If you're taking a laptop or notepad (as in "iPad"), I'd use Skype.
Lonely Planet says "there is no shortage of internet cafes in
Madagascar." I suspect you can locate a bunch in Uganda as well. Your
hotels may very well have internet as well. You may be able to use
the video chat feature, too, though it will depend on bandwidth.

I use Skype frequently when abroad. At home, I use it to keep my
mobile minutes down when calling other phones--costs me about 2 cents
per minute to call a regular phone using my computer and Skype. The
rate will be higher from Africa to the U.S., but may be much more
economical than using a cell phone.

Marc Hoffman
Kirkland, WA
tweeters "at" dartfrogmedia "dot" com

At 09:25 PM 10/18/2012, barry wrote:
>Tweeters and Chatters,
>Any ideas about the best way to call home from either Madagascar or
>Uganda? Do you take a cell phone and, I'm going to show my ignorance
>here, load up your phone to get it done? Or do you buy a cheap phone in
>the foreign country put in a SimCard and use a phone card? Other options
>that some of you have used?
>Thanks for any and all help. All the best
>--
> barry levine
> Seattle
> levineb at fastmail.fm
>
>--