This was going to be a looooong driving day. Due to a change in the itinerary, we were now combining what had originally been planned as two separate driving days – from Morondava to Miandrivazo and then on to Antsirabe – into one. Around 490 km in total, with a departure at 5 am and, as it turned out, an arrival around 9 pm. Mora, mora – literally ‘slowly, slowly’ – is an expression one hears quite often in Madagascar and today, we were certainly going to experience it first-hand.

We left Morondava while it was still dark and headed east towards the highlands. Our first stop was in Ankilizato, where breakfast was a fairly improvised affair: the sandwich from our breakfast box, a strong coffee from a roadside stall and some sort of rice cake to go with it.

We continued towards Miandrivazo, stopping there to refuel and stock up on cold drinks before heading out again. Just beyond town, we stopped for a picnic lunch – and this turned out to be one of the highlights of the day. Our drivers had done the shopping: fresh bread, cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, pineapple and mango. Nothing particularly fancy, but everything fresh and delicious – and who could resist making some impromptu guacamole? In fact, this turned out to be one of the better lunches of the entire trip. Sometimes, the simplest things are the best.

After lunch, we continued along the RN34 towards Antsirabe. Road conditions varied considerably along the way, from reasonably decent stretches to sections that made progress slow – our average speed was somewhere around 35 km/h, which should give you an idea of what traveling in Madagascar can be like.

We finally reached Antsirabe at around 9 pm, after a journey of 16 hours (including stops along the way). After a day like this, mora, mora was certainly more than just a catchy expression.