Africa / Madagascar / Pangalanes Lakes

Raining at the canal

Posted by

We drive through the eastern part of Madagascar to get almost to the east coast. Most of the drive is on good roads – well good for Madagascar standard and not what I am used to at home. The good road is also one of the most trafficked roads in Madagascar since it seems most the goods imported to Madagascar comes to a harbor at the end of the road and then it is driven by truck to the capital several hundred kilometers inland.
543A0080 (1280x853)
The lack of pot holes should increase the travel speed but the road is winding with many trucks driving on the road which slows us down significantly so the trip takes a while. The fact this part of the country is in the middle of the wet season doesn’t help with the speed of travel either. But after a few hours we reach a parking lot at the end of a dirt road. The dirt road is bad so we have to leave the car behind at the parking lot for a couple of days before we head down the dirt road in a 4×4.


The dirt road is only 7 kilometers but the road is really bad and I guess the rain hasn’t made any improvements to the road. It takes almost an hour just to do the short distance to the water edge. Out here we are still inland secluded from the ocean – though the ocean is only a few kilometers away. The east side of Madagascar got a canal system which make it possible to travel long distances by boat without the waves and rough seas you will experience in the ocean.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.


We have some lunch at a restaurant at the beach and have a quick look at the beach between the showers. And after lunch we are ready to board a boat transfer across the canals to our hotel. The boat trip goes through the canal. It is a pretty scenic boat trip if it wasn’t for the occasional shower on the way.
543A0100 (1280x853)
We see the local vegetation along the trip and there are also a few locals in boats and on land living their daily life which is much different from the way we are used to live back home. Life out here is surely much simpler than the life we are used to in Europe.
543A0091 (1280x853)
The trip is overall pleasant and after an hour and a half we have crossed the canal and made it back to land.

13 comments

  4. This is so interesting, because I really don’t know much about Madagascar at all. We have a rainy season here in Florida, but our roads are designed to handle all the water. I love the way you described the road there!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thank you. trying the roads of Madagascar certainly is part of the experience of the island. You can fly some places (though very expensive) but it would take away part of the fun in my opinion.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.