We Gastronomads live abroad for the food -- and everything that goes with it (the people, culture, the natural environment and human experiences of living).
We go for the things we find. And we pay for it all by working using the tools we bring -- laptops, phones and all the rest.
But there's one important tool we can't bring: Local internet connectivity.
It's easy to find fast (or fast-enough) internet access in rich countries, where the cost of living is very high. But in developing nations, which tend to be more interesting and exotic, fast internet is much harder to come by.
That's why it may surprise you to know that Madagascar has the fastest broadband internet speed in Africa -- comparable to the United States.
In fact, Madagascar's 24.9 megabits per second average clocked speed is more than twice the global average. It's faster than the internet in Canada, France, and the UK!
This may seem like a small consideration, but I can tell you it's not. Internet speed is the crucial and often missing factor while living and working abroad.
Sadly, just 2.1% of the Madagascar population has access to this fast internet. It's a very poor country and has gotten poorer since independence from France in 1960. The country does have crime, but the crime rate is pretty low by African standards.
The cost of living is very low. So it's a great place to save money for your growing business or for that next sojourn in Switzerland.
Living in Madagascar as a temporary local can help the poverty in some small way because you're earning money from the United States and spend it in Madagascar.
Beyond the well-known charms of Madagascar's flora and fauna, the country also has an amazing food culture.