Madagascar

[Tinte]

Fihavanana service.

Tana. Tulear 190 000 A in Cotisse premium style. If they offer also stop over in places like Antsirabe, Fiaranantsoa the perfect alternative to taxi brusse.

[Kako123]

Glacier hotel? Then you won't be far from glacier bar. There are lot of beggars in that area, be careful about that. Prices starts from 30.000, 40.000 ariary. You can also check the girls standing at night near Air Madagascar office.

Hi all, I will be in Tana in mid November and staying at the Glacier. I was hoping that one of you guys would have an update on what I can expect, prices for FLs and so on like taking them back to your room w / o any hassle. Are there any other similar venues in the center of town? I have not been back since before covid.

Thanks.

[SouthEaster]

Not many. Most are plain, chubby or older veterans of the scene. It is entirely a matter of luck and timing that you will find a very attractive one. That said if you go round often enough you will find something doable once in a while. Good luck.

[Docjan]

We are four people arriving late, 23.25, the 5th of November in Antananarivo. I have search for airporttaxi but have not found. How much will it cost for a taxi to downtown? Will it be enough with one taxi? Four people with luggage. Anyone knows a private driver interested in picking us up?

[LoveEastAsia]

I am at Tana! Like to meet someone from the forum to share experiences and for a beer.

Usually I stayed few days at Tana but this time I would like to explore the city.

Any advices what to do on daylight? Billards.

Can also contact me in private.

Thanks.

[Roaming Viking]

400-500 bucks? WTF why wouldn't you just fly? For that money at current Tsaradia prices you could do a round trip ticket.

And don't worry about the girls in Glacier being no hassle to take to your room. The real hassle is getting the mutts you don't want to stop pestering you!

Thanks for your reply.

All flights were full. But I appreciated seeing the country and had a good experience.

Are there any lookers at Glacier?

[Albert9989]

I agree with what has been said about the miserable state of the roads. Avoid the taxi brousse. There are frequent night time hold ups. Taking a private taxi is an alternative but is not cheap. Going from Tana to Toliara for example will run you about $400-500. But you can break journey halfway and stay in a hotel for about 50,000 ariara.

In 2018 I did the road from Tana to Toliara with Cotisse up to Fiana and then with a private car which cost me about 700.000 Ariary, so about 165€, with a stop for 2 nights and one day spent in isalo for a trek in the area, but the whole cost with hotels, visits, etc. Was about 1300000,300 €.

But was in 2018.

[SouthEaster]

400-500 bucks? WTF why wouldn't you just fly? For that money at current Tsaradia prices you could do a round trip ticket.

And don't worry about the girls in Glacier being no hassle to take to your room. The real hassle is getting the mutts you don't want to stop pestering you!

[Roaming Viking]

I agree with what has been said about the miserable state of the roads. Avoid the taxi brousse. There are frequent night time hold ups. Taking a private taxi is an alternative but is not cheap. Going from Tana to Toliara for example will run you about $400-500. But you can break journey halfway and stay in a hotel for about 50,000 ariara.

[Roaming Viking]

Hi all, I will be in Tana in mid November and staying at the Glacier. I was hoping that one of you guys would have an update on what I can expect, prices for FLs and so on like taking them back to your room w / o any hassle. Are there any other similar venues in the center of town? I have not been back since before covid.

Thanks.

[SouthEaster]

Hey Dzika I will be going to Tulear in November also and if our dates overlap I will shoot you a line and we could have a few beer one night (or several nights!

Pokeris unfortunately the fucking construction is still going on near Shanghai. I will probably stay there again for a couple of days but will request a room on the back side (no sun to wake me) as far away from the construction as possible. OTOH perhaps by December they will be finished. There is a place nearby called the Palm which looks very nice on booking sites but there are only 4 reviews (all good) so I am leery of trying it. 680 pounds round trip is indeed a bargain you lucky sod! Costing me around 1800 Euro roundtrip from Vancouver.

BTW so far pussy situation in Diego is not good at all. Place is busy enough daytime but nightlife looks like it still has a long way to come back. I will give a more thorough report in a week when I leave.

[DzikaBomba]

I will be in Toliara in this above mentioned time period. Will stay in LE Recife.

Maybe someone else is also there in this time period and would like to meet for some exchange of experiences.

PN me.

[Pokeris]

Interesting to read some updates. Pity sole hotel prices go up 30-40 percent it always was my favourite hotel in tana with friendly stuff. Did construction is finished already near shanghai hotel? Its was no noise during your stay? If you walk just a bit outside tana airport and catch a taxi you can negotiate with taxi for 30 k ariary for a trip to hotels near glacier or around also same works back way to airport I done it myself last time I was here. But I understand at midnight its not good idea walking in a dark and looking for a taxi with all your belongings. I will be back to mada on beggining of December myself for 24 days trip I could not resist to buy a plane ticket when I find a great deal with air France just for 680 pounds roundtrip from london last month. Nowadays the price for same days to travel is 1600 pound and up its crazy!! Don't decide where to go yet but it will be nosybe as I have hundreds of contacts from here or maybe I go toliara instead Seems some guys on this subforum will be in toliara before I will comeback to mada so its will be interesting to find some new updates if someone will report!!

[Muzungufotsy]

I just took the taxi brousse from Tana to Diego and all I can say is DON'T. 31 hours of vehicular torture point to point. The northern section of the road from Tana is basically many stretches of unsurfaced dirt with 2-3 foot ravines running through them. Once it rains it will be nigh on impassible. The section north of Ambilobe used to have several stretches of reasonable road before the latter shitshow of the next part. Those sections are largely gone now and it has been reduced to a homogenous rubble of loose rocks and gravel around the size of golf balls. Anything over 10 k / h results in a teeth chattering ride combined with lots of bumps and swerving. After 20 hours or so I started to get the same feeling you get when you step off a ship and it feels like you are swaying side to side but in this case you just feel like you are bouncing all over. After 31 hours I could barely keep my feet! All I can say is never again and for all you cheap charlies (I am one!) think twice. No think three times.

31 hours Tana to Diego is actually not bad at all. Why you complain? LOL.

I advise trying it in the rainy season. 5 days altogether.

These days just Nosybe to Diego can take up to 16 hours.

But you have been here before so you knew it. Are you in a hurry? Instead you do 1 stop in Port Berg 1 stop in Ambanja then you arrive fresh in Diego. Easy and without backpain for 1 week.

[SouthEaster]

I just took the taxi brousse from Tana to Diego and all I can say is DON'T. 31 hours of vehicular torture point to point. The northern section of the road from Tana is basically many stretches of unsurfaced dirt with 2-3 foot ravines running through them. Once it rains it will be nigh on impassible. The section north of Ambilobe used to have several stretches of reasonable road before the latter shitshow of the next part. Those sections are largely gone now and it has been reduced to a homogenous rubble of loose rocks and gravel around the size of golf balls. Anything over 10 k / h results in a teeth chattering ride combined with lots of bumps and swerving. After 20 hours or so I started to get the same feeling you get when you step off a ship and it feels like you are swaying side to side but in this case you just feel like you are bouncing all over. After 31 hours I could barely keep my feet! All I can say is never again and for all you cheap charlies (I am one!) think twice. No think three times.

Some observations:

On exit from the new terminal you no longer have the free for all haggling with numerous taxis. They have changed it to a single stand with a fixed price of 70 K, an absolute bullshit price. When I stepped out I looked around in the dark in vain and since it was after midnight and I was dead tired I paid. I am not sure about the domestic flights and if they still use the old airport. I hope so as I am sure you can avoid this scam.

As mentioned before Shanghai hotel is reasonably priced and good location, La Ribaudiere not far away is good but the regular prices are not. If you can book ahead it may be OK. Sole seems permanently booked and the price has gone up about 30-40 %.

Glacier is a little fixed up but otherwise much the same. Lots of girls hanging about and I found a couple doable ones but don't expect any beauty queens! It is largely a matter of luck if any really tasty ones are there or arrive when you are there. Price for beer has gone up 33%.

Food in general seems up around 10-20%. Beer at reasonable places is only up a bit but restaurants are charging about 50% more for wine! Absolute bullshit. New taxes?

I have also noted that supermarket have gotten rid of a lot of the cheaper goods, including lower end wine which used to be a bargain, at least on occasion, and the Score in Diego has dropped a lot of the more expensive meats like salamis. I guess they were not being bought much during covid and they have yet to come back. They have dropped any inexpensive wine too.

As for girls here, I went straight to bed last night as lack of sleep, food and the just plain exhaustion of the trip had me wrecked. I will give a report on what I see after a few nights out looking around.