Over the weekend, I traveled to Antsirabe which is Madagascar’s third largest city with about 200,000 people. Considering very few people in the city seem to own a car, the roads seem pretty quiet, especially after the chaos of Tana. There are still some annoying mini buses, but there is a curious form of transport that seems super popular in Antsirabe: rickshaw!

Personally, I think it is a pretty crazy form of transport which I can’t quite get my head around. I don’t mind paying a taxi when I don’t have my own wheels, but why pay a guy to run you around town, when you have two feet of your own?!? My guidebook suggests tipping generously in order to help lift these guys out of poverty. Despite persistent offers to run me up the road, I just preferred to walk myself. At least they are colorful?

Bonus: Did you know the word rickshaw comes from Japanese? The original word is Jin-Riki-Sha which is made-up of three Chinese characters which mean People-Power-Vehicle