A Ditch with Rocks in It (Sainte Marie to Mananara)

October 24, 2010


It is October 24 and I am finally in Mananara.  I am waiting for water to return in adequate quantity for a shower at Chez Rogers.  On the way here, there never seems to be shortage of water coming from the sky but now that I want to clean off the grime, the tap is stingy.

When I left Ile Sainte Marie, the plan seems straight forward: Catch some sort of taxi-brousse North from Soanierana-Ivongo and proceed to Mananara.  At the ferry crossing at Ivongo, things did not go so well even with assistance of a local.  A known operator who does the run from Tomatave insisted that it was not possible to join from Ivongo.  It looked like a might be able to get a ride to Antanambe but I was aprehensive about getting stuck without further transport in the middle of the bad road zone.  About 9:30am, I gave up and took a taxi-brousse back to Tomatave.  My theory was that anyone going all to way to Mananara would have crossed by that time and I just might be able to catch today's edition before they left town.

In Tomotave, I learned that today was not possible but tomorrow as.  They wanted 70,000 Ariary (about $35) to sit the back of a pickup.  Sitting in the cab would cost 350,000 Ariary, almost as much as a flight to Maroantsetra and it didn't matter anyway because all those seats were booked for the next week.  Another operator seemed to have something more reasonable but not for another two days and for some reason (language, likely knowledge and authority issues) they did not want to book it for me yet.

I came back the next day to see the second operator and was shuffled back to the first place.

It was no longer possible even to get a seat in back.  The one person who spoke reasonable English booked me a 5:00am taxi-brousse to Ivongo and advised me that I could get a taxi-brousse from Ivongo to Manompana and from there to Mananara.

Beach section of RN5 just North of Manompana

Some of that was true.  For 15,000 Ariary, I managed to ride in the cab from Ivongo to Manompana.   It was already almost 5:00pm when I arrived so I had little choice but to spend the night.  The little sea side bungalow was cheap and pleasant with the only significant issue being the lack of running water.   The beach is at Manompana is quite nice and I think snorkeling is an option.

However,  I didn't brave unfamiliar transport through a no-ATM/no-Internet zone to relax at a random beach.  I needed to move on.

Image of really bad road and tilting pickup

The next morning, I looked for a taxi-brousse stand.  There wasn't one.  Plan B:  I checked out of my bungalow and waited at Epi Bar #2 for passing vehicles.  Full, full, full.  About 2:00pm, I gave up and checked back into my bungalow.  New Plan:  Rest, recover, stock up and, if necessary, walk to Antanambe from early morning.

I left at 7:40am.  About an hour later and four or five kilometers down the sand trail, I found a ride.  For 50,000 Ariary, I would get all the way to Mananara.  It was still in the back of a covered pickup but not one stuffed with people.  There was just three of us back there.  The rest was freight.  Sacks of rice did not make for a comfy seating but at least I could see out the back.

Then I discovered that the well worn sand track was the good road.  Most of RN5 into Mananara is little more than a ditch with rocks in it.  I have seen similar but only in parks or leading off to other non-critical destinations.  RN5 is the lifeline for much of the Northeast.  It took eleven hours to cover the 75K to Mananara.  Some of the scenery was quite beautiful, though little appeared to be original forest.  I have yet to see significant uncut forest outside of a park.

We arrived in Mananara nearly two hours past sunset.  That is not really advisable but we survived.  I think my legs have recovered but my back is still reminding me that rice is not a good stuffing material for seat cushions.  I just need to get that shower and book an outing to see the Aye Aye's.  These weird nocturnal lemurs are the reason I am in this town.