3 / 5 - One review
How to get there
Eighty-one miles by boat from Mananjary
When to go
From May to November
Canal des Pangalanes (Madagascar)
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Practical information on Canal des Pangalanes
Reviews of Canal des Pangalanes
Built at the beginning of the 20th century, the Canal des Pangalanes was developed by merging hundreds of lakes and lagoons running along Madagascar's eastern coast. Stretching over more than 370 miles between Tamatave and Mananjary In the south, it boasts about 250 navigable miles.
My suggestion:
You must stop to visit one of the last steam-operated sugar refineries and have a taste of old rum, and/or a niaouli essential oil factory.
My review
The Canal des Pangalanes is an important route for the transport of merchandise as well as supplies for the villagers living in cob houses on stilts that populate its banks.
To sail on it, you can try your luck getting on a scow at Tamatave. But, this is hardly a busy place and there are only two or three departures per week. Instead, I suggest you book a tour with one of the agencies that offer excursions to Mananjary.
This is the ideal opportunity to discover the aquatic flora and fauna, the lagoons of a thousand legends, mangroves... The never-ending ballet of canoes and bush-taxi boats are as many potential encounters.
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194 travelers' photos
