Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
In January/February the entire route is impassable. At the same time, much of
the trip is adjacent to, and sometimes even on, an endless stretch of paradisiacal
coastline, with bright white sand and overhanging palms.
Best of all are the numerous river crossings, some with dilapidated bridges
that require close inspection - walk across these
before
the car - and others with
ferries both real or home-made, where you get out and everyone pulls a rope to
get across. At one end or the other you'll find a rickety village where you can
pick up dried fish, bread, and soda. With luck, the entire adventure takes two
days, with an overnight in Mananara, leaving time to do a night walk on Aye-
Aye Island.
As you can imagine, the drivers who do this 240km journey day in and day
out are some of the most talented 4WD captains anywhere. Our choice is
Toni
(
033 06 366 48) who should really be driving professional rallies. Otherwise,
search out a
Kofifen
( 033 11 640 95) kiosk or 4WD at any taxi-brousse sta-
tion from Tamatave to Maroantsetra, or call them there. The published rate for
this stretch is Ar1.45 million, including fuel, but some hard bargaining can cut
this in half. The price can be further defrayed by taking on extra passengers. By
the time we reached the end, we were running an impromptu taxi-brousse with
10 people on board.
Manompana
This small coastal village 38km north of Soanierana-Ivongo is where to head if you want to
ditch beach tourism in favour of rural isolation. Nearby attractions include the scenic
Point
Tintingue
, the protected
Ambodiriana forest
(
www.adefa-madagascar.org
)
and the even
smaller fishing village of
Antanambe
.
A French charity,
Marmaille a la Case
(
http://marmaillealacase.free.fr
)
, has also set up
an education and cultural centre here, staffed partly by volunteers.
Au Bon Ancrage/Chez
Wen Ki
( 53 957 72, 033 19 746 41; d bungalow Ar15,000) offers basic bungalows on
the beach, with bucket showers, and a convivial restaurant with fresh seafood.
