Post Detachment Majunga
I night stopped in Majunga 3 times when on 99 sqn Britannias. It was not a popular trip (Bahrain - Majunga - Bahrain with a refuelling stop in the Seychelles northbound), so none of the wheels/country club experienced the joys of the Hotel de France's bouillabaisse or a cultural evening at Madam's. Fast forward to 1977 - I was in Nairobi for a week shuttling between Lusaka/Ndola and Nairobi with an IAS DC8 when our last Britannia arrived from Gatwick on it's way to Majunga with an Agip miniature submarine and support team (Italian) on board to inspect an off-shore oil rig which had been damaged in a cyclone. The F/E had been Engineer Leader on 99 sqn while I was there, so had never been to Majunga. The Britannia left Nairobi the next morning, scheduled to return in 36 hours. They turned up four days later looking like a gang of unwashed pirates! Apparently there had been an attempted coup shortly before they landed in Majunga. They were arrested and thrown into the airport jail under suspicion of being part of the take-over, mainly due to the submarine and the divers! They were incarcerated for three nights, unable to wash or shave, with very little food or water and no beds. Our embassy in Antananarivo eventually managed to get them released on the condition they left the country immediately. When I met them in the bar of the Pan Afrique Hotel shortly after they checked in they were not a pretty sight, downing Tusker as if it was going out of fashion!