Baobab Amoureux Morondava

"The baobab lovers and the avenue are an underwhelming tourist trap. We travelled around Madagascar in March (end of rainy season but a lot of roads still impassable) and spent time in many other places where locals were super friendly. This place unfortunately has been blistered by tourists. Local people here are extremely poor, and tourists are seen as walking bomba. I totally get it, tourists are super annoying, and the Instagrammers taking selfies are a common sight. We came out of season but this was the area we saw the most other tourists. We came to the baobab lovers after stopping off at the avenue for a quick(!) walk up and down the road. There was a local boy pointing out a chameleon, obviously he wanted money for it, he’d planted it there for the tourists. We knew this and it didn’t feel nice. Once we’d finished politely admiring it he demanded money. We gave him a little bomba and then he grabbed the chameleon by the neck and walked off, clearly the poor little thing was kept as a money making scheme, not as a much cared for pet. Please avoid if you come across this, it’s not helpful for the wildlife. It made me feel very sad.
We drove up the road and along a long track on the left to get to the baobab lovers. We then got harassed by a family there that wanted money to take our pictures. We didn’t want any pictures taken but that didn’t stop them and we left in a hurry to get away from them. We stopped back along the track and it was THE PERFECT time for the sunset, which to be fair, was one of the best sunsets we’ve ever seen and we got some cracking pictures with the baobabs in the foreground. The family then passed us on the track, the kids stayed with us and we did have a joke around with them and invited them onto the truck to enjoy the sunset with us. The little girl was super sassy, demanded to have everything we had but she was funny, smart and we enjoyed her company. I’ve added a picture of her to this post in the hope that one day she gets to see the photo again.
The mothers came back to fetch the children and we asked if it would be ok to give them a little money so we could park up and sleep by the baobabs that evening. So we got to spend an evening by the famous lovers - which would’ve been very romantic indeed, had we not been joined by a massive swarm of mosquitoes in a sauna. Still, memories.
The next morning the girls rejoined us whilst we packed down the roof tent and breakfasted. The cheeky girl has my heart. I was very moved by the state of poverty in Madagascar at this point. Her little friend of about 6 years old has infected sores on her legs that the flies hungrily sipped at. I could only do my best with my limited first aid kit but they needed serious medical attention. I left them all the spare clothes that I had in my bag, of course this would do nothing but bring them a small bit of joy of having something new. I could not get these girls out of my head for days. It was very interesting to learn about and experience Madagascar’s political and economic challenges. If you come here, bear this in mind, leave what you can to the locals, be as sustainable and considerate as you can."

Victoria May Wells (Tor)

"Mostly all of the tours would avoid to take you to this spot as it it far away from the main road (Avenue of Baobabs - Kirindy Forest) as it is a 24 kilometers round-trip from the junction on this unpaved road... So they will probably take you to another Baobab in Love located about 50 meters in the Akiva Lodge, I think that it was the name..."

Jairo Mendoza

"A beautiful and sexy pair of Baobabs intertwined make a romantic backdrop for a photo. The drive is a bit bumpy, but the trees are pretty to see. There are a few vendors nearby selling baobab statues and carvings."

Andrea R