Antsiranana, Madagascar • Docking in Diego Suarez

The first time I walked down a street in Antsiranana, I felt as if I was walking down a street on another planet. It was the biggest culture shock I’d had to date, but I loved every second of it.

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The brightly painted concrete buildings. Scaffolding made entirely out of rickety-looking bamboo. The armed security guard outside the ATM, demanding everybody to take off their sunglasses and hats before withdrawing cash. Slabs of raw meat for sale in a crowded market, covered in flies in the scalding sun. Plantain sizzling in a big pan on the pavement. A fire burning on a dusty street corner. A bony cow tied up outside a house with a fraying rope. Women carrying their groceries home in baskets on their heads, wrapped in colourful fabric. The tuk tuk driver with a swastika proudly- and bizarrely- emblazoned across his tuk tuk. Children waving to us from the open doorway of their house. The burning heat of the sun. 

It was a lot. 

But it was awesome.

We docked at two ports in Madagascar during our Indian Ocean itinerary: Antsiranana on the mainland, and the nearby island of Nosy Be. The tourism industry in Madagascar is still very much a work in progress; general infrastructure in the country is poor, and tourism is a fairly new industry here. So while Nosy Be attracts a fair few visitors, Antsiranana is lagging behind slightly and is a bit trickier for your average western visitor to navigate. 

However. You know me, pals. Wandering the streets of a new city is one of my favourite hobbies, and we found plenty to see and do in this colourful, dusty, crazy place. 

Is it Diego Suarez or Antsiranana?

Good question pals, I’m glad you asked. And although the name seems to be pretty much interchangeable these days, the confusion lies in the same place as so many other nations across the world: colonialism. The city was named Diego Suarez after two Portuguese explorers: Diego Diaz and Fernando Suarez, who both set foot on the shores of Madagascar in the very early 1500s.

Although the African island was almost entirely governed by one king, and was known as the Kingdom of Imerina, the French and the English were having none of it. (Classic.) Eventually the French won- the queen of Imerina was exiled to the nearby island of Réunion, and the island became known as the Malagasy Protectorate. By the end of the 1800s, it was an official colony of France.

When French Madagascar finally became an independent nation in the 20th century, the Malagasy name for the city became the official name: Antsiranana. Despite this new official Malagasy name, these days it seems to be very much interchangeable, with locals as likely to call the city Diego Suarez as Antsiranana.

All about Antsiranana

Madagascar is a mahoosive island, about two and a half times bigger than the UK, and Antsiranana is all the way at the top, in the northernmost tip. The city has its own airport, so as well as arriving by cruise ship it’s possible to fly in. But roads throughout Madagascar aren’t great, so getting between cities can be a slow process. It takes around twenty five hours of non-stop driving to reach the capital city, Antananarivo, from here.

Although Antsiranana is home to one of the deepest ports in the Indian Ocean, these poor road connections also mean that nowadays more of the freight traffic is accepted at other ports throughout the country.

So, these days the city is actually a fairly sleepy place. The brightly coloured colonial architecture is in varying stages of repair and disrepair, but the people are overall very friendly (if a little bit pushy when it comes to not wanting a taxi.)

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Things to do in Antsiranana

Wander the city

This is always my top thing to do, no matter where I go in the world. And Antsiranana really is worth a wander.

Not only is the architecture interesting to see, there’s also just so much life to observe here. Make sure you’ve topped up on your sun cream, and it’s probably a good idea to carry a bottle of water on your strolls. I’ve never experienced heat quite like the heat of Masdagascar. If you get thirsty, dip into one of the cafes or restaurants for a drink.

Visit the Botanical Garden

The botanical garden in Antsiranana is within walking distance of the cruise port, so as long as you don’t mind the heat, it’s very easy to reach. It has the atmosphere of a slightly wild, abandoned, city park; the walled garden isn’t obvious to see at first, and inside there’s thick cover from the trees so it’s darker and shadier than you might expect.

The garden is deceptively bigger than it first seems, and is filled with tropical plants galore. Also a few very docile-looking alligators.

Stock up on mosquito spray. (Trust me, you’ll need it in this shady but sticky place.)

Shop for souvenirs in Antsiranana

Shopping in Madagascar is, thankfully, a very different experience than shopping in Europe or the USA. Shopfronts are hand-painted with colourful illustrations and lettering, and the market is a very jumbled chaos of tables amongst well-trodden muddy pathways.

But I do urge you to go, and browse, and spend your money in the city.

If you’re wondering what souvenirs to buy in Antsiranana (or Madagascar in general), I’m happy to help! This is a great place to get some vanilla pods for use at home, as Madagascar is one of the few countries where vanilla plants thrive. Although interestingly, the plant isn’t endemic.

I came home with a whole collection of intriguing objects from Madagascar, from a tablecloth hand-embroidered with tiny Malagasy women and buffalo, to a collection of brightly coloured straw animals, my favourite of which is definitely the lemur.

The best souvenir of all though, in my humble opinion, is the car fashioned out of old tin cans. Renault 4s and Citroen 2CVs are surprisingly one of the most unique symbols of Madagascar; these iconic vintage cars are still hugely popular, particularly as taxis, as they’re cheap to run and cheap to fix. So if you happen to be strolling the streets of Antsiranana, you will undoubtedly be met by many of these cars, the drivers of which may well crawl along the road asking if you need a taxi. It makes sense that these cars would become almost as synonymous with Madagascar as lemurs or chameleons, so why on earth would I not want a souvenir version!?

Locals have been fashioning old aluminium cans into model cars (branching out into buses and motorbikes and bicycles) for years. The technique is called Kapoaka, and it’s a great way of not just recycling trash- which is a big problem round here- but also of supporting local traders.

Even if you’re not going to Madagascar any time soon, you can support local artisans by buying from here.

If the heat gets too much, head to this pool in Antsiranana

(Not only is the pool good, but this is the best place I found in Antsiranana for wifi as well. Video calls very much possible.)

Le Grand Hôtel Diego is right in the centre of the city, on the main shopping street., and it’s a great place to escape the heat of the city. Grab a drink from the bar and sit inside to make the most of the air conditioning (praise the Lord for air con), or head straight through to the outdoor pool. Talk to reception to book yourself in to the pool, or relax in the shade of the veranda or underneath a parasol on a sun lounger.

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Talking of wifi, if you want to stay connected while in Madagascar, I’d definitely recommend downloading an esim from Airalo. I use Airalo’s esims wherever I travel in the world as they’re so much more convenient than trying to find a physical sim card, and significantly cheaper than using my own network’s roaming data.

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Go on a tuk tuk tour

If you arrive in Antsiranana by cruise ship, you’ll be met with a whole fleet of brightly coloured tuk tuks and taxis. If you’ve not got the time to go further afield, but also don’t have the strength to be marching around in the hot sunshine, ask for a tuk tuk tour of the city.

If you do have some extra time, head out of the city to visit the little baobab trees. The drive will take you out of Antsiranana and past the sacred Sugerloaf Mountain in the bay, eventually arriving at the location of the baobab trees. Or head to a nearby beach and the fishing village of Ramena to relax in paradise (or try your hand at kitesurfing.)

The best day trips from Antsiranana

For those visitors who have more time on their hands and want to explore more of the stunning nature of northern Madagascar, Antsiranana is well-positioned for visiting a couple of beautiful national parks.

The Amber Mountains National Park is about an hour away by car, and you should be able to negotiate a price very easily with a taxi driver. The park is filled with waterfalls and rainforest, and is a great place to spot some of Madagascar’s incredible native animals like lemurs, chameleons and beautiful butterflies and other insects. There are plenty of hiking trails and it’s very easy to navigate on foot, so a guide isn’t necessary.

Tsingy Rouge is around two hours drive from Antsiranana, so you’ll need a full day to make the most of this unique national park. The red rock formations look a bit like a field of giant termite hills; but don’t worry pals, they’re actually caused by erosion and no termites were involved in the forming of the rocks at all. Thank goodness.

The darker side of tourism in Antsiranana

One thing that is really important to bear in mind, for any visitor, is that Madagascar is one of Africa’s poorest nations, and I could write a whole entire new post on the struggles that this fragile nation faces, whether politically, economically, or environmentally. (In fact, let’s face it, all three of those are intrinsically linked.) Visiting Antsiranana was a real eye-opener for me on so many levels, and also brought up a lot of very complicated feelings about whether it’s right to visit a third world country as a tourist- particularly when arriving by cruise ship like I did.

There are extremely high levels of poverty here, with around two thirds of the population living below the poverty line. And one thing which really shocked me in Antsiranana was how blatant the prostitution was; Antsiranana is one of the country’s main destinations for sex tourism, but also sickeningly for child sex tourism. Reportedly, underage girls are often encouraged to seek out white Europeans to prostitute themselves to; they can often pay more than Malagasy men.

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I think that if it’s handled sensitively, tourism (the normal kind of tourism) could be a really good thing here. Whether you’re arriving in Antsiranana by cruise ship or on your own more adventurous journey, there is so much beauty to be found in the streets of the city and out in the surrounding countryside. Interact with the locals, don’t just gaze at them from the window of your tour bus, and spend your money wisely so that it goes into the local economy. (Not just, potentially, into the pockets of whichever cruise company you’re sailing with.)

Logistical statisticals

• The official language of Madagascar is Malagasy, although French is widely spoken as well.
• Currency is Malagasy Ariary, and 5000 MGA is around €1.
• Cash is definitely king here. Cards are sometimes accepted, but have cash on you to avoid being caught short.
• Be really careful with your belongings. I never had any ‘dangerous’ situations in Antsiranana, (although myself and two friends were followed by a woman for a few blocks after we spent a bit too long looking at her cow), but I have a few friends who were robbed when they left their bags on the beach and went for a swim. This is a very poverty-stricken place, and unfortunately that sometimes goes hand-in-hand with incidents like that.
• From a safety aspect, I also wouldn’t recommend straying too far from the centre of Antsiranana.

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