After my time experiencing the simple charm of village life in Madagascar I was ready to lace up my hiking boots and become a real vezaha (AKA tourist) and explore more of this magnificent country.

I decided to start with the wild west – home of two of Madagascar’s most famous rocks and trees, (according to Lonely Planet and the world wide web): The Tsingy de Bemaraha and the Avenue of the Baobabs.

Just like everything in Madagascar – nothing is simple. And with what I had read and heard about the road conditions I was going to have to remember the most appropriate phrase for doing anything in Madagascar… ‘Mora Mora’ – ‘Slowly, slowly’.

I started my journey with a surprisingly efficient journey to Morondava – the gateway to Madagascar’s western tourist attractions. (Loic Tours offer a great service from Antananarivo to Morondava twice a week which is well worth the 70,000 airyary).

But getting to Morondava was the easy part, the real challenge was going to bet making my way to the Tsingy. Unlike naturall attractions in other parts of the world, Madagascar seriously lacks infrastructure to access the popular attractions, (and anywhere else you might need to go), so to get to this popular sight you need a 4×4, a driver and a whole lot of patience… Three things I was already lacking.

Luckily enough  I made a good spontaneous hotel choice – Bougainvilliers is not only an awesome budget option for those who want the luxury of a private bungalow that fits within a backpackers budget, it is also owned by an incredible local guide, who found me a 4×4 and driver within 30 minutes of checking in…

(Unfortunately he wasn’t able to find any patience for me….)

In Madagascar hiring a driver and car is a very common form of tourist transportation and there is always this strange ritual of immediately meeting your driver to sit down and discuss your future journey. I imagine it is simply because you are always guaranteed to have a great ‘adventure’ on Madagascan roads together so you want to make sure you trust them enough to go through some serious on-road ordeals together…

I sat down with my driver, Lala, and he gave me a run down of the next few days…

We would be leaving tomorrow – around eleven, we would then be heading straight to the Tsingy where we would spend the night before my hike the following day, then we would head home the following day – stopping of course at the Avenue of the Baobabs in time for sunset.

Simple, organised and easy… Right?

Oh wait… I was still in Madagascar…

The next day I waited at 11… By 12 I was told to order lunch, Lala was running a little late… We were on the road after 1 – Actually pretty good for Madagascan organisation…

Mora Mora.

I must admit I was impressed with the vehicle and the driving. As we passed through the incredible landscape of the West I felt comfortable and in safe hands, and pretty blown away with the scenery along the way…

Then we reached the ‘ferry’. Yep. Madagascar’s ‘national roads’ often pass through wide rivers… And not via a nice typical little bridge that bore the rest of the worlds motorways. Instead Madagascar have a more fun ferry service. A very ‘reliable’ plank of wood that somehow floats for 45 minutes to the continuing road downstream…

I held my breath as we drove onto the plank and spent the next 45 minutes in a state of shock.

Somehow the plank brought us safely to the other side and we continued our journey – arriving late into the Tsingy and getting a good nights sleep before the big day I had ahead of me…

It actually sounds like a pretty decent, complication-free journey right? And I probably got home to my Morondavan bungalow just as smoothly… Right?

Wrong.

So, so wrong.

Unfortunately Lala had to stay in the Tsingy area an extra day to chauffeur some VIP clients to the airport to catch their private plane back to Antananarivo a day later… So I would have to use another driver to get back…

Luckily for me I made a friend at the Tsingy. Heather was a fellow solo female traveller who was keen to share a ride (and costs) back to Morondava and after a big day of hiking we arranged to meet up the next morning and make our way back to the beachside city together after breakfast…

Unfortunately Heathers driver had a very strict ‘contract’ that would not allow for ‘other vezaha’s’ to come along…

(Madagascar is not exactly a country where ‘contracts’ exist so it was a total lie that obviously was a nice way to tell us that ‘we are going to make you tourists spend more money on a separate car simply because we can’)

30 metres away an old, smashed-up wreck of a car was being towed onto the road…

‘Here comes your car Kat…’

Wonderful.

I was immediately reminded that I was definitely still in Madagascar and the luxury of my former vehicle become a distant memory of comfort, safety and functioning ignitions…

1. We started the drive…
2. We broke down…
3. We called Heathers driver (who happened to be a mechanic)…
4. He fixed the car…
5. We continued
6. We repeated the process… The entire day…

I don’t know what was more ridiculous – the fact that they wouldn’t let me just travel in Heathers car or the fact that I was paying to be towed all day…

Eventually we made it back to the ferry…

Have you ever seen a broken vehicle being towed off a Madagascan ferry? Nope? Lucky you. It’s not a pretty sight. Especially when you are relying on said broken vehicle to transport you 300km that afternoon…

I held my breath and by some stroke of luck the car made it back on land and all the way to the Baobabs. It was  Madagascan motor miracle – (which is a lot like a Christmas miracle minus the jolliness and tinsel).

As the sunset my spirits rose and I strolled back to my vehicle with a positive attitude and optimism about my return to Morondava…

Wait.. Where was my car..?

I desperately asked around and everyone pointed down the road…

Of course… The car being pushed along by the entire village…

It took a few attempts and the strength of a village but the ignition finally kicked off and with 40km to go I gave in and laughed with my driver and reminded myself… ‘Mora Mora’.