Visa and entry requirements Madagascar:
Passport required
To enter Madagascar, German citizens need a visa, which is issued upon arrival at Antananarivo international airport, but also at all other airports with international connections for a stay of up to 90 days.

Information from the Foreign Office about your trip to Madagascar:
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/de/madagaskarsicherheit/207960

Madagascar is an island off the southeast coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean with a population of around 26 million. In terms of area, it is the second largest island state in the world after Indonesia and at the same time the fourth largest island in the world.

The two official languages of Madagascar are Malagasy and French, the national currency is the Madagascar Ariary, where 1 euro corresponds to around 4,000 MAG.

The largest cities in the island state include Antananarivo, Antsirabe, Toamasina, Mahajanga, Fianarantsoa, Antsiranana, Toliara, Ambovombe, Antanifotsy and Mananara Avaratra.

The central interior consists of a plateau with an average height of 1,100 meters. The highest point in the island state is the Maromokotro at 2,876 meters. Madagascar has a tropical climate, so the island is often hit by cyclones.

Due to its long geographical isolation from the mainland, 90 million years, Madagascar is home to a unique flora and fauna. The most common type of lemur, ring-tailed lemur, or the well-known special Madagascan baobab, for example, only occur here. Other typical species of wildlife include Madagascar frogs, fossa, tenrecs, mongooses, fanaloka, elephant birds, giant lemurs, fanaluk and little grebes.

Madagascar is a developing country and is one of the poorest countries in the world. The high population growth is significantly faster than the low economic growth and thus reduces per capita income. Madagascar's main exports are fish, coffee, vanilla, cloves, sugar, nickel and graphite.

The capital and largest city of Madagascar is Antananarivo with around 2.2 million inhabitants. The city lies at an altitude of around 1,400 meters above sea level and is at the same time the geographical, industrial, economic and administrative center of Madagascar.

The important sights of Antananarivo include the old Rova Royal Palace, the Lemur Park, the Pirate Museum, the Croc Farm, Ambohimanga, the Antsirabe Cathedral, the Lily Waterfall, the old central station - Gare de Soarano, the Analakely Market, the Andohalo Catholic Cathedral, the Church of Faravohitra, the Tribes Monument, the Art Gallery, the Street of Independence, the Madarail, the Tsimbazaza Zoo and the open-air market.

In September 2018 I visited the island of Madagascar for the first and only time. My three-day stay was packed with two outstanding tours.

On the first day we went to the Zahamena National Park from Andasibe, four hours away. To do this, I booked a private day trip online at “Tripadvisor” for 200 euros, in a relatively comfortable car, with a driver and an English-speaking tour guide. About an hour before the national park we stopped at a chameleon farm. This small zoo was very impressive and had almost 30 different species of these exciting specimens to offer.

When I later arrived in the national park, I had to walk around seven kilometers on foot, in light rain, through the park's paths, which were not always paved. Of course, my shoes were not prepared for such weather and I tried to protect them as much as possible from the wet with every step. We could see some climbing lemurs at a height of around 20 meters, various species of birds and a very interesting chameleon. Actually, this specimen had really world-class camouflage, but apparently it wasn't good enough and was promptly discovered by my tour guide. For me it was actually a completely normal thin tree trunk and I would definitely have continued walking without this exciting discovery.

In addition to the national park, the country's largest private lemur park was in the immediate vicinity. The many creatures typical of Madagascar were represented in the park with a total of ten different species and were mostly super tame and funny. This visit was really fun at the end and made for lots of nice photos before the long journey back.

All in all, it was a very successful 15-hour excursion that absolutely justified the price in the end.

For the following day I booked a city tour of Antananarivo to see all the main attractions in the capital. I had originally planned to visit the city alone, but my hotel strongly discouraged me from doing so.

Despite Madagascar's unique landscape and impressive wildlife, the country seemed extremely poor and unfortunately it was practically impossible for me to walk through the capital alone because of the high crime rate.

After everything had gone perfectly during my stay in Madagascar despite some concerns, the bad end came at the end. After a very exciting two-hour drive through heavy traffic to Antananarivo airport, with many beautiful final photos from the side of the road, I was briefly paralyzed after arriving at the departure counter.

My flight to St. Denis on the island of Reunion, with their local airline “Air Austral”, was canceled in the evening and postponed to the next morning. It's just stupid that my onward flight to the Seychelles was already planned for the next day at 9 a.m., which only operates once a week and I originally only wanted to spend a few hours overnight on the French island. Since I definitely could no longer catch this flight to the Seychelles, I no longer needed to go to Reunion.

Now, however, the real difficulties really began, as no one at the airport spoke English and, despite all attempts, there was no internet connection for travelers. So I couldn't explain to any airline employee that my entire trip was now canceled and that I no longer needed a flight to St. Denis.

At that moment, good advice was really expensive and I was completely on my own.

First I sat down in the only airport bar and started thinking over an oversized bottle of beer. After this almost barely drinkable local drink, I checked the large display board to find out all the outgoing flights for the next 24 hours. Of the total of eight flights for the next day, two each flew to France and Reunion, one to Mauritius, one to Johannesburg, one to the Comoros and one to Nairobi.

So in my opinion the only sensible flight to get to the Seychelles as quickly as possible was via Kenya and so I immediately went to the “Kenya Airways” counter.

After about two hours of waiting at that counter and realizing that this office might never be occupied, I had to come up with a new plan. In any case, there was no “Kenya Airways” employee anywhere to be seen, even though the next flight from this line was due in three to four hours.

In the meantime, I called a friend in Germany and asked about a possible connection from Nairobi to the Seychelles. After only a three-hour stay in Kenya's capital, a flight to the Seychelles island of Mahe would actually take off the next day, what a stroke of luck in this situation.

Still without any idea how to book this darn flight, I next ran to the departure counter for the night flight and waited for it to open. After another hour or so of waiting, I was finally the first to check in and tried to somehow buy a ticket. But I was immediately referred to the airline's office in question, as it was supposedly the only place where you could buy a flight. So I went to this “Kenya Airways” office again and again it was closed.

In the meantime, this whole process was really annoying me, but I still tried to keep a cool head because I really wanted to get away from here and slowly the dwindling time was playing against me.

After further reflection, I realized that the flight to Kenya departed at 2 a.m. and an Air France flight to Paris shortly after midnight departed within a relatively short space of time.

I also knew that “Kenya Airways” and “Air France” work together with the same frequent flyer program “Flying Blue”.

The Air France counter was now open and even manned by one person. My last hope was that I could book my flight there without the Internet, using the worldwide booking program “Amadeus”.

As a result, I visited the English-speaking woman at the Air France counter and briefly described my problem, while at the same time asking whether she could book my Kenya Airways flight in her system. After she answered my question with yes without hesitation, it was a real moment of happiness and a great relief for me.

For the somewhat unexpectedly small amount of “only” 330 euros, the nice lady booked my flight from Antananarivo to the Seychelles, with a stopover in Nairobi.

After thanking them hundreds of times for their kind help and support, I was ultimately happy to finally be able to leave the country of Madagascar.