The dirt road from Morondava to Belon'i Tsiribihina is only twenty kilometers long, but it contains some of the most surreal scenery on earth. On either side of the road stand baobab trees, Adansonia grandidieri, that reach thirty meters in height and ten meters in diameter. They look like they have been planted upside down, their roots reaching toward the sky. I arrived at sunset, when the light turns the trunks orange and the shadows stretch across the red dust. A group of local children were playing football in the road, using a baobab as a goalpost. They paused to watch me set up my camera, then returned to their game as if this were the most normal place in the world.
The Trees and Their Biology
Baobabs are not ordinary trees. They are succulents, storing thousands of liters of water in their trunks to survive the eight-month dry season. A mature baobab can hold up to one hundred twenty thousand liters. The bark is fire-resistant, and the wood is soft and fibrous, useless for timber but perfect for making rope and paper. The fruit, called monkey bread, is rich in vitamin C and has become a trendy superfood in Europe. I tried it fresh from a vendor on the roadside. It tastes like a tangy, powdery sherbet. The seeds are roasted and eaten like nuts. Every part of the tree is used by the local Malagasy people, who call it the 'mother of the forest.'
The Surrounding Region
The Avenue of the Baobabs is the highlight, but the surrounding Menabe region has more to offer. Nearby is the Kirindy Forest Reserve, home to fossas, the cat-like predators that are Madagascar's apex hunters, and eight species of lemur. I saw a family of Verreaux's sifakas, white lemurs that move across the ground by dancing sideways with their arms raised. Further north, the Tsingy de Bemaraha is a landscape of limestone pinnacles so sharp that they can cut through boots. Crossing it requires ropes, harnesses, and a local guide who knows which rocks will hold your weight. I spent two days in the tsingy and emerged with scratched hands and a new respect for geology.
Logistics and Challenges
Madagascar is not an easy country to travel. The roads are mostly unpaved, the buses break down, and the internal flights are frequently delayed. I flew from Antananarivo to Morondava on Tsaradia, a domestic airline, and the flight was delayed by six hours with no explanation. From Morondava, I hired a driver with a four-wheel-drive vehicle for sixty dollars per day, including fuel. This was the best decision I made. The driver, a man named Jean, knew which roads were passable after the rains and which bridges had washed out. He also spoke the local dialect and negotiated with village chiefs when we needed to pass through private land.
Costs and Timing
I spent twelve days in Madagascar and spent a total of two thousand three hundred dollars, including international flights from Nairobi. Accommodation ranged from fifteen dollars for basic bungalows to eighty dollars for lodges near the national parks. Food is simple: rice, beans, zebu beef, and fresh seafood on the coast. The best time to visit is April to November, the dry season. I traveled in May, when the baobabs had dropped their leaves and their bare branches stood silhouetted against the sky like nerve endings. It was beautiful and strange and like nothing else I have seen.
