.....I wanted to exchange 500 €...
Hi there! [:)] Already, 500 € will leave you with a stack about 13 to 14 mm thick (I just measured—I still have 724,000 Ar in 20,000 Ar bills from my last trip), which you’ll have to hide, whereas an ATM will give you 800,000 Ar with the option to make several consecutive withdrawals. Apart from arriving with cash like one of my buddies who does a bit of under-the-table work paid in cash and avoids depositing it, I really don’t get why people still exchange money in Madagascar in 2025. Back in 2008/2009 (when I first visited for tourism), the lack of ATMs outside major cities forced you to exchange, but since 2012 and 2013 when I started going to Nosy Be (for fishing), I’ve either exchanged at a bank in Hell-Ville or, as a last resort, withdrawn from the ATM in Ambatoloaka that had just been installed. In Antalaha, where I’ve spent 2 months a year since 2014, during the "glorious era" of rosewood trafficking—which generated massive fraudulent sums—the bosses would exchange their ariary at 20 or 25% above the official rate for 100 € and 200 € bills. That was obviously appealing, especially since the exchange usually happened with well-established merchants (often Karana and Chinese), and since the ariary isn’t accepted for purchases outside Madagascar, these bosses could launder their earnings. Plus, it was easier to leave the country with 10,000 € in fifty 200 € bills than the equivalent in ariary—about 3,600 10,000 Ar bills—since 20,000 Ar notes didn’t exist yet. Often, the bosses were paid in dollars by Chinese traffickers who picked up the rosewood logs from boats anchored offshore. [;)]
