At one time or another, almost all of you fancy visiting all the countries, traveling around the whole world, exploring every corner, making personal conclusions and gaining amazing experience. As you might have already guessed, I also belong to this group of people because for me dreaming means planning. Having a desire to do something, we subconsciously navigate our activity in a special direction to achieve our dream. The same goes with tourism. Some people have a strict list of specific countries to visit, others merely consider moving to a particular country that has captured their fantasies, still others dream about a crazy lifestyle full of interminable journeys from one place to the other, their special desire being to keep traveling until there is no place left unvisited. I’m sure you will agree that all these dreams deserve coming true.
I can’t call myself a great traveller, but I consider myself lucky enough to have visited quite a lot of countries. I’ve been to England, Bulgaria, Egypt, Cambodia, Thailand, Turkey, India, Sri-Lanka, Madagascar, UAE, Slovakia, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia. Maybe not so much, but I have great plans for future..:) And I hope that every year my personal list will broaden by one country at least.
Well, let me finally proceed to my initial intention for this post, the wonders of Madagascar. A trip there left an unforgettable impression on me. Just remember those amazing animals from the like-named animated cartoon, and you can get the idea what this country is like. Unusual and astonishing.
Let me start with a few words about this wonderful country, for those of you who are not that good at geography and history. It is situated on a small island, which many years ago got separated from Africa. For us, Europeans, Madagascar is on the other side of the world, as it is across the equator. And, yes, the water flows in the opposite direction there.
Another interesting fact about Madagascar is that the official languages there are French and Malagasy. Why French? Because it used to be a French colony. Nowadays, the French are most frequent tourists there, for they feel at home there. Many of them even have houses in Madagascar or run hotels there.
On the whole, tourism in not well-developed. The flow of tourists is scanty, especially in winter. Just imagine, there were only 15 of us on the plane flying to Madagascar, not counting the staff.
Plane tickets to Madagascar
They are really very expensive. Well, and it’s quite obvious, if you consider the distance from Ukraine to Madagascar. Recently, the Turkish Airlines launched a new flight from Ukraine to Madagascar via Istanbul. And I sincerely advise this company to everyone, as it’s really one of the best I’ve ever used.
Flight
It takes 24 hours to get there. It is extremely tiring and exhausting. At first, there is a 2-hour flight from Ukraine to Turkey. After 3-4 hours of waiting the plane to Madagascar takes off. But what is really interesting is that it doesn’t fly to Madagascar directly. You will land in Mauritius before continuing your journey to Madagascar.
Arrival
Upon landing in the Tana’s Airport, you will get through the same procedure as in other poor countries. Nothing there is computer-controlled, you will hardly be able to find shops to use your credit card. The assortment in their Duty Free is very poor. On the whole, the airport is very small, you’ll have to buy a visa on the arrival. And on leaving the airport, you will be attacked by a flow of local people. They work as porters and earn their living by getting tips from travellers. In spite of being really pitiful, they are also extremely insolent, and some of them even attempt stealing your things.
Weather
As you might have guessed, it’s absolutely hot all the time. Even if any local tells you that it’s cold in winter, don’t believe them. It’s cold only for them, but for us, Europeans, the weather is terribly hot throughout the year. I was lucky to visit this country in February, when it’s a rain season in Madagascar. In spite of how horrifying the phrase “tropical rains” may sound, it turned out to be not so bad. This even made our staying there more exciting.
Sure thing, there are so many things to tell about this wonderful, unusual, incredible island. But it’s quite hard to feature all this information in one article. A lot should be told about wildlife, jungles, animals, plants, climate, local people and their lifestyle, education, souvenirs, prices, dangers, local food and, of course, the ocean. So stay tuned for more to come.
Keep dreaming!
Keep traveling!