Adventure. I knew Madagascar was going to be far more of an adventure than any “digital nomad hub,” and I was really craving that. Connectivity and community are great — but I travel for adventure, so I still need to get some real adventures in.

We’d usually stay put for 3–4 days at a time and work quite a bit, then explore for 1–3 days. On the work days we still went to the market, hit the gym, went for runs and so on — nothing too major adventure-wise.

Honestly, I wouldn’t say there was one single place that blew me away that tourists don’t know about. But Ranomafana was one of my favourites — it’s fairly well known among Dutch and German travellers, just not so much among anglophones.

How useless French is once you leave the cities. In the countryside, very few people speak French to any meaningful level — that was a bit of a bummer.

We’ve been doing trips like this for a while — hiking through Portugal, biking through Vietnam — so I’m used to travelling in tough conditions. But for anyone newer to this kind of travel: be ready for really long travel times (the roads are in bad shape), be ready for the electricity to cut off, and have WiFi backup options. Here’s how to get fast WiFi anywhere.

Antananarivo. It’s not a great city, but it does tend to have the best restaurants — and it was the first place we were introduced to Malagasy food, which makes it more special.

People who crave the unknown. If you need to know every detail before a trip, this probably isn’t the place for you.

I don’t know if I’ll go back any time soon — it was a challenging place for a lot of reasons — but I’m really glad I went. I could see myself returning in five years or so to check out the north, since I didn’t see any of it.

My boyfriend and I knew Madagascar could be a tough place to be a nomad — but for us that was exactly the appeal: going to see it and find out for ourselves. We love adventure.

It varied a lot depending on where we were. When there was the option, we’d work from a café, then get a bit of exercise in and find a restaurant for a good meal, and afterwards keep working from the hotel and rest. The sun sets around 6pm, and it felt safer for us to already be inside the hotel by then — no pressure to be driving or walking dark streets.

The Sacred Forest. It’s deep in a rural area, but you’re right in the middle of nature — perfect if you want a real break from everything, and you can spot lemurs all over the property.

How many hours it takes to get from one place to another. Because of that, you need a lot more time than you’d expect to explore more of this beautiful country.

The internet. Not everywhere has a good connection, and in some places you’ll get power cuts — they weren’t constant, but there’s a real instability to it.

For me, the zebu with rice and beans — it’s an everyday dish here, but it’s genuinely good. And the samosas — a great little snack.

Madagascar isn’t an easy country, and you have to be aware it’s a place with a lot of poverty where life is simply different — it’s hard to have the Western-style comfort we’re used to unless you stay in resort-type hotels the whole time. But it’s a country where you can step out of your comfort zone and experience something completely different. Who should skip it? Anyone who wants everything easy, who doesn’t like making an effort or being patient to find a good spot, or a simpler, slower way of life.

Absolutely. My plan is to go back in a few years and see how much the country has changed, and I’d love to explore the north too. For me it was a huge learning experience — understanding a different way of life, becoming more grateful for what we have, and seeing how people there live happy lives without luxuries.