery?
My guide told me he got robbed by bandits, that theyre a problem over there.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/meeting-the-armed-bandits-of-madagascar/

>>2820701
This post reeks of never been to Africa. Stick to the Pattaya and PH threads, tard.

The further we got from Toamasina, the nicer it gets. The villages/huts are genuinely nice, even the occasional shops seem better maintained than the city ones. Nature is very nice, the road occasionally goes by the sea.
Pic related, I smoked a cig here on a bathroom break. To any smoking anons - cigarettes here are very good, much like in LATAM/US, they don't smell of tar like the EU ones.
We reached our destination after 11 hours. Now, before the boat leaves for Sainte Marie, they need to take off all the luggage strapped on top of the bus. For some mysterious reason, only one specific guy can do it, and he got here three hours after the bus. Then the boarding took another hour, after walking through a shantytown with houses on water. I got banned for proxy/VPN and sent an appeal. Will post this after getting unbanned, and then make another post about the boat trip and impressions of Sainte Marie.
>>2820539
Thanks anon.
>>2820701
>Local men are non-violent
Well, I don't know about that. I've heard about robbery. I got extorted as well in Toamasina with a threat of violence. Will describe in next post - but the only thing lost was a pack of cigs.

>>2820788
Based OP delivering
Looks just like SoCal, but obviously the context is completely different
I hope you get to go inland and see some lemurs

>>2820827
>Looks just like SoCal, but obviously the context is completely different
No no. Indistinguishable

>>2816795 (OP)
>>2820533
wow, interesting destination OP. Are you solo travelling?

I just recently went to Johannesburg for a few days. Next time I catch that SYD-JNB flight I said I would go visit some of the interesting surrounding countries like Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Madagascar. Please keep us posted.

> pick up 18yo prosties.
tell me more...

>>2820851
Same fag here...

There are some interesting islands nearby that I would also like to visit like Comoros, Mauritius and Reunion. Any plans on going there?

>>2820852
>Comoros
Dump
>Mauritius
Honeymoon
>Reunion
French

>>2820854
> Dump
Yeah well theyre far away lands that not many people visit. You'd have interesting stories to tell girls that you've been to comoros in the quest of trying to get it in. You sound like someone who only visits Japan and Thailand and brag to people how you're a real traveller.

>>2820875
>tell girls that you've been to comoros
Wow! Tell girls!

The rectangles visible in the sea are the seaweed crops - from today.
Cigarette extortion storytime
>Main street of Toamasina, boulevard joffre
>11 am
>perpendicular 200m street leads straight to the beach
>go there
>holding a pack of cigs in my hands (idk why)
>two guys sitting by a palm tree
>they see me and one stands up saying something
>takes the cig package from my hand with a quick move
>I try to argue with him to let him take one cig and give me the rest
>he's raising his voice
>ok five
>he's screaming in his language
>second guy stands up
>the one screaming keeps pointing at me and getting closer, screaming "YOU. S.O.S YOU S.O.S" writing SOS in the air with his finger
>I quickly fuck off back to the main street
Call me a pussy, but the guy looked 60IQ at best, and I had a bag in my pants with my phone. He didn't notice the black strap going across my chest (black t-shirt). I prefer losing cigs worth 1.20€ than a phone, even though I have two phones for exactly this reason (Brasil taught me).
>>2820827
The locals today told me that occasionally you can see lemurs here, by the coast. But I will go inland - I found out that there's a way to get to the other side from here.
>>2820851
Yep, solo, but I met a cool french guy here and I think I'll travel with him for a week - he's easy to talk to, an experienced traveler and speaks french, which is an absolute lifesaver here.
I'd like to see Mozambique. Zimbabwe might be a bit sad to see given the history, but again, I don't know much about its current state.
>tell me more
You go to a bar, girls stare at you, you sit with them, buy something to drink, talk, go back to hotel.
Nightclubs serve purely for sex tourism, it's 10-1 girls to 60+ Frenchies ratio, from what I was told you buy a drink and go.
>>2820852
Mauritius is supposedly very nice, heard good things about reunion. Unfortunately won't be able to visit, as I have to return to my country soon.

Today I went on a trip to the eastern side of the island - which doesn't have asphalt on the roads and only has wooden hut villages.
We noticed that all the villages are empty - but with people on the road walking in one direction. Finally we got to a village FULL of people. 1000 maybe. Children clapping and singing, women dancing, men drunk as fuck, drinking from rolled up leaves.
I was with the french guy I mentioned in the previous post - he translated all our driver said to us. Basically, when someone important dies and leaves inheritance, they organize a party and people from villages come around, they sacrifice a zebu and eat its meat, have a party and split the inheritance among the members. The "elders" sit in a slightly separate group, drinking a lightly hallucinogenic drink (I have no idea what it's made of) which is reserved only for them. Due to the one hour of sleep I got yesterday, I didn't have the balls to try even the alcohol they were pouring into leaves from gasoline canisters. When I said misaotra the guy just laughed and patted me on the back a couple of times.
Pic rel. I didn't take photos, only videos - this photo was taken by the french friend, hence the different filename.
Then we went on a kayak through the river to an exit into the ocean. Nice beach. One hour one way. On the way back to the accommodation we went through more villages, further from the capital than the previous ones - there children greeted us screaming and waving at us happily.

Don't wanna spam three posts in a row but just quick observations:
Western side of Sainte Marie has the best road I've seen in all of Madagascar. One pothole in the 30 km stretch I've seen, in comparison to the fifty potholes on each roundabout in the capital.
Barely any trash on the streets. Huts, houses and shops seem cared for.
I think the locals are a bit richer than main islanders? I've seen more phones with touchscreens here, while most of phones I saw in Toamasina/Tana were dumbphones. No beggars. Sellers of vanilla, pepper and other things leave you be after you say no once.
Locals seem friendlier, but speak almost zero English.
From what locals told me, you can walk alone at night in the capital without any issues whatsoever.
Nature is much nicer.
Honestly I like it much more than anything on the main island.

>>2820788
Ayo hole up. Where all the garbage and pollution at?
>>2820950
Ah, so snatch theft is a problem, and the thieves won't run off like they do in other countries, they'll stand there and say "the fuck Timmy gonna do?" in ooga booga speak. Yeah, getting into a fight over some petty thievery isn't worth it. You never know how many friends the scumbags have in the area.
>>2820956
People living in the moment, not a cellphone in sight. Meeting travel companions along the way and continuing on together. All in the year 2025. Remarkable.

Off for today. Gonna eat dinner and get some sleep, probably will poast more tomorrow evening.
>>2820964
>Where all the garbage and pollution at?
I'm guessing they burn it in the forests or hide it? I've seen people burning garbage.
>You never know how many friends the scumbags have in the area
Or whether they have a knife and are capable of understanding what it means to kill another human being. Also I've heard of cases where police intervention in situations ended with police taking all the money from the victim.

>>2820964
>in ooga booga speak
>Ayo hole up
Thats literally you, dumbfuck.

Yo mind done been seasoned...you poltard psy-op victim.

>>2820964
>People living in the moment, not a cellphone in sight. Meeting travel companions along the way and continuing on together. All in the year 2025. Remarkable.
Wow yeah beautiful noble savages. Thanks for the derp take

Hello. I've made the decision to embark on the journey through the bush, between the points seen here >>2820154
The trip will start on Friday/Saturday, depending on whether the ship I'll be taking departs on Thursday or Friday.
Going to Ile Aux Nattes this week.

>>2820970
Irony and sarcasm flies right over your head.
>>2820969
Any tasty foods there, or is everything shit?
>>2821432
Wouldn't it be more interesting to head east into the Masoala National Park with its coastline and end up at Antalaha as your next civilizational point of contact, instead of north through the interior bush to Andapa?

>>2820964
>ooga booga speak
>>2820897
>ooga booga tribals
>>2821440
>Irony and sarcasm
"I was merely pretending to be retarded."

Get it through you poltard head, your dipshittery isnt funny...

>>2821440
I've eaten some tasty food. Steaks are very nice, the sauce they use is great. Two days ago I ate shrimps in a restaurant far from the road in coconut milk and they were amazing. For some reason, the stuff in supermarkets gave me much worse shits than the local food.
Regarding the other question - that's a good idea actually. I was so hell-bent on getting to the other side so I can access the east I only looked at Andapa. Thanks anon.

>>2821440
>>2821478
Forgot to mention - never fucking ever get chicken here. Not only does it have the consistency of mastic gum, but the serving size is a fucking joke. You get three wings with maybe 30g of meat in total on them, the bones far outweigh the amount of meat. Genuinely, more meat goes into one slice of European ham than there is in an entire "chicken" meal. And it's not just the place being scammed - happened to me twice in different places, and some people I met told me it's the same everywhere.
They try to outweigh this by giving you a gargantuan portion of rice, of course.

>>2821483
*place being scammy

>>2821465
Your seethe sure is funny. You must be American if you get butthurt over someone making fun of negroes.
>>2821483
Village chickens. They spend their whole lives running around and eating only what they can scavenge from their desolate surrroundings. They're slaughtered young too.