Where do you think the poorest country in the world is? You will tell me, Africa. Yes, that's right, Africa is poor, but Africa is not a country. Many people in the poor and backward countries of this trip do not even have a pair of shoes and live their lives barefoot, it is the largest island country in Africa, with world-famous baobab trees. Yes, that's right, it's Madagascar.
Madagascar is a must-visit country for many adventure travelers, and the scenery is both stunning and challenging, so I'm going to tell you what to expect during a month in Madagascar.
1. There are very few direct flights from China to Madagascar, I flew from Beijing to Mauritius and then transferred to Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, the name is like a tongue twister. Madagascar can be visa-on-arrival, saying that it is free, but the fact is not, the visa on arrival fee is 37 US dollars, fill out an application form, write clearly the number of days to stay, the visa on arrival is generally a month, and you will not be given more if you fill it out. The formalities were handled quickly, and I entered Madagascar normally.
2. Madagascar, whose full name is the Republic of Madagascar, is better than the republic mentioned in the previous part, mainly because it has a good relationship with China. Madagascar is an island nation with an area of 592,000 square kilometers, making it the fourth largest island in the world and the largest in Africa. The whole island is formed by volcanic eruptions, and there are very few small islands around, and there are now about 28.9 million people in the country, most of whom are Malagasy natives, and there are also some immigrants, but not more than 2%. The GDP in 2022 will be 15.23 billion US dollars, which is only less than half of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which has the smallest GDP in the mainland during the same period, and the per capita GDP is only 527 US dollars.
3. Madagascar has only been colonized by France in modern times, and the time is not more than 100 years. Madagascar did not complete the process of unifying the island until the early 19th century, establishing a centralized feudal state, the Kingdom of Madagascar. From 1862 to 1895 France made several attempts to take full control of Madagascar by various means, including capital control and war, but they were defeated by the tenacious Malagasy people. In 1896, it officially became a French colony, declared independence in 1960, established the Republic of Madagascar, changed its name to the Democratic Republic of Madagascar for unknown reasons in 1975, and restored to the Republic of Madagascar in 1992.
4. When Madagascar was colonized by France, French was introduced, so now Malagasy French and local Malagasy are the mainstay, and English can also come in handy in larger cities, but when it comes to the suburbs or villages a little farther away, French and English are not good, they only speak Malagasy, so I found a local tour guide, so it is convenient to go to remote places. The cost of the tour guide is not very high, about 10,000 local currency a day, the best is only 20,000, don't look at a lot of money, in fact, about 600 local currency to us 1 yuan, is it a calculation has never seen such a cheap tour guide. An important reminder is that no matter how good your tour guide is, don't give him too much to exceed the local market price, the reason is simple, it is easy to develop bad Xi.
5. The currency of Madagascar is called Ariary, and the local people do not recognize the RMB, and there is no way to directly exchange the RMB for the Ariary, but there is no problem with the euro, and it may also have something to do with French colonization. Domestic UnionPay cards are not supported by bank or credit cards, but Visa and Master Cards are supported, so it should not be a problem for those who travel abroad frequently.
6. The general salary in Madagascar is more than 300 a month, and it is basically impossible to have such an income level in the country. The consumption in the capital Antananarivo is not too high, the ordinary accommodation standard is 30-50 yuan per day, and the ordinary standard of eating is about 10 yuan per meal with vegetables and meat. The capital has a wide range of goods, including fruits, vegetables, and all kinds of meats, and there is a very large market that is almost 100 years old, and it is said that it is famous in the world.
Most of the goods in the market come from China, thanks to the Belt and Road Initiative, so walking in the market is like returning to the domestic market, seeing everything feels familiar, even pig's head and bean sprouts are sold, beef 15 yuan a catty, a very large prawn 30 yuan a catty, blue crab 7 yuan a catty, much cheaper than the domestic Ah.
7. When I was shopping in Madagascar, I found a very interesting detail, many products are not weighed on scales, they are packed in a small cylindrical jar. After asking the tour guide, I found out that the income of people here is relatively low, and few people can buy things by the pound, so they sell them in a scattered way.
A lot of large vegetables will also be shredded and sold in cans, which is really a good reflection of the difficulties, and there is no way to do more.
Be sure to protect your belongings in the market or crowded places, hang your bag around your neck and put it in the front, and pay special attention to your mobile phone and wallet, because there are too many thieves and you will steal or snatch your bag if you are not careful.
8. The night in Madagascar is very dangerous, so the shops basically close at 5 p.m., so you should pay attention to the timing of shopping. Don't be surprised to go shopping in some stores and see that there are still protective fences, which fully proves that it is not safe. Madagascar is relatively poor, and it is even more serious after the epidemic, so the social security is not very good, it is fine during the day, but at night it is really the world of criminals, and it will not improve in the capital, many people who commit murder at night will use knives, and there will be qiang in good conditions, for the safety of my life, I will obediently stay in the hotel at night. But the guide also said that leaving the capital, Antananarivo, to the countryside or other remote cities is half the risk, because there are only knives there.
9. The infrastructure of Madagascar is still very backward, even in the capital city, the roads are not spacious and flat, and they are basically in disrepair and full of potholes. Modern traffic facilities are even more pitiful, the roads are often chaotic and congested with vehicles, if there is a traffic light at any intersection, it is necessary to pay attention, this place may be very important, and there will often be leaders passing here.
In smaller cities or villages and towns, the phenomenon of congestion and chaos is basically gone, not for other reasons, because the car is basically gone, and most of the means of transportation have become our popular pedal tricycles in the 78 decade, and there are many rickshaws like rickshaws. The means of transportation in the countryside are basically by walking and ox carts.
The river is mainly canoes, that is, small boats carved from a whole tree, in addition to their own use, there are many people engaged in canoe transportation, such as transporting tourists to Murondawa to visit the baobab tree, I took such a boat to Murondawa, walked on the waterway for 3 days, and camped by the river at night.
10. Madagascar's Murondawa is a tourist city, the most famous attraction is the baobab avenue, along the way you can see a lot of more than 30 meters high 7 varieties of baobab trees, there are only 8 species in the world, very beautiful in the morning and sunset. Baobab Avenue is also different from the avenue we imagined, it is not built with asphalt or cement, but it is flattened with soil pads, which is relatively flat compared to other roads, and it is said to protect the baobab trees.
11. Why is the baobab tree called the baobab tree? This is because its fruit is juicy and nutritious, and the monkeys like to eat it very much, and often go up to the tree in groups to pick it, and its fruit is fluffy on the outside, giving people a very fluffy feeling, like delicious bread. The baobab tree is tall and stout, with a unique statue and a very rich trunk that can live up to 5,000 years. When we arrive in Madagascar, the baobab trees of Murondava are a must-see, witnesses of the 5,000-year history of the earth, and can always bring us a little thought!
12. Except for the capital and several large cities, the sanitary conditions in Madagascar are basically very poor. As a tourist city, Murondawa does not look like a tourist city at all, except for the main street of Baobab Avenue is a little cleaner, and a little on both sides, it is a dirty environment mixed with garbage heaps and residential houses, swarms of flies, and stinking. The children are playing next to the garbage heap, and there is no hygiene at all.
13. Although Madagascar is separated from the African continent, it is still an area with a high incidence of malaria, and the medical conditions are not good, so I prepared anti-malarial drugs and some commonly used drugs in advance, and also prepared some insect repellents and itching to prevent mosquito bites, because the weather here is hot, and there are more mosquitoes.
14. There is no network and electricity in many places in Madagascar, so it is necessary to be prepared for backup electricity. The voltage where there is electricity is also 220v, but the plug needs to be converted, because I don't know the specifications, I bought it locally. Mobile phone cards can also be easily bought, and the price is 3-5 yuan, which is very cheap. The bus fare here is 600 Ali (1 yuan), but it is completely different from our domestic buses, they are all similar to our Iveco or larger vans, the seats are basically tattered, and many times getting on the bus is like picking up a train, because they don't stop.
15. There is a Confucius Institute in the capital of Madagascar, which is jointly organized by Jiangxi Normal University. The Confucius Institute has educated many Malagasy students who can speak Chinese, and these students have laid a good foundation for the long-term friendship between China and Madagascar, and will also make great contributions.
16. Madagascar is an African region, but people are not typical black Africans, many of them have bronzed skin, and their faces are characteristic of Asians, which is very much in line with the standards of yellow people. When I saw the museum, I understood why, because Madagascar has been floating from the sea for a long time, and whether it is active or passive remains to be determined. They married and had children with the local indigenous people, and their descendants inherited Asian ancestry, so the Malagasy people were more inclined to the yellow race. There is also a saying that Zheng He went to the West and left descendants in Madagascar, but this is impossible to verify.
17. Madagascar is separated from the African continent, so it preserves unique ecological and species resources, many of which are unique here, such as the baobab trees I visited above, of course, there are various species of lemurs that are famous far and wide, all kinds of chameleons, rare snakes and frogs, Madagascar's top predator, the Falklands mongoose, mainly eats lemurs, but is now endangered. Are there really penguins in Madagascar? I'll tell you from a month's experience, no. So cartoons are sometimes very hypothetical and imaginary.
18. Although Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, it is indeed recognized as a tourist destination and has many must-see attractions. The capital has the Queen's Palace, a French-style palace at the highest point of the capital, the baobab trees of Murondava, many people come to Madagascar, and the Bemalaja National Park, about 300 kilometers away from the capital, is a very peculiar karst landscape, called the "barefoot park", which is included in the list of world natural heritage sites by the United Nations.
The largest coastal island, Nosy Bey, has the most beautiful sandy beaches in the world, rich in spices such as Ylang Ilan, known as the "Fragrant Island", and is one of the most beautiful diving sites in the world.
Although you can't understand the whole of Madagascar in a month, you can see some of the beauty and tragedy here. The beauty is the view, and the tragedy is the life of the Malagasy people. They are very poor, but they are very optimistic, they are very friendly, they greet me when they see me, the children are very happy and cheerful, they will naturally mingle with you when you see outsiders, but they rarely reach out and beg. They were diligent in farming, but they were often hungry. I didn't hear them complain too much, but I heard their laughter the most.
Reflecting on us, life is so good, many people are still unhappy. We must know how to cherish, cherish everything you have, even if it is not so perfect, please like, comment and forward, let us encourage it!