ANTANANARIVO (dpa) – There are plenty of myths about Madagascar – about baobabs and monkey-bread trees, lemurs and chameleons.
The island off the southeast coast of Africa, where the pepper grows, resembles a chameleon itself, as every mile or so a new vista opens up. The clocks tick differently here and there is neither last- minute tourism nor hectic activity.
For all that, the world’s fourth-largest island, with 5,000 kilometres of coastline, does well out of it. At its widest point, Madagascar measures 580 kilometres, from north to south it’s 1,580.
The feeling of arriving in a paradox begins right in the capital Antananarivo – “Tana” for short. It’s a shock for many tourists to realise that the city with its parade of jacaranda trees clustered around Lac Anosy does not seem African at all.
Only the market in the Analakey district is Africa at its most African.
Since 1925, farmers from the surrounding areas have offered their wares here.
And since then, every Friday, they not only stack fresh fruit and vegetables, herbs and spices under dirty white parasols, but sell sandals made of old tyres and of course all sorts of handiwork.
Once you’ve made it up the steep stone steps into Tana’s Royal Estate to enjoy the view, it is not the lakes of the Imerina kingdom that capture the imagination so much as the realisation that an another continent is in easy reach: only 400 kilometres from the African mainland, paddy fields dominate the rugged plain giving the landscape more than just a hint of Asia.
These wet fields are the scene of daily battles as the farmers struggle, wading through the deep water. And along National Highway 7, Madagascar’s busiest road, the paddy fields stretch away to the horizon.
There are only a few cars on the road. There’s a train in any case from Tana to Antsirabe and Fianarantsoa several times a week, which winds along the Onive River, past the steep cliffs of the nation’s second highest peak, Tsiafajavona, in the Ankaratra Mountains in the west and the paddy fields in the east.
There is no timetable: “Mura, mura”, is the Malagasy motto: “Slow, slow”.
On the other hand, hiring a car to get around on your own would be absolute madness. Travelling off the beaten track is courting disaster: the roads are all unmetalled with no signs, most have many potholes and are a long way from civilisation.
Even four-wheel drive vehicles often cannot cope.
The route southward in the former French colony travels past tea plantations, rice, manioc and maize fields. And so to Antsirabe, a health resort where the glittering splendour of the colonial period can still be glimpsed under its heavy coating of dust.
The scene in the city is characterised by a lot of rickshas; they’re called “pousse-pousse” here.
And then Madagascar transforms itself yet again: it becomes tropical – and full of animals. Ranomafana is one of five national parks which, like the many state-owned and privately-run reservations on the island, endeavours to preserve the island’s flora and fauna.
The rainforests have been shrinking for years and the savannah is turning into steppe; the steppes, slowly but surely, are meanwhile becoming deserts. And despite a ban, the steppe is constantly being burnt off and the forests cut down.
But in Ranomafana they have managed to combine preservation, a sustainable cultivation and a gentle tourist industry. Among the attractions are many varieties of lemurs.
Also worth a visit is the Isalo nature park. It extends over 800 square kilometres and features a mountain range with a full-sized sandstone landscape and tropical vegetation home to many lemurs and parrots.
National Highway 7 also runs to delightful scenario of the Andringitra Massif and the savannahs of Horombe Plateau. The Andringitra Nature Reservation with Pic Boby (2,658 metres) as its centrepiece is protected like no other area on Madagascar – it is an almost unexplored biotope.
And in contrast to the plateau, there is no tree here to block the view – and not even as much as a blade of grass. Only a few shepherds tending bony zebus relieve the monotony.
Tulear Province is also dry through and through. But that doesn’t mean that it is boring. Anything but: wooden sculptures with special religious meanings can be seen here towering into the sky.
It is important to be respectful to the graves of ancestors and any picture-taking should be done from a discreet distance.
Finally, Ifathy, in the south of the island can only be reached by a sand trail. No peppers grow in Ifathy any more – there is only sand, sun and sea here. And once you have made it here, you only want one thing – for time to stand still.
