Antananarivo, which everyone calls Tana, is built on a long ridge and a dozen hills in the middle of Madagascar's highlands, at about twelve hundred and eighty metres, and it looks like a city from another century. Red-brick houses with steep roofs and narrow balconies climb the slopes in terraces, rice paddies fill the valleys right up to the edge of town, and on the highest hill stands the Rova, the old royal palace, whose granite walls were rebuilt after a fire in 1995. In the morning, the city is wrapped in smoke from charcoal stoves and the air is cool, and in the afternoon, a warm light picks out the colours of the old houses.
Tana's story is that of the Merina kingdom, whose kings unified much of the island in the nineteenth century, helped by British advisers, before the French took over in 1896. The city has a lively, chaotic feel, with crowds on the streets, taxis that are small old Renault and Citroen cars, stalls selling everything from sunglasses to live chickens, and the sweet smell of frying doughnuts. Lake Anosy in the centre is ringed by jacaranda trees that bloom lilac in October. For food, try romazava, a beef and leaf stew, and zebu steaks with rice.
The RN7, the national road that starts here, runs about nine hundred kilometres south to Toliara on the coast, and it is the great road of the island. It passes through Antsirabe, with its rickshaws and thermal baths, Ambositra, the town of woodcarvers, Fianarantsoa, the tea and wine country, and then down through the red sandstone formations of Isalo to the dry southwest. It is a road of constant interest, but also of constant difficulty, with potholes, overloaded trucks, taxi-brousses stopping without warning and bicycles and zebu carts. Madagascar drives on the right.
Tana has fuel stations on the main roads, and it is wise to fill up here and in each larger town along the way. The traffic out of the city is dense and slow, so start at first light. Carry water, a basic tool kit and spare tubes, and allow far more time than the map suggests. The dry season from May to October is the best time, with cool nights in the highlands.