Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A side trip to
Bezaha
is worthwhile if you have time: wonderful scenery, fascinating
floraandinterestingMahafalytombs.Thevillagelies17kmeastoftheroadandtheturning
is 46km before Betioky.
BETIOKY TO AMPANIHY
Beyond Betioky the bad road gets considerably worse.
Some 20km to the south is the small village of
Ambatry
. Next comes
Ejeda,
about 2½
hours from Betioky on a reasonable dirt road. Ejeda to
Ampanihy
takes about five hours
by truck on a very bad, rocky road. All along this route you will see Mahafaly tombs.
Ampanihy means 'the place of bats' but it is now the place of the goats. Mohair carpet
weaving has long been a local industry; carpets can even be purchased from
The Mohair
Man
showroom in Toliara (see
Click Here
).
Hôtel Angora
provides comfortable accom-
modation, and camping is allowed in the garden.
AMPANIHYTOAMBOVOMBE
AfterAmpanihyyouenterAntandroycountryandwill
understand why their name means 'people of the thorns'. The road deteriorates (if you
thought that possible) as you make your way to
Tranoroa
(which means 'two houses') in
about five hours. This is one of the main weaving towns in the south. Another five hours
and you approach
Beloha
on an improving road (much favoured by tortoises, which thrive
in the area since it is
fady
to eat them) and with tombs all around.
If you stop in Beloha, visit the Catholic church with its beautiful stained glass made by
a local craftsman. This is also the departure point for the coastal village of Lavanono (see
below).
Between Beloha and
Tsiombe
is the most interesting stretch of the entire journey. There
are baobabs, tortoises and tombs about 33km before Tsiombe. Two roads lead from this
village to
FauxCap
and
CapSainteMarie
. You might want to stop overnight in Tsiombe
where there are reasonable hotels:
Paradis du Sud
(
92 727 28
) and
La Sirène
.
JustbeyondTsiombeareyetmoreinterestingtombs.Thenextplaceyoucometois
Am-
bondro,
the main centre for weaving in the region. Though much of the cloth is now be-
ing made in surrounding villages and brought into the town to sell, you can still purchase
wovenclothdirectfromthemakers.ThereisanimpressivezebumarketheldonSaturdays.
From there it is 30km to
Ambovombe
.
AMBOVOMBE TO AMBOASARY AND TAOLAGNARO
Meaning 'place of many
wells', Ambovombe is a bustling town (now with a BOA bank) in the heart of Androy
country. It holds a colourful Monday market and hosts the annual Androy music festival,
which showcases a wonderful mix of local and regional musicians. It is a free, three-day
event held around the end of October.
Most travellers prefer to press on to Taolagnaro but there are a few hotel options on the
main street if you decide to stay the night.
