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Bradt Madagascar
Tourism in Madagascar has leapt forward as a result of the cartoon film and media coverage of its culture and wildlife. The tourism infrastructure has been improved, with better roads and new luxury hotels, without compromising the focus on ecotourism. The world’s fourth largest island now appeals to a broad spectrum of visitors, from those seeking hard adventure to others content to enjoy the beautiful beaches and accessible national parks.
467 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
April 7, 2016
this book is about a zebra that is board of being in the zoo so he leaf and his frind try to find him and when they find him the police surrounds him and they get send away some were and they fall out of the boat and get in a iland and the lion was mad that he splits the iland in half but the zebra makes a great place to hangout and the lion he dosent such a good job withhis thing so in the end the lion gose to the other side to apology to the zebra and they laught all night the end
March 27, 2021
This book is so good I had a Malagasy local guide wanting me to give it to him on Nosybe Island north Madagascar.
December 17, 2013
For English-language travel guides to Madagascar, there are only two real options, the Bradt and the Lonely Planet. The Bradt guide has almost universally been recognized as the superior one, much larger than the LP (a thin book which also tries to cover the Comoros Islands, meaning even less detail on Madagascar), and it was written by someone who has decades of experience with the country, Hilary Bradt. With the 2011 edition, she handed the reins over to Daniel Austin, but the book retains her insights among the newer maps and listings. We have used it during a late 2013 cycling trip around the country.
The Bradt guide has everything one expects from a travel guide, namely descriptions of cities, where to stay and eat, and how to get there and away. It doesn't cover only the biggest tourist draws, but pretty much everywhere that one can get with a taxi-brousse (the local public transport vehicle). It certainly aims to inspire people to bold independent travels, and even gives good advice on cycle touring (hopefully a future edition will cover hitchhiking too, which is possible in many parts of the island).
Besides practical tourism guidance, the Bradt guide also features extensive coverage of ethnographic, zoologic and botanical themes. Many come to Madagascar because they want to see exotic nature that diverged from the rest of the world millions of years ago, and there are chapters on lemurs, trees and flowers, different climate zones, etc. There is a description of the various ethnic groups inhabiting the country, helpful to outsiders who might not otherwise notice the difference.
The big downside of the tenth edition from 2011 (and it may not be solved even in the immediately following edition) is that many of the hotels and guesthouses mentioned no longer exist. As visitor numbers never took off in Madagascar as many investors hoped – in fact, they fell drastically after the 2009 coup – many hotel owners decided to close up shop. Often when we walked around towns trying to find a place to stay from the Bradt guide, the establishments were shuttered and looked as they had been so for years. Worse yet, sometimes the establishment is still open in that travellers can stay there, but the owner has entrusted the building to a caretaker, who does not clean or upkeep the rooms, but charges the same old price for a place where running water and electricity no longer work. It is sad what has happened to a country truly deserving of huge crowds of visitors, though don't let that observation scare you away, for I'd still give the country an unqualified recommendation).
The Bradt guide has everything one expects from a travel guide, namely descriptions of cities, where to stay and eat, and how to get there and away. It doesn't cover only the biggest tourist draws, but pretty much everywhere that one can get with a taxi-brousse (the local public transport vehicle). It certainly aims to inspire people to bold independent travels, and even gives good advice on cycle touring (hopefully a future edition will cover hitchhiking too, which is possible in many parts of the island).
Besides practical tourism guidance, the Bradt guide also features extensive coverage of ethnographic, zoologic and botanical themes. Many come to Madagascar because they want to see exotic nature that diverged from the rest of the world millions of years ago, and there are chapters on lemurs, trees and flowers, different climate zones, etc. There is a description of the various ethnic groups inhabiting the country, helpful to outsiders who might not otherwise notice the difference.
The big downside of the tenth edition from 2011 (and it may not be solved even in the immediately following edition) is that many of the hotels and guesthouses mentioned no longer exist. As visitor numbers never took off in Madagascar as many investors hoped – in fact, they fell drastically after the 2009 coup – many hotel owners decided to close up shop. Often when we walked around towns trying to find a place to stay from the Bradt guide, the establishments were shuttered and looked as they had been so for years. Worse yet, sometimes the establishment is still open in that travellers can stay there, but the owner has entrusted the building to a caretaker, who does not clean or upkeep the rooms, but charges the same old price for a place where running water and electricity no longer work. It is sad what has happened to a country truly deserving of huge crowds of visitors, though don't let that observation scare you away, for I'd still give the country an unqualified recommendation).
January 25, 2018
I've been intrigued by the Island of Madagascar, since a very young David Attenborough's Zoo Quest to Madagascar series captivated me (even in B&W) in the early 1960s. So at last, I've acquired an older edition (ring-tailed lemur on the front) of this highly readable and informative guide to Madagascar, as I start to plan a trip for 2018ish. Lots of information on what to see, local customs and the like, a bit short of pictures but looks like an essential purchase if you are travelling independently.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews