Mission Madagascar

Unreached People Groups

One of my goals during my 24-day visit is to survey some of the unreached people groups of Madagascar. Three tribes in particular stand out as most needy. I will attempt to visit rural villages of each of these people groups during my visit.

1.  Antakarana

Meaning: “People of the Rocks”

Population: 140,000

Location: northern tip of the island

Geography: extremely mountainous; dense wet forest

2. Antanosy

Meaning: “People of the Island”

Population: 513,000

Location: extreme south

Geography: mountain ridge, some dense rain forest and other arid regions

3.  Antandroy

Meaning: “People of the Thorns”

Population: 928,000

Location: south central region

Geography: desert

Much of this information comes from the a survey completed by the IMB (International Mission Board) of the SBC. They deserve a significant “thank you ” for their massive effort — an effort spread across several years and shared by dozens of believers — to “discover the tribes with the least amount of access to the gospel” in Madagascar. I constantly use for research, prayer, and reference, the 130-page document that they produced.

Infrastructure Challenges

Part of the difficulty in reaching these tribes is the lack of good roads. On Saturday, I spoke with a missionary who plans on moving in August to minister to the Antankarana people.  He described the roads in Madagascar as “the worst he’s seen in his entire life.” Since the traditional road trip may not be ideal, we will utilize other modes of transportation.

Helicopter: We plan on traveling north via helicopter, utilizing a missionary helicopter service whose goal is to bring the gospel to unreached areas. Because the north is so mountainous, many of these isolated villages are inaccessible by any other means than helicopter (or laborious and time-consuming hiking).

Airplane: I will fly to a city in the south (Fort Dauphin) that is equipped with an airport. The flight will put me within a reasonable driving distance of the Antandroy and Antanosy.

Taxi-brousse, dirt bike, oxcart, pirogue, or who-knows-what-else: The public transportation of choice is the taxi-brousse (literally: bush-taxi). Usually consisting of a vintage van or a retrofitted pickup, these can accommodate large numbers of people. No seat reservations, no amenities: just pile on. Motorcycle or dirt bike rentals are available in some places. Traveling with bikes is usually faster than a car or truck. Oxcarts are slow, but steady. Some Madagascar missionaries and/or explorers have used pirogues, hovercraft, or other means to find their way to out-of-the-way places along bodies of water. Obviously, we are not opposed to using our feet, but Madagascar is a big island.

Please Pray

Please pray for the lost and needy souls in Madagascar. Many have no access to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The ultimate objective of my survey trip is to prepare for long-term ministry among the unreached. Pray for our safety, success, and facility as we travel throughout the island.