Cycling in Madagascar travel guide

“The thing about cycling in Madagascar is that the people really respect the fact that you’re making an effort, that you’re not just a tourist sitting behind a window,” says John Etherington, founder of our partner Escape Adventures. “I often refer to it as being like Tanzania 20 or 30 years ago. Most people don’t have a car so they are traveling on foot or by bus and they take the time to stop and talk to you; it feels really real.”

Madagascar’s landscapes and wildlife are legendary, but it’s this connection with local life that makes cycling here so memorable. Coffee, for example, is an intrinsic part of Madagascan life, and taking a break from the saddle to perch at a makeshift stall is a regular highlight. “If you see a little coffee stand by the side of a road near a village, pull over and have a coffee and a chat,” says John Etherington. “They grow their own, and they roast it and they grind it and they brew it right there in the village, so you can buy a little cup of coffee and a donut for 20 cents and it tastes fantastic.”

Cycling in Madagascar isn't just a great way to meet the locals, though. It's also easy on the environment. Nights are spent in small guest houses rather than multinational resorts, and off-road tracks take you past banana plantations and towering baobab trees, though endemic forests where lemurs cling to the trees and out to tropical coastline, without doing damage to your surroundings. This is especially important in a country where around 90 percent of the unique flora and fauna has been destroyed by deforestation, and where illegal logging continues to be a major problem, affecting not only the environment but also the tourist industry and the communities who rely on it to earn a living.