Central highlands

The zebu is Madagascar’s most common kept animal, and shapes the country today strongly. Whether on the road, in the middle of the city, on rice fields or in the smallest hut villages – everywhere you will find cattle with the typical hump. They provide many Madagascans with a small income, offer meat and – admittedly relatively little – give …

If you take the RN7 from Antananarivo towards Antsirabe, you will reach the small town of Ambatolampy after about 80 km and almost two hours. The name means “city of rocks”. The city belongs to the Vakinankaratra region. With all surrounding hut villages Ambatolampy has estimated over 25,000 inhabitants. They live mainly from rice cultivation, but now also grow vegetables …

About 25 kilometres northeast of Antananarivo in the central highlands of Madagascar lays the royal hill of Ambohimanga. The road there is relatively good, but due to the very chaotic and dense traffic in Tana, a drive to Ambohimanga alone can easily take one to three hours depending on chosen day time. If you want to visit Ambohimanga, it is …

Ambositra in the Amoron’i Mania region is a larger city with around 30,000 inhabitants. It is located about 180 km south of the capital Antananarivo in the highlands, directly on the RN7, and is very easy to reach from Antananarivo. The city is famous for its many woodcarving workshops, many of which can be visited and watched over the artists’ …

150 km west of Antananarivo lies Ampefy, near which a large, very worth seeing waterfall rushes. The RN to Ampfey is in good condition, the waterfall itself is reached by a slightly slippery dirt road that can be used by an all-terrain vehicle. Legend has it that a white man once lived here on his plantation, his daughter’s name was …

Antsirabe (“where there is a lot of salt”), is located about 170 km south of the capital Tana in the highlands in the province Antananarivo. It is easy to reach via the RN7. Antsirabe is one of Madagascar’s largest cities with over 200,000 inhabitants and a lot of sights. Economically Antsirabe is one of the most important cities in the …

Lake Tritriva is an emerald green lake, located about 15 km from Antsirabe in Madagascar’s central highlands. The next town is Belazao, which is easy to reach via RN34 by 4×4. The lake is of volcanic origin, approximately 160 m deep and part of the eponymic mountain Vakinankaratra region. People of lake Tritriva tell the legend of Rabeniomby and Ravolahanta, …

There is an unusual place about 125 km west of Antananarivo near the small town of Ampefy: there you can see the only geysers of Madagascar. To get there you have to drive to Analavory, a town near Lake Itasy. From here you can reach Andranomandraotra, the place of the four geysers, over 12 km offroad track. However, the geysers …