The Only Operational Passenger Train in Madagascar

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Train crossing one of the many bridges

We had heard horror stories about the taxi brousse from Morondava to Antsirabe.  First, it is a small mini-van packed to the gills, and takes about 12 hours or so to drive the pothole filled road.  Add to this, that at night, they try to group together in convoy, with a couple of policemen, to try to avoid the bandits - you can imagine that we were not really looking forward to the drive.  We had to get back though, so this was the only answer.  In reality, we found a vehicle going in the daytime, sat next to a local guide who complained bitterly when they tried to overfill the seats leaving us space, and only were on the road for about 10 hours.  Quite a pleasant journey actually, to our surprise.

Michelle's saviour - camera chasing man

Not so the next day, as we waited 4 hours for the van to fill, and finally we were off to Fianarantsoa to catch the only operational passenger train in Madagascar, from Fian to Manakara on the East coast.
The train is still used by many local villagers, heading to and from the markets and towns.  It seemed that the "First Class" car was filled with Faza's (Malagasy for foreigner), which was a little disappointing.  The train was going to stop often at local stations though, so we could move around.
Michelle became well known on the train within the first hour, but more for the fact that while looking out the open door, her camera case fell off the strap, and out the door onto the tracks.  A couple of the local train personnel saw this happen, and to our surprise they actually STOPPED the train.  Of course, the train took a little time to slow down, but one guy actually jumped out of the train, hopped on a bike of a local passerby, and rode back to look.  We had written off the chance of finding the camera, but back he came, with the case held high.  Michelle could have kissed him - her saviour!!!  So everyone knew Michelle now, including the train conductor, that came back to issue the "fine" for stopping the train.  We were expecting some exorbitant number, but he said it was 900 Ariary per minute - the equivalent of $0.45 per minute, and for 12 minutes, it would cost us about $5 - Phew!!!  That was worth it for the camera, and the camera finder guy also got a nice tip for his efforts which he was thrilled about!!!

Riding in "Second" Class

So, the rest of the journey was much less crazy!  The train traveled through some lovely hilly, rainforesty scenery.  It stopped VERY often at all the little villages to drop off locals, and produce, but also to allow the locals to board and sell snacks and food.  It was a day full of eating little snacks all along the way.  Some of us "fazas" would get off every station and meet the locals, but I felt a bit like we were staring into a goldfish bowl.  Of course, the kids loved getting their photo taken, and were really excited.  Then we were back on the move again, to the next batch of kids.
Michelle and I changed things up a bit, and spent some time in the "Second Class" car.  We got right in, and started talking with the locals and had a wonderful time there.  Everyone was very curious as to why we were there, and not in First Class, but they had beaming smiles, and friendly giggles.  We actually got invited to the home of Anna, who lives about half way along the journey.  It was with great regret that we had to decline, only because we had no idea where we would be, and we had a flight in a few days that we had to get to.  So nice though, and we love that part of traveling.

The gathering for the arrival of the daily train

As the afternoon was coming to a close, and dusk was upon us, we moved back to our car.  I particularly enjoyed sitting at the train door steps, watching the scenery rush by.  The journey was becoming a little long now, and most of us just wanted it to be over, and were relieved when after about 12 hours, we arrived in Manakara.  We celebrated with a beer at the hotel!   *Stub

Another fun stop in a local village