"The adventurous national road RN12A is behind us, we have reached the southern tip of Madagascar. At least almost."

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.

On the way to the southern point

"We find ourselves at „Faux Cap“, the wrong cape, which for a long time was considered the southernmost point of Madagascar, until new measuring methods were used to determine that the true southern tip lies a few kilometers further west.

But the sunset is approaching, therefore we don't dare to tackle the last 51 kilometers. Instead we pass the small village Betanty to drive to the coast. The path is sandy, in the distance we see the first dunes. The wind blows around the small wooden huts, which occasionally stand in the landscape. A grocer's shop has open its sales window and offers about the same range of goods as in any settlement: loose cigarettes, a few bottles of soft drinks, coca cola, a sack of rice, small bags of sugar, tomato paste, and for the tourists who might happen to pass, two rolls of toilet paper and water in dusty plastic bottles.

We follow a car lane through the village. I read „Cactus Hotel“ in the travel guide and shortly afterwards on the wooden sign, which hangs crooked on a dilapated fence, behind which there is a simple bungalow complex. But there is not much left of it. We follow the car tracks through the next dune. Now the view opens and the sea appears. A small parking lot, six colorfully painted bungalows made of stone and wood, a small restaurant on which „Reception“ is painted in lively lettering. I'll get out and see if we can stay here tonight. I show a photo of our roof top tent, because nobody here can imagine anything like a „tent de toit“.

In front of us the waves crash into the rocks in front of the beach and spray the water almost ten meters high in the air . Until now we have only tied the roof top tent to the awning with two lines, but with the strong gusts blowing over the Indian Ocean to us, we have attached another line to the back. Today we fill the tubes with air up to the recommended maximum and place the tent with the narrow side facing the wind. The wind gusts shake the tent-cover strongly, but the frame remins surprisingly stable even in the very stormy conditions.

The sun goes down and bathes the cacti behind us in a kitschy red light. The first stars sparkle, we almost have a full moon. We climb into the roof top tent, slip into the warm sleeping bags, listen to the constant surf. Tomorrow we want to tackle the last leg to the southern point of Madagascar"

Sabine & Thomas

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!