Last night’s dinner was rented by me for a very short time, but a French chap with whom I’d bantered earlier turned out to be a homeopathic doctor who administered Ipecacuanha (a Mexican mushroom) extract. Today, I feel fine and we drove 270k to here.

We stopped at Ambalavao, a small town with the feel of a 15th century European town – balconies with bedding and observers, little stalls, bars, merchants, charcoal huts, baskets of chickens, snacks, handmade lamps and soap, rocksalt, snuff by the teeny teaspoon, grains, hunks of raw meat, indeterminate green veg, sausages, fruit and a wheel of fortune game made from an old bicycle wheel. At that final point only does the mediaeval analogy break down. The prevailing fashion is straw trilby and long cloak or lamba – a pretty timeless item in itself. Later, in Ranohira (a frontier town of a couple of hundred souls with very basic facilities) the Bara tribe fashion is for shorts and patchwork quilt lambas. They are made in 10cm squares in very geometrical patterns and are worn by men and women.

The landscape has changed considerably throughout the day from steep valleys and multi-terraced fields to savannah and granite plateaux. The Horombe Plateau has 40km of ‘piste’ – impassable in the rainy season except by expert 4x4, but generally OK today.

Apart from herding zebu, it’s hard to know how people eke a living. The Tuléar herdsmen walk for two months to Tana with their zebu. For each animal sold, they each receive 10,000 MFr. Typically, they will have 100 each, but they may earn little else for the rest of the year. We got into a deeply political and informative conversation with Souluf and Héry (?) over a couple of beers and learned of the corruption in the government and much about the economy. Souluf is very well-informed and interested. The minimum wage here is 172,000 per month (today’s rate is 8,700, up 200 in 2 days). Rent in Tana and 5m² room is 150,000. It’s hard to make ends meet for the poor. A guide for tomorrow will charge 100,000 fixed rate. How many days per month does he work, I wonder? Bananas cost 35 for £1. International finance is tough. More THB (Three Horses Beer) needed. Bought some handmade paper at Anta.