Chasing Dark Skies in Madagascar

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear about Madagascar? Maybe the animations, but for me it was totally different!

Several years ago I saw a photo of glorious Milkyway over Baobab trees in Madagascar. And that was when the dream of traveling to Madagascar sparked in my mind.

A few years later, the dream came true. A 15 day trip to this magical island gave me this wonderful chance to take nightscape images in one of the darkest countries in the world. A place where you can see the Milkyway from its capital!

But for a better view of the night sky I had to wait more. At the fourth day of the trip, we camped beside the Tsiribihina river.

A small village was located on the other side of the river and some local people joined our camp and played music for us. It was hard to resist setting next to the fire and listen to the music and watch their dance, but I had more things to do!

But imaging at this time of the trip was not an easy task. Because of someone mistake my tripod had been left at the hotel in Antananarivo, so I had to stable the camera with rocks, which wasn't easy.

Our boat ride in the river finished the next day and we spent the next days at a UNESCO world heritage site: Tsingy. Unfortunately, because of the national park laws, I couldn't take images at these magnificent place at night.

After three days, we hit the road again to the place that I had the dream of seeing it: The Avenue of Baobabs. We had plans to stay in Morondava for two nights. One of the big cities of Madagascar at the coast of Indian ocean.

On the road to Morondava we passed from the Avenue of Baobabs. The giant, ancient trees with an iconic shape. I really couldn't wait for the nightscape photography at this place.

But the first night was all cloudy. So I had to change the plans for the next night, wishing for a clear sky.

Next day, the weather was partly cloudy. I went to the beach for about an hour and then hit the road to the Avenue of Baobabs. When I get there, all the groups were coming back to the city after watching the sunset. But my job was at its beginning! So I was alone at the paradise, under the dark and clear sky, while the driver and his friend were in the car.

One of the hardest things at that moment was to wait until the darkness! At the beginning of the night, the crescent Moon was shining in the sky. So the real show began around the midnight and after the moonset. When the Milky Way was very high in the sky and was shining with all of its glory, that was when I felt I was the luckiest person in the world at the moment!

So my dream came true and I had one of the most memorable nights of my life in a remote place of the world.

Let's all dream and try to make them memories.