In 1983 Dervla Murphy and her 14-year-old daughter landed at Antananarivo, Madagascar's island, and there began another of their journeys. Travelling over the Ankaratra Mountains of Imerina, and by bush-taxi and truck through the Spiny desert, they finished their journey with a final trek through the rain forest of the Betsimisaraka tribe to an unwelcome surprise on the east coast, once the world headquarters of English pirates. This is an account of this journey. The author has also written The Waiting Land, On A Shoestring to Coorg and Cameroon with Egbert.