The south of Madagascar has developed its own type of "taxi-brousse", using large trucks with wooden cross-benched bodies. The roads in this part of the country are particularly bad and in the rainy season only large trucks can get through to the villages. The backs of these trucks are adorned with paintings of scarcely dressed women, another feature only found in this part of the country. The chassis used are mainly large, secondhand Mercedes trucks from Germany.

The TATA buses on the pictures are used for the 900 km trip to the capital Antananarivo, located in the central highlands. On the picture with the green truck a smaller type of "taxi-brousse" can be seen: a 1950's Renault. The coastal town of Tulear is located in a dry and hot area. Local transport is mainly by pousse-pousse, man-drawn rickshaws, several of which can be seen in the pictures.

Chassis Manufacturer:

various

Photo Location:

Tulear, Madagascar

Photo Date:

April, 1998

Photo Provided By:

John Veerkamp

Originally published on WBX:

       15-June-2001