The Highlands South of Tana - Madagascar - page 321

Fianarantsoa-CôteEstRailway The163kmtripbetweenFianarandManakara(see Click
Here ) is justifiably popular. The train leaves for Manakara Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday at
07.00 and the journey takes eight to ten hours, returning on Wednesday/Friday/Sunday.
Tickets can be bought in advance (25,000Ar for first class, including seat reservation, or
13,000Ar for second class) from the ticket office in Fianar railway station ( 75 513 55;
e [e-mail] ; Mon 14.00-17.00, Tue-Fri 07.00-11.00 & 14.0-17.00 ).
If travelling second class, board just before departure to get a spot by the door. This is
nice and breezy, ensures you get a good view, and avoids the smell of the toilet. The train
stopsfrequently(thereare18stations enroute )allowingtimeforphotographyandforbuy-
ing fruit and snacks from vendors.
The line, which was constructed between 1926 and 1936, passes over 67 bridges,
through 48 tunnels (one is more than 1km long) and crosses the runway at Manakara air-
port! Many of the rails once formed part of a track in Alsace, but were seized from the
Germans after WWI, and were eventually shipped to Madagascar by the French.
The lives of more than 100,000 people along the line depend exclusively on the FCE to
bring supplies in and to send their produce to market. So it was a tragedy when, in 2000,
cyclones caused almost 300 landslides that buried the track - and took months to clear.
Locals came to understand that it was due to deforestation and poor farming methods that
the mudslides had been so severe, and so new agricultural practices were quickly adopted.
Now vetiver grass is planted between crops on slopes along the track to protect against
washouts. A nice booklet describing the history of the FCE is available from the ticket of-
fice.
RANOMAFANA
The name Ranomafana means 'hot water' and it was the waters, not the lemurs, that drew
visitors in the colonial days and financed the building of the once-elegant Hôtel Station
Thermale de Ranomafana.
These days the baths are often ignored by visitors anxious to visit Ranomafana National
Park, which was created in 1991. This hitherto unprotected fragment of mid-altitude rain-
forest first came to the world's attention with the discovery of the golden bamboo lemur in
1986 and is particularly rich in wildlife.
Ranomafana has experienced a welcome explosion of accommodation in recent years
(for nearly a decade after it opened there was just one, dire hotel) so now pleases almost
everyone. I have always loved it! First you have the marvellously scenic drive down, with
the dry highland vegetation giving way to greenery and flowers. Then there are the views