Please use the comments facility below to submit updates to chapter 16 (The East Coast between Toamasina and Taolagnaro/Fort Dauphin) of Madagascar (13th ed).
To comment on other chapters visit the main Madagascar Updates page.
Hilary Bradt
Publisher, travel writer, lecturer and sculptor
Search
Hilary Bradt 
Opened last year, Mama Sista 317 is a restaurant opposite the Catholic church in Mananjary. The serve mainly Malagasy food, with the odd international dish such as fish & chips, carbonara and tacos. Mains priced around 15,000Ar. Contact: mob 038 47 178 10.
Palmarium, on the Pangalanes Canal, is a hotel and reserve. The reserve is open daily and costs 25,000Ar per person to visit. Many of the lemurs are translocated, and they are also fed so most of them are very habituated to people. Species include crowned lemur, red-bellied lemur, black lemur, common brown lemur, black-and-white ruffed lemur, indri; and at night, brown mouse lemur, greater dwarf lemur, and the eastern woolly lemur.
There’s also a small island with more than half a dozen aye-ayes, which are fed coconuts every night. Access to this island is only possible with a guide, by boat from the hotel. A one-hour nocturnal visit to see the aye-ayes costs 50,000Ar per person (based on a group of 3 or more – or a bit more for individuals/couples).
Palmarium hotel also opened the Palmarium Beach annexe a few years ago, which is a 20-minute boat ride from the main Palmarium (and also 20mins by boat from the aye-aye island). Palmarium Beach now has its own restaurant (with WiFi) and 9 spacious triple bungalows. The bungalows are set amongst the trees and look out over the water. Mozzie nets, en suite facilities with hot water, electricity (limited hours on generator). There is no mobile signal At Palmarium Beach.
The name of the Pangalanes Canal is a Frenchification of the Malagasy name Ampangalana.
Palmarium Reserve, where there are many free-ranging transplanted lemurs, currently has three groups of indri (9 individuals), many black-and-white ruffed lemurs, crowned lemurs, red-fronted lemurs, common brown lemurs, and one single black lemur. There are now also several hybrids between the various Eulemur species, including between the crowned and black lemurs. On a separate island some 20 minutes away by boat, they have nine aye-ayes. They are fed coconuts each night, and visitors can watch them devour those from a viewing area.
The rough dirt road from the RN2 just north of Brickaville to Manambato (access point for the Pangalanes Canal) is 7.2km long as currently takes around 40 minutes in dry weather and a decent 4×4.
Pangalanes Canal trip organiser and boat owner M Joseph offers 1–3-day trips from Mananjary to Mahanoro, Manakara or Nosy Varika by motor boat or motor pirogue. Web: https://pangalanesaventures.jimdofree.com/
Cyclone Batsirai, which hit Madagascar with great force last week, has caused devastation in Mananjary, Manakara and Nosy Varika especially. The vast majority of homes in the area have been significantly damaged or destroyed, as have most hotels and other buildings including the hospital. Significant damage is reported as far inland as Ranomafana. The death toll is still uncertain but is already known to be in triple figures.
Accurate information form the region continues to be scarce, some specific information about local businesses and organisations is beginning to emerge:
Le Jardin de la Mer, Mananjary — totally destroyed.
Vahiny Lodge, Mananjary — very seriously damaged; roofs blown off.
Trou du Commissaire, Manakara — roof of the restaurant torn off; several walls and windows destroyed; all toilets, shelters and wooden structures blown away.
Hôtel Masoandro, Manakara — destroyed.
Conservation Fusion KAFS Center, Kianjavato — significant structural damage; 94 of their 102 staff have lost their homes.
A report in March 2020 indicated that the rehabilitation of the Pangalanes Canal was 70% complete on the first stretch from Toamasina but would need to await a revised budget as to funding of the stretch from Mananjary to Manakara.