Antananarivo, The City Of A Thousand Warriors
Madagascar's Capital ~ By Rabenilaina Harinia Cyrille
 

The city of one-thousand warriors takes its name from an episode in Malagasy history. When King Andrianjaka, who had called his people the Merina (That can be translated into highlanders) occupied the twelve sacred hills (Ambohitratrimo, Ambohimanga, Ilafy, Alasora, Antsahadita, Ambohimanambony, Antananarivo, Ambohitrabiby, Namehana, Ambohidrapeto, Ambohijafy, Ambohimandranjaka) upon which Analamanga (where the forest is blue) was built, he had his royal palace and stronghold erected. One thousand warriors were quartered there and he called this city Antananarivo. In those days, the Merinas were divided into three castes : Andriana (nobility), Hova (plebeians), and Andevo (labourers).

Nowadays, Antananarivo’s population exceeds one million inhabitants and its urban area has considerably grown. Surrounded by vast plains used for rice cultivation, Antananarivo has a Mediterranean climate due to its geographic position (1,400m above sea level).

Visiting Antananarivo

For further information, the first place you should go to is La Maison du Tourisme de Madagascar in Antaninarenina, close to the Colbert Hotel. In the same place, you will also find Cheminements touristiques et Culturels d’Antananarivo a very interesting little guide about seven possible walks in Tana (from 1 hour to a half a day tour).

However long you chose to visit Madagascar, it would be a pity to leave without staying a day in Antananarivo and visiting one of the most important and largest markets in the world: the zoma (Friday in Malagasy). You will have the opportunity of discovering Malagasy handcrafts (which are extraordinary if one considers the great many objects produced or the materials used). You will also have an opportunity of watching the crowd and getting a more accurate impression of Malagasy personalities. The name zoma is used by everybody to describe the long series of bazaars in which thousands of people selling a very wide choice of handcrafts whose very use can sometimes become art. The zoma, which not so long ago took place on both sides of the city’s main avenue (Avenue de l’independence) and in adjacent streets has now moved to several quarters of Antananarivo.

The most interesting pieces of handcraft may be raffia works (hats, bags, mats, carpets or animals), pieces of embroidery (tablecloths, dresses and sheets), silver jewels, curios, jewels and solitaires (Chinese Lady) carved out of semi precious stones, leather goods (crocodile, snake skin, leather), wood sculptures, butterfly collections and a great many other interesting objects.

The “Antaimoro paper” deserves a description all its own: those paper sheets that look like parchment are made with pulp extracted from a plant’s bark (it is called avoha in Malagasy). This pulp is laid on frames and adorned with fresh flower petals and tiny branches and that process results in very beautiful floral pictures. Those compositions are left out to dry under the moon’s shade as demanded by a tradition that dates back to the times of the first Arabian visitors.
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 Let start our visit of Antananarivo (Starting from the bus station). The food market, next to the train station, called “Petite vitesse” arouses great curiosity because of the hundreds of little benches upon which all sorts of tropical or European vegetables or fruits are displayed in geometric piles. Another very interesting section of Soarano market is the one dedicated to medicinal plants. Malagasy people a long time ago developed medicinal plants based on pharmacopoeia to cure most diseases. There are several Zomas in the capital: Soarano-Camp Pochard (varied handcrafts), Andravoahangy (embroidered tablecloths and curtains, pieces of wood sculpture, semi precious stones), Anosy (fresh and dried flowers, pottery), La digue (mixed handcraft).

The most interesting places you may want to visit are:The Prime Minister’s Palace in Manjakamiadana, the Zoological Park and its museum, the Astronomical Observatory in Antananarivo University and the Croc farm. The Queen’s palace towers above the city. It is on this hill (1,500m above sea level) that King Andrianjaka built the Rova, that is to say, his citadel, but a fire unfortunately ruined it in 1995 and its reconstruction has not started yet.
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From Ambohipotsy, a small square close to the rova, one can admire the magnificent sight that looks out onto the plains that surround the capital. To get an idea of Madagascar’s magnificent nature, you must visit the Zoological Park of Tsimbazaza. Actually, your chances of seeing the specimens of animals and plants gathered in this park would be quite slim in the course of an usual tour since they live in age old forests or in very remote places one can sometimes hardly reach. The very immensity of the Malagasy continent makes it quite impossible to visit, in a single journey, the high Plateaux forests, the Pangalanes Canal, the alluvial plains of the south and the tropical forests of the North. You can visit the Park from 8 am to 11 am and from 2 pm to 5 pm on Thursdays, Sundays and on public holidays. On other days, you can visit the Park at the same hours after getting an authorization from a guide who will accompany the group. The Malagasy Academy is also in Tsi mbazaza: you can admire an important palaeontology that proves very useful in getting to know Malagasy people and nature’s history. 

Getting around Antananarivo

If you are planning to stay a few days in Antananarivo, you may organise some tours in the capital’s surroundings on your own. However, you’ d better go to a travel agency for assistance in order to avoid unpleasant surprises that might be due to a poorly maintained rented car, lack of reservations, or maybe running out of gas, which is sometimes difficult to find. A 20km long trip leads to Ambohimanga, called “the blue hill”. King Andriantsimitoviaminandriandirazaka built this small village in 1700. It is from this very place that King Andrianampoinimerina launched his campaign to conquer Antananarivo in 1794, laying the basis of Madagascar’s unification under Merina rule. Access to the city remained forbidden to foreigners up until 1895, a date which corresponds to the beginning of the French Governorship over Madagascar. To enter the village, you have to come through a very ancient gate, which, once upon a time, used to be blocked by a gigantic round stone. This stone rolled in a furrow dug in the ground until the entrance was totally blocked. This gate is called Ambavahaditsiomby which in Malagasy translates “where even a zebu can’t come through”. The citadel’s fortifications consisted of two series of deep ditches completed with a series of seven gates. A long series of steps lead to an esplanade, just opposite the royal palace, from which the Merina Kings spoke to their people . It is nowadays used to perform folk dance shows.

Heading to Antananarivo, at about 10kms from the capital, the Ilafy royal hill looms up, commanding a beautiful view over Ambohimanga, the sacred hills of Imerina and Antananarivo. This village was well known for its vineyards. It would also be King Radama’s favourite residence. He was buried here in 1863. In a day, you can also go to Lake Mantasoa (70kms from Antananarivo). Get out of Antananarivo by the Tamatave road (R.N. 2), drive for about 50kms and change roads in Manjakandriana, a village about 15 kms from Mantasoa that you can also reach by train.

Antsahadita is one of the 12 sacred hills of the Imerina. Houses were built on a wooded hill. The people responsible for Malagasy public services have managed to keep it in very good condition, several wood constructions gives you a right sight of what a Merina village was in the 1800s. The area next to the Itasy Massif may reveal itself interestingly thanks to the presence of former volcanic manifestations such as lava flows and basaltic fields. Close to Analavory village, you may see active geysers and a series of 40 lakes with volcanic craters.

Get out of the capital early in the morning by taking Route Nationale n° 7. You will drive across small villages with red earthen houses typical of the High Plateaux area. They scarcely have windows and lack chimneys in order to protect their inhabitants from the cold. The landscape is softened by very vast paddy fields that are sometimes cultivated in terraces, which is another clue of Indonesian influence in Madagascar, and conifer or eucalyptus forests. The road continues and you can see on the horizon the Ankaratra Range, one of the highest massifs in Madagascar, until you reach Ambatolampy (1500 m above sea level) where you can stop for a tasty lunch in one of the good restaurants in the area: Le Marseillais or Au Rendez vous des Chasseurs which serve several Malagasy dishes and are renowned for their game, trout and crayfish dishes. Close to that place, the Manja Ranch gives you the opportunity of spending a quiet weekend or stop for a ride (horse) in the surroundings. Then, you will drive across a beautiful forest of conifers for about 100 kms and reach a plain surrounded with mountains which reaches up to 2500m and then you arrive to: Antsirabe (180,000 inhabitants from the Betsileo tribe, area telephone code: 44) it is a renowned water cure town that boasts several springs known, for their curative properties (which are the same as the springs of Vichy, France, the town was sometimes called Ranovisy). Actually, those waters, thanks to their sodium, calcium and bicarbonate are famed for treating liver insufficiency and gall bladder problems. Their quality and the pleasant climate makes Antsirabe a renowned place for cures and holidays. The whole area is important for the Malagasy economy. The economy is based upon farming (vegetables and vintages) and industries (Star Brewery, cotton mills of the Cotona Campany, a concentrated milk factory and Melia cigarette factory). The main characteristics of this city are wide boulevards lined up by flowers (especially mimo sas), well-designed parks and typical rickshaws that represent the most used means of transport in Antsirabe and its semi-precious stone laboratories (semi-precious stones are produced in the area).

We advise you to visit Lake Tritriva, near Antsirabe (20 kms), located just under the mount it is named after. This 180 meter deep lake is interesting because its shape recalls the shape of Madagascar. One very ancient Malagasy legend deals with this lake: two lovers, whose marriage was forbidden by their parents, made the decision of drowning themselves in this lake. After drowning themselves, they were reincarnated into a living shape: in the form of two very close growing trees next to the lake. Their branches were so intertwined that they eventually formed a single tree.

Shopping

- Traditional market on Saturday “Tsena Asabotsy”
- Joseph Lapidaire: this shop specializes in semi precious stones; samples are displayed in his large workshop beside the benches on which his employees work.

Useful addresses

- Hotel des Thermes, B.P. 72. Three star category, built in rather old world style, but equipped with all services, which makes it rather comfortable. Good restaurant.
 
 

About the Author

Rabenilaina Harinia Cyrille was born in Antananarivo. He and his family live at Cité des Professeurs, Fort-Duchesne, Antananarivo, Madagascar. He presently works as a teacher at College Saint-Michel teaching Information and Communications. He also works for the NGO Mianala as a project manager. He plays guitar in a band called VAIN, which plays a mix of grunge and folk. He will be contributing articles about life in Madagascar for future editions of Escape From America Magazine. He can be contacted at: niaa@refer.mg