© Liz Price
Published on The Brunei Times (http://www.bt.com.bn/en)
Madagascar's Antananarivo
"A city like no other": The city of Antananarivo has its own unique blend of interesting places that could attract tourists from the four corners of the world. Picture: Liz Price
BEFORE I flew to Madagascar, I was glad that none of my friends asked me the name of the capital city. It definitely has one of the longest names of any cities I had ever been to, and I was unable to get my tongue around all the syllables without stammering. Try saying Antananarivo without stumbling over the number of letters in the word.
Fortunately the city is usually referred to as Tana. All Malagasy names are hopelessly long as I was soon to find out. Our guide was called Raharijaonanaina, fortunately shortened to Naina. Flying to Madagascar from South Africa I could see how brown the country was. It is often referred to as the "Red Island" and this is an apt name as from the air I could see red laterite soil that covers much of the island. Due to vast amounts of logging and land clearing, this soil has been exposed by erosion, hence the red colour.
Landing at the small Ivato Airport, the formalities were quite amusing. Firstly we had to go to a health desk, then pay for the visa before going to another counter to get the visa, where the passports were passed along a row of three officers.
By the time the paperwork was done, the luggage was waiting and men grabbed our bags and carried them out where we were met by a barrage of taxi men, porters, guides. It was a sea of brown faces, all vying with each other to persuade us to use their services.
Luckily we had prearranged a car and driver and were quite thankful when he escorted us safely to the car. The thing that struck me was the mix of people, and I could see they came from several different ethnic backgrounds.
The Malagasy people descended from the Malay-Polynesians who arrived 1500 years ago, as well as Africans. There are now 18 local tribes, and also people from France, Indo-Pakistan area, Comoros and China.
My overall impression was that I was in India, as many of the men trying to get our services looked Indian, and there was the general bustle of India.
We put our bags in the car and went to change money and that is when I became a millionaire. With an exchange rate of about 5,000 MGF to the US dollar, I felt rich.
Madagascar is the fourth biggest island in the world, lying off the southeast coast of the African continent. It is famous for its unique and diverse wildlife, much of which is found nowhere else in the world. There are lemurs and chameleons, and the baobab tree. Madagascar has been frequently visited by naturalists such as David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell, and many films have been made about this remarkable place. It was a long but fascinating drive in to Antananarivo.
My impressions of being in India changed and I thought I was in Vietnam, as we drove on the right and the colonial buildings reminded me of Vietnam.
We could see the city in the distance for a long time before we neared it. It was a picturesque drive with a real mix of houses, mud huts, dry land, small paddies, shacks selling meat and sausages, beggars in the road and people everywhere.
The best way to describe Tana is quaint. It is a sprawling city built amongst 12 hills. Tall narrow houses with crumbling red brickwork, terracotta tile roofs, wooden balconies and shuttered windows line the narrow winding streets, many of which are still cobbled.
Church spires peer above the jumble of buildings, and there are very few modern high-rises to destroy this medieval charm. It is a mixture of French and African design — Madagascar was once a French colony.
The traffic was awful when we arrived, but this is normal on Tana's narrow and winding streets.
We headed for our hotel which was situated high on a hill, and when the car stopped, we were told we had to walk up several flights of very steep stairs to reach the building. The French constructed roads throughout the city, with flights of steps connecting places too steep for the formation of vehicular roads. That evening we went to a French restaurant and were then introduced to Malagasy beer in a multicultural pub. It was a real melting pot of different backgrounds, I could see Malay-Indonesian, African, Indian and European features. Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, so we were constantly on our guard against pickpockets and thieves.
Even so, my friend nearly lost the contents of his pouch when two young urchins hassled us. It was only when the tyre of a passing bus blew with a loud bang that the boys were distracted, and we found one had managed to open my friend's pouch. So when we went to Andravoahangy market, we were really cautious. It is one of the largest markets in the world but we didn't feel very comfortable walking around there. I did however buy a small wooden lemur. I was particularly keen to see the Tsimbazaza Botanical Gardens, which serves as a lemur park. Lemurs are cute primates, distantly related to humans, and they have large eyes and long tails. However the park was disappointing as it was poorly maintained and many of the animal cages were empty. At least the museum had some stuffed lemurs as well as skeletons of many of the Malagasy animals including the roc or elephant bird, which stood 10 feet high. One of the more open areas of the city is Lake Anosy. The city is guarded by two forts built on hills to the east and south-west. Including an Anglican and a Roman Catholic cathedral, there are about fifty churches in the city and its suburbs, as well as a Muslim mosque.
Antananarivo is definitely a city like no other I have been visited.
A native of England, now living in Malaysia and specialising in cave and karst research. Liz Price is a freelance writer who is a nature lover and traveller, who prefers off the beaten track tourism.
The Brunei Times
Fortunately the city is usually referred to as Tana. All Malagasy names are hopelessly long as I was soon to find out. Our guide was called Raharijaonanaina, fortunately shortened to Naina. Flying to Madagascar from South Africa I could see how brown the country was. It is often referred to as the "Red Island" and this is an apt name as from the air I could see red laterite soil that covers much of the island. Due to vast amounts of logging and land clearing, this soil has been exposed by erosion, hence the red colour.
Landing at the small Ivato Airport, the formalities were quite amusing. Firstly we had to go to a health desk, then pay for the visa before going to another counter to get the visa, where the passports were passed along a row of three officers.
By the time the paperwork was done, the luggage was waiting and men grabbed our bags and carried them out where we were met by a barrage of taxi men, porters, guides. It was a sea of brown faces, all vying with each other to persuade us to use their services.
Luckily we had prearranged a car and driver and were quite thankful when he escorted us safely to the car. The thing that struck me was the mix of people, and I could see they came from several different ethnic backgrounds.
The Malagasy people descended from the Malay-Polynesians who arrived 1500 years ago, as well as Africans. There are now 18 local tribes, and also people from France, Indo-Pakistan area, Comoros and China.
My overall impression was that I was in India, as many of the men trying to get our services looked Indian, and there was the general bustle of India.
We put our bags in the car and went to change money and that is when I became a millionaire. With an exchange rate of about 5,000 MGF to the US dollar, I felt rich.
Madagascar is the fourth biggest island in the world, lying off the southeast coast of the African continent. It is famous for its unique and diverse wildlife, much of which is found nowhere else in the world. There are lemurs and chameleons, and the baobab tree. Madagascar has been frequently visited by naturalists such as David Attenborough and Gerald Durrell, and many films have been made about this remarkable place. It was a long but fascinating drive in to Antananarivo.
My impressions of being in India changed and I thought I was in Vietnam, as we drove on the right and the colonial buildings reminded me of Vietnam.
We could see the city in the distance for a long time before we neared it. It was a picturesque drive with a real mix of houses, mud huts, dry land, small paddies, shacks selling meat and sausages, beggars in the road and people everywhere.
The best way to describe Tana is quaint. It is a sprawling city built amongst 12 hills. Tall narrow houses with crumbling red brickwork, terracotta tile roofs, wooden balconies and shuttered windows line the narrow winding streets, many of which are still cobbled.
Church spires peer above the jumble of buildings, and there are very few modern high-rises to destroy this medieval charm. It is a mixture of French and African design — Madagascar was once a French colony.
The traffic was awful when we arrived, but this is normal on Tana's narrow and winding streets.
We headed for our hotel which was situated high on a hill, and when the car stopped, we were told we had to walk up several flights of very steep stairs to reach the building. The French constructed roads throughout the city, with flights of steps connecting places too steep for the formation of vehicular roads. That evening we went to a French restaurant and were then introduced to Malagasy beer in a multicultural pub. It was a real melting pot of different backgrounds, I could see Malay-Indonesian, African, Indian and European features. Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, so we were constantly on our guard against pickpockets and thieves.
Even so, my friend nearly lost the contents of his pouch when two young urchins hassled us. It was only when the tyre of a passing bus blew with a loud bang that the boys were distracted, and we found one had managed to open my friend's pouch. So when we went to Andravoahangy market, we were really cautious. It is one of the largest markets in the world but we didn't feel very comfortable walking around there. I did however buy a small wooden lemur. I was particularly keen to see the Tsimbazaza Botanical Gardens, which serves as a lemur park. Lemurs are cute primates, distantly related to humans, and they have large eyes and long tails. However the park was disappointing as it was poorly maintained and many of the animal cages were empty. At least the museum had some stuffed lemurs as well as skeletons of many of the Malagasy animals including the roc or elephant bird, which stood 10 feet high. One of the more open areas of the city is Lake Anosy. The city is guarded by two forts built on hills to the east and south-west. Including an Anglican and a Roman Catholic cathedral, there are about fifty churches in the city and its suburbs, as well as a Muslim mosque.
Antananarivo is definitely a city like no other I have been visited.
A native of England, now living in Malaysia and specialising in cave and karst research. Liz Price is a freelance writer who is a nature lover and traveller, who prefers off the beaten track tourism.
The Brunei Times
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