The long road from Antsirabe to Andasibe

We are a little tired of bread, (fake) butter and jam for breakfast. I had tried some local doughnuts and fermented rice flour cakes from the roadside in the past days. Food that is usually eaten for breakfast on the go by the locals. I asked Fidy if we could have that for breakfast instead of taking the hotel one.

We drive 5min into Antsirabe and find a counter by the road side. I tried a new type of fried bread, which is slightly sweet and some of the delicious doughnuts. The coffee served is better than the one from many of the hotel we have stayed at. We have our breakfast at the counter, standing, just like everyone else. We attract attention that is for sure. Fidy has to push a couple of souvenir sellers away so we can finish our meal in peace.

The first part of the drive out of Antsirabe offers good views of fields and green rice paddies.

The morning drive is cut by a aluminum pot making workshop. They melt any recycled materials ( from car parts, old cans and anything containing aluminum ), and make a variety of kitchen pans and pots. To get the shape, they use the compacted sand technic and a mold. We got to see one large pot being made, it took 10min. The workshop is hot, full of fumes and black sand. It’s quite difficult working conditions ! The entire manufacturing process is there, from recycling, melting, making and then polishing the finish goods.

Then the temperature drops to a pleasant 28 degree Celsius and pine trees are more common. We stop for lunch at a very nice restaurant called “ le coin du foie gras”, as its name says, they specialized in Foie Gras and anything duck. They are the only one in Madagascar to raise duck for this famous French dish and own 2 restaurants, one of which is in the capital. We had an excellent meal there, and the foie gras perfumed with green pepper or raison were a nice discovery.

The rest of the road to Andasibe isn’t really memorable. And we are getting quite tired. I remember most the smell of burn forest. At some point we see an hill smoking and Fidy explains that those are charcoal oven. They are burning wood to make coal there. 
Then entire forests are only Eucalyptus. Because this tree grows fast ( about 1m per year ), they manage an entire forest for the production of combustible.

We also see deforestation by the road side. An entire part of the hill is burning, there are people around – so it’s “controlled”. Fidy says it can still quickly expand – it only requires a gust of wind…

There are a lot of trucks on this road – it’s a major axis between Tamatavo, a large commercial port, and Antananarivo. The road has deep holes, and is sometimes too narrow for two trucks to pass. We lose 1h30 on the average time just by struggling to overtake them or staying stuck behind them.

We initially had planned for a night visit of the park to look for nocturnal lemurs, but we decide to cancel it and report it for tomorrow night.

The ecolodge we are staying at is a welcome sight and after an excellent meal ( really really good Malagasy specialties there ! ), we call it a day and all but collapse in bed.