SPENDING SIX MONTHS IN MADAGASCAR-I WELCOME YOUR ADVICE

PAT16! That's so cool!!! Madagascar is so amazing and beautiful!!!

www.madacamp.com might be helpful to you in planning your trip. It's a wiki-type of website that has some information, though a lot more could be added to it, but it's a HUGE island.

Well PAT16 as for planning, it depends on what you want to do. What are you most interested in? Do you want to do a lot of hiking? What kind of geography and climate do you want to see? Dry? Rainforest? Beaches?

One way to get around more cheaply and easily is by bus by Cotisse Transport. They run a tight schedule and have newer, very clean buses, though I can't say that they exactly drive any safer than a lot of other drivers, but they sure do drive fast! This can be a good option because most of the other buses I've found only leave when they've found enough passengers, which can take hours.  There's a whole page on Cotisse Transport at madacamp.com

All the best on your amazing travel!

Many thanks for this-lots of brilliant information there! Have you travelledin Madagascar or do you liv e there?

I've lived there! I was there for 6 months, like you're going to do, but I was trying to get set up there. I spent most of my time in Ambanja in the main cacao growing region of the country = P, but also visited Antananarivo (Tana) and Toamasina (Tamatave), Majunga, and Antsiranana (Diego Suarez).  But I got attacked and my money stolen!!! My mistake was I was staying in a $3/night hotel room while traveling. I didn't think anything about it. But others had a different idea. But no worries! Most people are very kind and respect tourists/foreigners. Just dish out the extra cash to get a more expensive hotel room, because the more expensive ones have good security. Where I was didn't.

If you're into hiking you might want to check out the Masoala peninsula. There's an epic trail going from one part of the country to the next through some of the only remaining coastal tropical rainforests on the planet. There's a lot of information about it on madacamp.

All the best!

How To contact   you dear??