Madagascar, the Devil’s paths | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

Madagascar is a country with two faces. On the coast, beaches of fine sand with turquoise waters have an air of Paradise. Inland, it’s quite a different story… Across the island, the majority of roads are in a pitiful state, to the point where the inhabitants prefer to walk rather than take transport… The result of the many tropical cyclones that ravage the regions and the screaming lack of maintenance of these roads.

During the rainy season, which lasts nearly six months, the roads deteriorate even further and turn into vast mud traps. And then, whole villages find themselves isolated, cut off from everything. Their only hope: fall back on the bravery of a few drivers ready to run the risk of these roads. Thierry is one such tamer of the tracks.

Here, cars and trucks are not up to the task of taking on these roads: only tractors can do that. At the wheel of his metal giant, Thierry’s mission will be to carry 4 tonnes of supplies to a village cut off from the world by the rain. The journey promises to be arduous: he may take a week to travel the 30 km of track between him and his destination!

Despite the poverty and the difficulties they encounter throughout their lives, the Malgasy love to party, especially when they exhume their dead ancestors. Some six hours’ drive from the capital, on the High Plains, the village of Antanetibe is performing this grand Madagascan ritual: “the return of the dead”. We are attending this sacred ceremony.

Confronted with constant struggles, the Malgasy have developed a fantastic sense of make-do-and-mend. In the capital, right next to the fashionable neighbourhoods, scrap merchants give fresh life to anything that is broken. Marcelin is one of these miracle workers. His job: to unearth parts condemned to the dumpster in order to transform them into everyday objects that he then sells at the markets.