• On the clothing side, you have to adapt to the climate of Madagascar. So take light clothes, ideally cotton, and some long sleeves to fight mosquitoes. Also, don't forget a hat, sunglasses and sunscreen, which are essential to withstand the heat. Remember to take good shoes and warmer clothes for your hikes on the Hauts-Plateaux for the cool nights.
• In your pharmacy kit, be sure to take sunscreen with a high protection factor, a tropical-type mosquito repellent (with DEET, dosed at 25-50%), anti-malarial tablets, anti-diarrhoea tablets, aspirin, bandages, disinfectant, tablets against travel sickness, a soothing lotion for insect bites and a balm for sunburn, of the Biafine© type. Also, take tampons or sanitary napkins, which are difficult to find locally.
• Finally, don't forget your camera to take home fantastic memories. A travel diary will also allow you to write them down.

Madagascar is a country that isn’t very touristic. It makes it a great country to visit for more experienced and/or adventurous travellers. I’ve visited over 60 countries and I’m always looking for new countries to explore. To me it didn’t feel like a big deal to travel to Madagascar, but now that I’ve been there I wish I prepared myself a bit better to this trip. So to help you out I’ve made this list with 10 things you need to know before your trip to Madagascar. With these tips you’re better prepared than I was and I’m sure you’ll have a great time on this beautiful African island.

 Visa
A Visa is required for all travelers visiting Madagascar, even if it’s only for a short period of time. You can buy your visa at the airport or arrange it beforehand in your home country. Arranging it beforehand at the embassy is quite expensive, but it’ll give you peace of mind to know that you’re allowed in to the country. Buying your visa to Madagascar at the airport is also possible. You’ll have to cue and officially you could be denied entry but I don’t think that’s very likely for tourists.
For both options you’ll need a return ticket, a passport that’s valid for at least another 6 months and a passport picture.

2 Money
The local currency in Madagascar is Ariary. When I was there the exchange rate was 4600 Airiary for 1 Euro. Important to know is that you can’t pay with your bankcard/debitcard anywhere in Madagascar. Some bigger hotels and restaurants accept credit card payments but there are no ATMs where you can get money with your bankcard. A credit card is a must in Madagascar! Most banks only accept Visa but the IBN bank (white with green logo) accepts Mastercard as well. You can find an IBN bank in the bigger cities. Always make sure you have enough cash on you as you’d be surprised at how few places you can pay with card.
Some big hotels or rental car agencies might accept euros as well.
At the airport there are 2 ATM’s in the arrival hall, one where you can get money with Visa and one for Mastercard.

3 Transportation
The roads in Madagascar are very bad. There’s one main highway; the RN7 that goes from the capital city Antananarivo to Tulear in the South-West. But even that one is often in bad shape. If you’re short on time (say 10 to 16 days), I’d advise you to just this RN7 highway. It’ll give you a chance to see quite a lot from what the country has to offer in a reasonable amount of time.
The best way to do it is to rent a car, we did this as well. Most car-rental agencies will only rent a car including a driver. Although it felt weird for me in the beginning, in retrospect I’m very happy that we did this. We rented our car with Europcar and paid for it in cash Euros. We arranged it online beforehand so we knew we had to bring enough. The advantages of a driver is that he knows the way, he knows the good hotels, he knows local guides that he can call beforehand to guide you in National Parks, it’s less tiring if you don’t have to drive yourself and it gives you a save feeling.

Are you more adventurous? You can also take the local busses ‘bouse bouse’. Don’t expect too much from them though; they’re small vans made to seat about 10 people but often used by 20 at the same time. You’ll often see them on the road, packed with people inside and hanging out and packed with luggage, food and even live animals on the roof. The busses break down frequently and as you can imagine are not very comfortable.

Keep in mind that Madagascar is a very big island (it’s the size of France and Belgium combined), so calculate enough time for driving from one place to another. Also add about 25% to the time that Google maps will tell you and don’t plan your schedule to tight. There are always things that can happen like car trouble, animals on the road or not being able to bypass a slow truck.

Lot 43 BAI Amoronakona Ambohimangakely