The South - Madagascar - page 384

BEHELOKA AND AMBOLA
These two fishing villages offer the nearest accommodation to Tsimanampetsotsa National
Park. Beheloka is 20km north of the lake and Ambola is 6km to its west. The park office
is at Efoetse, just 2km from Ambola. Once-weekly taxi-brousses run between Toliara and
Beheloka. Compagnie du Sud make the transfer by boat, and Vedettes d'Anakao do boat
connections from Toliara to Ambola (see Click Here ).
The villages also act as stop-offs for rugged travellers heading south along the almost
impassable road to Itampolo. The beaches are good, with clear water. Note that, besides
bottled water, only brackish water is available in Beheloka, so coffee and tea taste salty.
WHERE TO STAY
Domaine d'Ambola (11 rooms) Ambola; 94 930 44; m 032 45 326 21; e
[e-mail] ; www.ambola-madagascar.com . Seafront location on
1km private beach; the closest hotel to the lake. Spacious, bright rooms of surprisingly
good quality given the hotel's remoteness. The rooms are en suite, mostly with sea views.
€€€
Vahombe (3 bungalows) Ambola. Simple dbl rooms on beautiful beach. €€€
Canne à Sucre (4 rooms & 4 bungalows) Beheloka; 94 437 21; m 032 04 624 09.
Cheap rooms & more expensive bungalows. Good food. €€€
Finaritra (6rooms)Beheloka.Verybasicbutcheapaccommodationonthebeachfront.
€
LAKE TSIMANAMPETSOTSA NATIONAL PARK
The large, shallow soda lake - 15km long by 2km at its widest point - is the focus for
this terrific national park of 43,200ha. The large limestone plateau here has some of the
most striking spiny forest vegetation in Madagascar, with countless locally endemic spe-
cies. There are two quite extraordinary baobabs, pachypodiums, and also a magnificent
banyan tree with its aerial roots hugging the side of a cliff face to find purchase in the soil
some 20m below.
The park sits on a large underground aquifer that runs north, evidenced by the numerous
sinkholes and caves. The lake is renowned forits waterfowl, notably flamingoes, and other