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. The bus stop in Tulear where we picked up our last load of people before we left on our treck

Tana is a city like no other. It’s a time capsule of Madagascar’s recent history. In 1960, Madagascar officially gained it’s independence from France; the start of the first republic. France still maintained authority over finance and trade. However, in 1972, Madagascar entered an era of military rule. In 1975, Didier Ratsiraka was named president along with a new government. This began Madagascar’s second republic. An attempt to nationalize the rice market was initiated in 1976. That program was eventually dropped in 1984, but not before the country’s economy had taken a great fall.  Ratsiraka was able to remain president for seventeen years, but in 1991, a rival government was established demanding Ratsiraka’s resignation. In 1992, there was a nation wide strike that basically shut down the country.

A new government emerged prominent after these strikes; marking the start of Madagascar’s third republic. Albert Zafy was elected president in 1993. Since then, international aid and investment from the west has started to enter the country much more than before. Zafy, however, was impeached in 1996 over economic mismanagement, but he still ran for president again in 1997. He lost, in a very close election, to his predecessor from the previous republic, Didier Ratsiraka. Madagascar’s political history and its transitions of power have created the unique setting that greets its visitors. I spent my first two weeks in Madagascar in this city. It is an extremely difficult reality for anyone to experience. Over 1.5 million people live there; mostly children. It is not as poor as the rural areas, but the concentration of people makes it seem more significant.
 

Garbage piles fill the streets with babies competing with dogs for scraps of food. The taste and smell of sewage and thick air pollution can not be escaped. Most of the cars on the narrow streets are from the sixties and break down often. In fact, most things in Madagascar are either from before 1972 or after 1992. It is quite typical to see a Toyota Landcruiser or a Mercedes Benz parked among a field of old deteriorated Peugeots. One individual parked his old car in a stall and stood waiting for someone who couldn’t find a spot to pay him to leave. Old people without a leg or arm sit with a tin can for money. This scene can be found in the U.S., but the children are a different story. Most of the people begging are children, and they don’t easily take no for an answer. Its not necessary know what they were saying, the message is clear as they enclose on you with their hands out. It is common place to find children sleeping in gunny sacks on the sides of the streets. A taxi was stopped in traffic while passing through a tunnel. A toddler walked up to the open passenger window. He held up an infant whom barely had the energy to open her eyes. No words were spoken as the toddler looked to the passenger, then at the baby and back to the passenger.

Downtown Ranomafana standing at the same location as the other picture, just a different direction.

. Antannanorivo

The main street in Tana is interesting. It is a wide boulevard. At one end is a Victorian style train station, the other end has a park full of small oriental style booths. Statues, depicting Madagascar’s past, stand in middle of the boulevard. This was once a proud display of the country when the French were in power. However, when I first arrived in Madagascar, it looked like the rest of the city. The buildings had not been painted for decades. The center of the boulevard had become a field of mud. This section of town held the market; called the Zoma. A sea of white canvas umbrellas of the street vendors filled the surrounding blocks.

The market was divided into different sections. The meat market was quite eye opening. For an entire block, one could buy a cow’s head, snakes or live chickens. The chickens would have their legs tied together so that they can’t run away. A merchant picked up a set of three chickens, all tied together as a group package. He presented them to a customer to verify how heavy they are. From every direction, came the calls of people bartering for the best possible prices. If a customer’s offer was too low, the merchant would turn away and continue swatting flies away while acting completely uninterested. I once asked about the price of a live pig. I wasn’t really interested and eventually just walked away. The merchant ended up tracking me down several blocks away with a new price.