Our final days were one big celebration as Madagascar marked Independence Day with fireworks, music, dancing, and enough food to feed an army! A stop at an amazing artisan market…
Belo sur Mer to Bekopaka: Dust, Ferries and Death by Tsingy
After days of mud, sand and brutal roads, we finally got an almost easy morning drive. We stopped at the Avenue of the Baobabs, then had lunch beside a lily-covered…
Manja to Belo sur Mer – Forty Years and Still Not Lost… Much
The road from Manja to Belo sur Mer took us across shimmering salt flats, past more magnificent baobabs, and through enough navigational uncertainty to ensure nobody could accuse us of…
Andavadoaka to Manja – Mud, Mayhem & the Zebu Mafia
Our less-than-perfect hotel in Andavadoaka turned out to be perfectly acceptable after all. Low expectations can be a wonderful thing! The day’s drive featured more of Madagascar’s finest “roads,” a…
Ifaty to Andavadoaka – Sand, Sweat and Seafood
In my mind, this was one of the toughest days of the rally, for both passengers and vehicles. The route was only 140 km, but it took nearly six hours…
ISALO – Rocks, Laundry and Questionable Navigation
We spent two nights in Isalo at a beautiful hotel nestled among giant boulders, with a pool that quickly became our refuge from the Madagascan heat. The laundry service seemed…
Madagascar Rally – Lemurs, Lava Cake & Zebu Tongue
The route from Andasibe to Antsirabe, and onward to Ranomafana and the Tsaranoro Reserve, covered 298 km and took a mere 11 hours. Why so long? Because we had to…
Rally Madagascar – Day 1 & Our Lemur Layover
Our first official rally day began with a 7:30 a.m. departure from Antananarivo, heading toward Palmarium Lodge with high hopes of meeting Madagascar’s famous lemurs. The drive itself was an…
Hello Madagascar!!!!
Arriving in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s bustling capital, was a sensory overload. Although we could see our hotel from the airport, the journey took over an hour, with traffic packed with ancient…
Prince Albert Pass to Swartberg Pass – Saving the Best for Last!
After a ferocious storm washed out some of our planned routes, we did what any self-respecting rally team would do: we took the roads marked “Closed”! The Prince Albert Pass…