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Hilary Bradt
Publisher, travel writer, lecturer and sculptor
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Hilary Bradt 
Akiba Lodge Marofandilia is the newly renovated Fanamby site formerly known as Camp Amoureux, located between the Avenue of Baobabs and Kirindy. It has 14 bungalows set in the forest.
There is a sacred fig tree right outside the BFV bank in the middle of Morondava.
Hotel L’Oasis (Chez Jean Le Rasta) in Morondava is still operating. There is a restaurant, bar, and 4×4 hire. Contact tel 032 04 931 60.
There is now a Madagascar National Parks office on the Nosy Kely peninsula in Morondava.
In 2013, a multinational team of scientists discovered prehistoric rock art drawings in Andriamamelo Cave in western Madagascar. After years of detailed analysis and research, their findings have recently been published. They are the first known truly pictorial cave paintings ever found on the island (hitherto Malagasy rock art was limited to just a few sites with basic symbols). The site is near the village of Anahidrano on the northwest edge of the Beanka protected area.
The paintings are interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, there are 16 depictions of animals, which are crudely drawn but thought to include at least three extinct species – a giant sloth lemur, elephant birds and a giant tortoise. Secondly, Egyptian connections are hinted at in eight major images, including a Horus-like falcon, the bird-headed god Thoth, the ostrich goddess Ma’at, and two human-animal figures which were similar to Anubis (an ancient Egyptian god usually depicted as a man with a canine head). Thirdly – and perhaps most excitingly of all – there are 16 examples of a strange M-shaped symbol resembling the letter hawt in the ancient Ethiopian Amharic alphabet. This M symbol is found in no other cave or rock art throughout the Indo-Pacific region except in rock art from Borneo that is thought to be about 2,000 years old. This is intriguing given that the origins of the present day Malagasy population can be traced to that region and approximately that time through other evidence, including linguistic and genetic.
Rock art is notoriously difficult to date directly, but experts have estimated the Andriamamelo Cave art to be roughly 2,000 years old. They note that modern motifs are entirely absent (no modern alphabets, for instance, and no zebu cattle which have been ubiquitous in Madagascar for around a millennium) nor any Christian, Muslim or Hindu symbolism. These points, along with the presence of extinct animals, weigh heavily against the notion of a recent origin for the art.
The only writing (besides the M-shaped symbols) is a line of faint script, inferred to be sorabe (archaic Malagasy writing in Arabic script), the only legible part of which appears to say ‘D-A-NT-IA-R-K’. That could be a reference to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the researchers speculate. This king of the west Asian Seleucid Empire in the Ptolemaic period built a large navy, conquered much of Egypt in 170 BCE, and sent exploring and trading expeditions down the Red Sea and the east African coast. Ivory traders in that period spread Roman goods as far south as ports in Tanzania south of Zanzibar.
The Zazamalala forest and botanical garden is located on the RN35, some 50 minutes’ drive from Morondava. It is home to almost a dozen species of lemur, including Verreaux’s sifakas, greater bamboo lemurs and ring-tailed lemurs, as well as 100 different tree species. Also at the site is a breeding center for critically endangered turtles and tortoises.
A Dutch initiative set up in 2000, Zazamalala is primarily a reforestation project and there are workshops, where participants learn all about reforestation. The project supports local education, distributes solar cookers, and provides jobs so that people can benefit economically from the forest in a sustainable way. Guided tours are possible, including after sunset to spot nocturnal animals. Food and lodging are available too, and one can participate in a Sakalava culture and lifestyle workshop.
Entrance 50,000Ar foreign Adults, 10,000Ar Malagasy adults, free for under 18s.
Contact +31 636 258 593 (Netherlands), 034 27 813 02 (Florent), 038 32 175 03 (Simon), 034 27 224 99 (Viviane), 033 87 173 23 (Tahiri); email zazamalala@gmail.com or florentzazamalala@gmail.com; web http://www.zazamalala.org.
This year, Lodge de la Saline changed its name to Tsangajoly Lodge. Located in the west near to Belo-sur-Tsiribihina, it is on a wetland site that was used for farming shrimps between 1995 and 2012, then for salt pans since 2015 until now. In 2017, they constructed the hotel, but have recently sold that to another group – hence the name change.
As of March 2023, there is a high-standard hotel in Miandrivazo, called Soa Lia Hotel. The rooms are clean, spacious and well appointed with AC and attractive décor. It has a swimming pool and a restaurant (open daily 06.00–21.00) with an open rooftop dining area. Double rooms are priced from 120,000Ar to 180,000Ar per night (breakfast included), with family rooms (220,000Ar) and suites (250,000Ar) also available. Contact: mob 038 34 121 07; email soaliahotel@gmail.com; FB SOA LIA Hôtel Miandrivazo.
Gone are the days that you could hope to have the Baobab Avenue to yourself at sunset. Now, at almost any time of year, a large crowd of both Malagasy and foreign tourists descends to watch the spectacle. This can make it challenging to get good photos. But here’s a top tip: the moment the sun disappears over the horizon, the crowd will rush for their cars to head back to their hotels for dinner. If you have time and are feeling lucky, hang around a while. The most strikingly colourful skies and best backdrops for the silhouetted avenue often come around 15 to 25 minutes after the sun has set.
There are fears the world’s smallest primate, Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur, might have gone extinct. The species is known only from a small area of The Menabe Antimena Protected Area, which in the last seven years alone has lost 30% of its forests to slash-and-burn clearance.
The German Primate Centre (DPZ) has carried out long-term monitoring of Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur (Microcebus berthae), and said in a new report published in the journal Conservation Science & Practice that their monthly population monitoring failed to record any sightings or trappings of M. berthae in an 80-hectare study area since 2018, even though they used to be common there. The researchers said: “Although it is impossible to prove that M. berthae has actually gone extinct while there is still forest left, these data are alarming and suggest that it may now be the first lemur species to have gone extinct in the 21st century.”
Co-author Matthias Markolf explained: “We might be at – or come soon to – a point where the trend of population decline in this and other species is not reversible anymore. If the habitat does not remain suitable, we cannot do anything anymore to prevent those species from extinction in the wild. The APMA is home to two other critically endangered species: the Malagasy giant jumping rat and the flat-tailed tortoise. But Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur is the most famous of the three. Markolf and his co-authors don’t discount other factors for its apparent disappearance, including changes to the climate and local population fluctuations that have affected other species of lemur. But their absence from a place in which they were previously commonly seen is worrying, and not just to the team monitoring them. “Even when the cutting and fires do not actually touch the interior forest, the overall reduction in habitat can lead to population collapse,” says Steig Johnson, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Calgary.
At the time of our arrival in Bekopaka in late July, there were no chambres open for those on a backpacker budget. A camp site was opened up for us – Vue Panamorique – down a track from the main street. Foam mattresses were provided for our tent!! Amazing after 4 nights on the ground/sand. I expect other accommodation will become available as the tourist industry re-opens but this campsite was a delight at the time. Someone spotted our laundry on the guy ropes; a washing line – plus pegs – duly appeared. A very worthwhile 15 000Ar/night for the 3 of us.
Independent travellers hoping to visit the forestry element of Kirindy Mite Parc Nationale from Belo sur Mer might find it best to arrange the necessary 4×4 transport while in Morondava. Although we were assured of 4×4 transport by the Parc Nationale bureau in Belo, it sadly did not appear on the morning as the only available (privately owned) vehicle had broken down. The driver was clearly as disappointed as we were…our tickets were refunded as there seemed no prospect of its repair.
The Tsingy de Bemaraha Parc Nationale was not usually taking cash payments at the time of our visit in late July. The expectation was phone payment – Orange was one option as I recall. We paid 10% commission on our cash to the Responsable who, as I understand it, went to an Envola point and made an electronic payment on our behalf later that day.
We were able to descend the Manambolo river from Ankavandra – truly wonderful. In Ankavandra, M Vid was our contact piroguier. It would probably have been possible to reach Ankavandra on a weekly taxi brousse (Sunday?) from Tsiromandidy but we took one to Belobaka and walked across the hills for 3 days instead, with wonderful porters/guides; M Alphonse, contactable via the tourist office in Tsiromandidy (I think – although he actually found us), helped make this possible.
Opened at the start of 2020 on the Nosy Kely peninsula of Morondava, Coin des Pêcheurs is a new hotel and restaurant in a seafront spot. Contact mob 032 66 184 27; Facebook BRCDP.
In October 2020, a new hotel in the Kimony Lodge & Resorts group opened under the name Eden de la Tsiribihina at Masiakampy some 30km from Miandrivazo. Spacious but rather hot rooms with terrace, en-suite shower, safe & fan. Double rooms priced at 260,000Ar. No Wi-Fi. Contact mob 034 61 205 90, 032 03 210 56, 034 49 205 62, 032 03 210 51; email info@madagascar-omee-voyage.com, info@edendelatsiribihina.com; Facebook edendelatsiribihina; web https://www.edendelatsiribihina.com/ .
A baobab christened Tsitakakoike and considered to be the largest in Madagascar at 27.30m circumference lost several branches and began to collapse in early 2018. Faced with the demise of this giant, which was considered sacred to the people of nearby Andombiry village, locals set out to measure other trees in the area. In May of that year, they came upon an even more gargantuan specimen with a girth of 28.82m. It has been named Tsitakakantsa in homage to Tsitakakoike – which roughly translates as ‘a song sung on one side cannot even be heard on the other’!
For photos of Tsitakakoike see thisiscolossal.com/2022/02/beth-moon-baobab