You may want to reschedule your visit to Madagascar: according to news sources, an outbreak of flu has killed at least 374 people with another 5,000 and more infected. Health experts from the WHO are due to arrive to investigate the cause. The outbreaks are mostly blamed on poverty and have occurred in the southern highlands, Fianarantsoa and in the western port of Tulear, a place used by travellers to visit the national parks close by.

Add this to the last 7 months of civil unrest, this does not make Madagascar a very attractive place to visit – which is a great shame, as the Beetle can attest it is a fabulously interesting country, hard to get around, but worth the effort, to see the different kinds of forests, the lemurs, practice speaking French, the old French style of architecture and boulevards etc. The diving is not bad, either!