Miandrivazo, Madagascar | 15 May, 2007 | $63.47 (hotel, guides, transport, & food on river trip)
Traveling alone ensures a bit of uncertainty when trying to book trips that you can’t afford to do alone. My hostel had a few French tourists looking to round out their group trip on the Ttsiribihina River. I was in luck! The only problem is that only one of them spoke much English but the guide reassured me he would repeat anything important in English.
The couple and younger woman were all really nice and friendly but the language barrier was much more frustrating for me with tourists than the language barrier with locals. I admit that I got a bit frustrated because of this and probably wasn’t the best company. I would only run into one other native English-speaking tourist during the month, as well as a few American Peace Corps volunteers.
Our first day of the six day trip was spent driving to a small town where we could access the river. We arrived as the sun was setting, leaving me no time to look around. Our hotel seemed to be an interesting colonial relic and I’m surprised I didn’t take more photos for you guys.
More images of the van ride to Miandrivazo can be seen in the gallery.