After spending the last few days in Mantadia National Park, we’ve returned to Antananarivo again for an overnight stay at the Hilton before we fly south tomorrow. It’s not the nicest or most boutique of places to stay, but it does have the advantage of a) having WiFi so we can get in touch with our loved one’s back home and b) being quite central, and an ideal base to mosey out from and explore the capital.

As we’d arrived quite late in the day, we didn’t take to the streets until about 3pm; it was about 15 minute walk from the hotel to the centre of town, past Lake Anosy where it seemed as though the entire teenage population had come to hang out.

I’m not sure if they are used to seeing mixed couples over here, but we seemed to be providing a little entertainment to the locals, drawing some prolonged stares from just about everyone. Emma even encountered a little mild name-calling from a small child, which is not a surprise when there’s a myth that says white people eat black children; I’m sure it’s not the same for everyone, but it was definitely evident today.

That aside, we both enjoyed our all too brief sojourn around Tana; we’ll be back here at the end of our trip so we’ll get another chance for a walk-around, but with tomorrow’s 5am flight in mind we turned in early.