Madagascar

[Oiste]

Last night the President of Mada declared the border blockade for another 15 days, the problem is growing.

After 15 years of living in Cuba as a permanent resident, I started fantasizing about Mada at the wrong time.

From Italy you can't travel to Mada, I don't really know what I can do to carry out my 6-month project there. I would also go directly to Tana or Tulear or Tamatave but everything is at a standstill. Damnation.

[Jingo10]

If you go by international standards it should be either YYYY-MM-DD or DD-MM-YYYY (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country). To my knowledge it is only ONE country in the World that uses the illogical MM-DD-YYYY!

ISG has hit a new low, arguing about date formats, ah well. Better than American politics I suppose: smileyface:

[Oiste]

If you go by international standards it should be either YYYY-MM-DD or DD-MM-YYYY (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country). To my knowledge it is only ONE country in the World that uses the illogical MM-DD-YYYY! Either you should go from the smallest unit to the bigger unit or from the bigger unit to the smaller unit as in ISO 8601 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601).

Sorry but I was not referring to the date but to the order of publication of the posts that in this forum (which is still wonderful!) Seems to me to appear the other way around. In any case it is not a problem, the problem is how to get to Madagascar!

[AdamVeden]

Don't be so sure.

The date format is MM-DD-YYYY not DD-MM-YYYY as you seem to think it is.

In virtually the whole world but one country the date format is DD-MM-YYYY. That same country still measures in Feet lbs and other archaic measurements. While the whole world uses metric.

If you go by international standards it should be either YYYY-MM-DD or DD-MM-YYYY (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_format_by_country). To my knowledge it is only ONE country in the World that uses the illogical MM-DD-YYYY! Either you should go from the smallest unit to the bigger unit or from the bigger unit to the smaller unit as in ISO 8601 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601).

[Oiste]

Sorry for my first post, I understand and I will write only in English.

Hi everyone, I'm Oiste from Santiago de Cuba.

I still haven't figured out if using Chrome what I write will be automatically translated into English, so as a precaution I'll add translation.

I am here because obviously I am very, very interested in the Mada. Cuba is dead, buried, dissolved in the wind. Personal opinion.

I go back only because I have children and I want to see them every now and then, but if it wasn't for them.

Madagascar! Ahhhhh! Okay, women aren't exactly as black as I like them, but I don't have the heart (or the money) to make Burkina Faso or Ivory Coast.

I am a man of 59 years, athletic (but still an old man), quiet (the discos bore me), with a budget of 900/1000 euros per month.

I don't work anymore, I love the sea reading and good food.

I don't have to remind you that I like pussy so much, but with a lot of free time, I don't have to kill the bear every day.

I read the whole forum backwards, I think I was impressed with the most important concepts.

Low profile, never argue, never get into trouble, never flaunt. Be friendly but NEVER friends with the locals. Rules valid everywhere.

I have a travel program but we are still in the era Covid, nothing is certain.

Last year I was going to leave but in October they closed the borders, so I returned to Cuba. Mamma mia.

My idea was to travel to Tana, then Tamatave, Saint Marie, Sambava, Morondava, Nosy Be (where I have contacts but I don't want to commit too much, for discretion).

From Nosy Be I would have returned to Italy. Ah, I'm Italian!

But now everything has changed and so, even if I don't like the idea, I could go directly with a flight a / are to Nosy Be, from there I could try to move. Perhaps.

I speak French worse than English, but I am studying the important things. Like: Comment tu t'appelles? Vous avez quel age? Tres petittttttttttttttttt ahahaha.

The idea is to do three months and then see what happens.

I wait that the borders reopen because I can not leave from Italy. But maybe. Some of you. Can advise me. Telling me secrets ahahahaha.

I wish you all a good evening, ahahahaha what a thugs!

[Oiste]

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[CrazyMan]

Don't be so sure.

The date format is MM-DD-YYYY not DD-MM-YYYY as you seem to think it is.

In virtually the whole world but one country the date format is DD-MM-YYYY. That same country still measures in Feet lbs and other archaic measurements. While the whole world uses metric.

[PussNet]

This is the only forum in the world where posts are published with the date backwards!

Don't be so sure.

The date format is MM-DD-YYYY not DD-MM-YYYY as you seem to think it is.

[Oiste]

I run a search on a keyword "Sambava" and got all the result about 20 pages. I used "Advanced search".

This is the only forum in the world where posts are published with the date backwards!

[StarGazer101]

I spent the latest Christmas and new year's on Nosy be and wrote some reports about my trip.

All-in-all it was an enjoyable vacation. For sure it would have been better if I could speak French, or at least understand it.

20 days in Ambotoalaka was a few days too many. There's not much to do apart from visiting the few bars and the occasional island trip or excursion.

To stay on the safe side I avoided the beach after dark. I made sure I only went to the ATM during the day. On the last day I finally visited a nice looking restaurant next to the beach, that all other days had 3+ young dirty men hanging around in the narrow alley in front of the entrance. Even though the village didn't feel unsafe, there was a lot of scruffy looking guys sitting around glaring at all the tourists. Sometimes that could feel a bit uncomfortable.

The hotel TV had 100+ channels, only two in English. Power outages happened almost every other evening. The "better" hotels and a couple of the bars had generators, but most restaurants didn't.

Most girls had their hair straightened or braided, which meant they used a lot of products. This made their hair either smell of chemicals of like dirt / dust, which was wasn't very nice. Service and performance wasn't really great either, but it was really cheap so it's hard to be very unhappy.

There's a great restaurant on the top of the island called "The View". It was newly opened by a very friendly French expat. Construction was being started on a hotel and condos. There was even a miniature golf course on the slope below the restaurant.

Some members on the board have claimed that you don't need any cash on arrival. That is not correct.

You have to pay €35 for the tourist "Visa" on entry, which cannot be paid in local currency. There is no ATM at the airport and if there still is a mandatory covid test it will cost 100 k Ariary, which has to be paid in cash. In the lounge and Tax-free area at the airport they only accept €uro, again only cash.

I found two ATM: s in the village. One next to the pharmacy inside the village which did not accept Mastercard, but Visa worked. The other ATM was across the street from Hotel Ambotoalaka and there I could use both types of cards.

Also, the hotel I was staying at only accepted cash, even though the booking site claimed you can pay with card. Withdrawing almost 1 k €uro from the ATMs was a bit of a hassle.

[Steve Ohh]

Bad news.

Borders won't open soon.

https://actu.orange.mg/les-frontiere...u-coronavirus/

[SouthEaster]

Don't know that I would give up on this year yet. It has only gone just over 6 months into the year. Weather will play a facto for me though. If it is after November then I will wait too as I cannot stand the rainy season, although the west might not be too bad.

[LuddeBoy]

"The borders remain closed to passengers from abroad, with the exception of those who are allowed to receive exemptions from the Council of Ministers," the head of government continues.

Last week, the Ministry of Transport, Tourism and Meteorology again insisted "that no date has been set for the reopening of Madagascar's borders".

Antananarivo, June 27th, Prime Minister Christian Ntsay speaking on TV.

Well that sucks. I guess it will have to wait until next year for me to pop my Mada cherry.

[Amadeuss]

Madagascar will open its borders from July first, but step by step. Starting with 1. 000 traveler a week only in Tana and eight day querentine. Later it will increase and probably September first borders are completely open. Until now just a plan, needs to be confirmed. Following text in German. Hope it's ok, I didn't find another source in English or French. Sorry guys, google will translate it for you.

https://www.madamagazine.com/informa...m-coronavirus/

"The borders remain closed to passengers from abroad, with the exception of those who are allowed to receive exemptions from the Council of Ministers," the head of government continues.

Last week, the Ministry of Transport, Tourism and Meteorology again insisted "that no date has been set for the reopening of Madagascar's borders".

Antananarivo, June 27th, Prime Minister Christian Ntsay speaking on TV.

[SouthEaster]

Fingers crossed. I really hope you are right. That is when I was wanting to go but it did not look good. Hopefully something more concrete soon. Thanks for the tantalizing info.

SE.