"Fifteen minutes of assembly, seven minutes of disassembly - by now we have practice. But we do stand out. Wherever we go, our tent gets astonished looks. Roof top tents are extremely rare in Madagascar and no one has seen an inflatable one before."
The world travellers Sabine Hoppe and Thomas Rahn travel across the island nation of Madagascar with a Mazana II of the local car brand Karenjy and the roof top tent GT ROOF. They report about their whole adventure in detail in the EXPLORER magazine. Meanwhile, they keep us up to date regularly.
The first travel impressions of the roof top tent expedition through Madagascar
„Cool - and also a bit bizarre to sleep on a car“, a local comments. He is not completly wrong and yet we don't want to exchange our roof top tent for one of the hotel beds in the simple accomodations on whose parking lots we often spend the night. We have already come to appreciate having our own bed with us. Especially when the road poses unexpected challenges and you never know how far you can get in one day. The day before yesterday we drove eighty kilometres in eight hours, yesterday it was only fifty.
In the beginning we drove through many lively places whose streets were filled with people. Now the small villages that we pass every few hours often consist of just two or three huts. You can't find a hotel around here. Apart from a few motorcyclists we haven't seen any tourists for days. For hours we drive through deserted areas. The hilly landscape is covered with tufted grass, palm trees grow in the valleys. Every now and then we see a broken down vehicule, while the driver is either trying to fix the car or waiting in the shade for help. We move forward at a walking pace, we want to spare ourselves a breakdown like this if possible. „The east coast is wild and also a little adventurous“, we were told. Wild? Yes. A little adventurous? That's not quite the case. The roads mock every description: rock, mud, and sand, metre-deep erosion, river crossings and perforated bridges make us hold our breath every minute. However, the various impressions we are allowed to gather here are worth every bumpy meter. But more of that next time."
Sabine & Thomas
Read more about the Roof Top Tent Expedition
- Preliminary considerations, arrival & transport of the roof top tent in the airplane
- On the way to the southern tip of Madagascar
- Diverse wildlife: from chamaleons to lemurs
You can learn more about Sabine Hoppe and Thomas Rahn on their website www.abseitsreisen.de. Since their six-year joruney in the old timer Paula truck, with which they once circumnavigated the globe with, they have been reporting on their journeys through photo lectures in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. In March 2019, after two years of work, they have also published the book ''Sechs Jahre Weltumrundung'' published by Piper/Malik Verlag.
©Photos and Text by Sabine Hoppe and Thomas Rahn for publication. Many thanks for that!
