Madagascar tour, Antananarivo
Meikyo
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Wed 12 Aug 2026 05:02
Tuesday we flew up to Antananarivo leaving Meikyo on a mooring in Crater Bay. We chose to fly a day before our tour started because of the reported unreliability of Air Madagascar flights. All went smoothly and our transfer driver was waiting for us and was very informative with his fairly good English. We were arriving toward the end of the afternoon and the queues for buses out of the city were amazing but probably cleared fairly quickly considering the local taxi buses, minibuses, will pack in 30+ people. We saw one unload and it seemed to go on forever. At some point a cable car system was installed into and across the city but never finished. (Correction: The cable car ran on electricity and if the cable car was used then people in the city would suffer blackouts! During the coup last year it was stopped as electricity for the people was more important than this form of transport) Our hotel was high up overlooking the central part and very nice but the area around it did not look like somewhere you wanted to wander at night. We had arranged to meet Anita a member of the group who was also flying in early and find a restaurant but we agreed that the hotel restaurant would be best.  View over the city from the hotel  Artwork on display outside the information centre  Down one of the sets of steps which make up the 1000 stairs of Antananarivo to the market Independence Avenue, in the city centre The tour started at 5.00 with a meeting so we had all day to explore and also to try and buy a camera, something we have found impossible in the Maldives and Seychelles. We wandered down from the hotel into the city centre stopping at the information centre to view an art display and the market, then into the centre where there was a Canon shop with a limited range of cameras. Paying for one was interesting as they didn’t take cards and bank transfer would take a full day. We ended up paying cash by withdrawing money from the atm next door, 8 withdrawals of the maximum allowed! Wednesday evening following our briefing meeting a group of us went to a small local restaurant to eat then back to the hotel to try and sleep before our 03.30 departure next day!  These two lovely ladies served a group of us who came unexpectedly to their small restaurant. |