Myself and Beryl set out upon our first visit to Madagascar not really knowing what to expect.
I had already had some communication with Alfred Razafindratsira who ran a nursery in Antananarivo and he was going to have someone to meet us at the airport when we arrived. In the event our route to Madagascar proved to be a mission of epic proportions. In hindsight we made the mistake of looking for the most economical flight to Madagascar and ended up booking with Aeroflot from Heathrow to Moscow and Moscow to Antananarivo. BIG MISTAKE!!!!!.
Needless to say the flight from Heathrow was delayed, consequently the flight from Moscow to Antananarivo was missed leaving us stranded in Moscow airport with no connection. At about 11 pm all the lights went out in the concourse and no help was forthcoming at all. The next flight to Antananarivo was in a weeks time so we had no idea as to what was going to happen. In the end we were taken to a transit hotel which looked more like Lubyanka prison and we eventually made it out of Moscow to Paris and from there on an Air France flight to Madagascar. We arrived about 4 days late in Madagascar.
We were met by a driver from Alfred who took us to a hotel for a much needed rest and the following day he picked us up and took us to Alfreds house where we sorted out the itinery and the vehicle for the trip.
To be continued:-