The Route Nacionale 2 runs 345km kilometres west to east from the Madagascar capital Anatanarivo to the major port town Toamasina. Everything going in and out of the country goes along this road.

I thought the RN6, heading north, was a lousy road, but this has nothing on the RN2.

The RN6 is a dirt track with huge potholes, but other vehicles are rare as you roll (very slowly) past pretty countryside and charming villages.

The RN2 may be tarmaced (although still potholed) but now add huge, ugly articulated lorries, carrying mostly 40 ft freight containers, to and from the port. To pass one in front of you, or coming towards you, you are now slowing down to an almost stop and half of both vehicles are off the tarmac road and in the dirt. This is happening at least once every 5 mins, and you could be passing 3 lorries in convoy. Add to this bends and elevation, compared to the straight and flat RN6, and you now have terrible road conditions.

The RN6 has a charm and humour. You take the RN2 for 4 hours to cover the 145 kilometres to Andasibe, one of the most important and well visited protected rain forests in the country. It is like taking tourists along a potholed Birmingham New Road to drop them down in to quaint Clovelly, or E5 through Avcilar descending to the beautiful Assos village.

If you can eat a plate of gravel first, we will then give you the pot of honey.

Now, I’m no expert on these things, but is it not better to reopen the railway running all the way to the coast, than upgrading any roads? And is this not the better project to win international funding? It would speed up their economy, improve the tourist experience (and hence the numbers) and save the lungs of at least ½ million people living on the roadside breathing in diesel fumes. Children are not living at a distance from all of this rolling stock. No, they are right there on the dirt verge, metres away from the tyre tracks, fumes and danger.