What can you do in THE PANGALANES CANAL ?

1- By Boat :
The main means of transport in the Pangalanes Canal is the boat. You can rent a little motorboat for just yourself ( from one person plus your local guide till more than 10 persons with your luggages ) such as at picture N° 1. You can do that for example if you sleep at a good or a fairly good hotel in the Pangalanes Canal and you do a trip-excursion of a half day with picnic lunch or of a full day along the Canal. You can do that too by common little motorboat-bus ( the people there call it 'Bateau-Brousse' or 'Lakana-Pasazy' from one big village to another fairly big village such as on the Rianila big river ( Brickaville ) if you want know more on the true life of Malagasy people ; but note that this is especially for adventurous tourists and for go-backpacking-tourists because you have to sleep at very basic huts for this kind of tourism. See picture N° 2 and picture N° 3. This type of tourism is very cheap ; this third one is very expensive : you can too rent a fairly luxurious motorboat for 2 days or for 3 days cruise-ship along the Pangalanes Canal. That means with one night or with two nights on the fairly luxurious little motorboat. We have a cook for that and we have 7 beds for you, with toilets and shower and hot water and a little terrace at the top of the boat. Thank you to contact me for ALL of these types of trip and thank you for your trust ;-)

PS : the pictures N° 1, N° 2, ..., till the picture N° 4 were taken by me ( Ravo.Madagascar ) during my trip there, in the Pangalanes Canal on February 2021 !

2- By 4WD vehicle-s :
The secund means of transport in the Pangalanes Canal is a good ar a fairly good 4WD vehicle. I advise you to have too a good or a fairly good mechanic-driver ; it's completely necessary to have it in a trip in Madagascar. It's better to have a fairly good 4WD vehicle with a good mechanic-driver than to have an excellent 4WD vehicle with airconditioning etc. with a normal driver. I have many friends who are good mechanic-drivers ! Thank you for your trust ;-) But just few locations can be joined with a 4WD vehicle, such as Farafangana little town, Manakara and Mananjary middle-size towns, Mahanoro and Vatomandry little towns, Toamasina big town and few villages such as Ambila Lemaitso ( which has wonderful beaches ), Manambato lake ( which has wonderful beach too ) and Andovoranto ( a very typical fishermen village ). After that, you have to use the boat system or the walking system to discover the surrounding areas.

Picture N° 1 To rent a little motorboat	Picture N° 2 By common motorboat-bus
Picture N° 3 all these pictures are Ravo.Madagascar pictures 2021 ©	Picture N° 4 Ravo at the marsh in Manerinerina area, 2021 ©

3- By Foot, that means walking & hiking :
There are three types of walk in the Pangalanes Canal : an easy walk where children and old persons can do ( such as in Akanin'ny Nofy area -The Nest of Dream- ; see below ). A normal walk of about two hours or more everywhere such as in Farafangana area, in Manakara area ( to see the fishermen ), in Mananjary area, in Akanin'Ny Nofy area ( such as in Andranokoditra typical village ). And finally a hard and a fairly hard hiking such as in Andovoranto area, exemple to Manerinerina peasants village through marshes ( picture N° 4 ), to see litchis plantations and oranges plantations -Voahangy-, to see local alcohool-drink little factory -Betsabetsa, from sugar cane fermentation-, and to see beautiful landscapes such as the little Andobo lake in Andavakimena forest ( Andavakimenarana forest ).

4- By Train :
For now, 2021, you have to take your vehicle, or your 4WD vehicle, or your bus first from Antananarivo ( Tana ) till Moramanga. That means it's better to sleep one night in Moramanga because of the morning departure of the train. Because the train starts in Moramanga middle-size town. The if you are an adventurous tourist, you can stop in Brickaville. But if you are a tourist like every tourist, you can stop in the beautiful village of Ambila Lemaitso or you can stop at the end of the train in Toamasina ( Tamatave ). Or you can stop in Andranokoditra too and to rent a little motorboat to the Palmarium lemurs Park in Akanin'Ny Nofy. For more information about the Train-Trip, thank you to read my article at my web page : « Trip to Madagascar, a very original travel ». Awaiting your visit for next time, with my pleasure to help you and to guide you, all the best to you. Ravo.Madagascar

Typical song of the Pangalanes
Original instrumental version
of Monseigneur Xavier Tabao Manjarimanana

Typical song of the Pangalanes
Modern instrumental version of Kolibera

Akanin' ny Nofy ( The Nest of Dreams ) - East of Madagascar

Andasibe-Mantadia National Park ( formerly known as Perinet )

Is actually made up of two parks : Reserve Speciale Analamazaotra and Mantadia National Park. Its proximity to the capital Tana ( Antananarivo ), 140 Km away , or 3 - 4 hours drive along Route Nationale 2, makes this one of the more popular and easily accessible parks in Madagascar.

The Fauna that you usually see at « Andasibe Perinet - Mantadia National Park » are :

Indri Indri ( the nowadays largest lemur in the world, an endangered lemur ), Black & white ruffed lemur, Eastern wolly lemur, Red-bellied lemur , Brown rufous lemur, Rufous mouse lemur & Diademed sifaka. Parsoni chameleon, Brevicornis chameleon, Chamaeleo gastrotenia, Brookesia, Nasutus chameleon, Zonosaurus sp. & Phelsuma sp. lizards for reptiles.

AND Madagascar paradise flycatcher, Blue coua, Madagascar turtle dove, Madagascar vasa parrots, Forest-rock trush, Madagascar brush-warbler, Madagascar partridge, Madagascar little grebe, Common moorhen, Madagascar coucal, Malagasy kingfisher, Blue vanga, Red-fronted coua, Madagascar bulbul, Madagascar mannikin, Madagascar red fody, Common myna, Tylas vanga, Madagascar magpie-robin, Stonechat, Cuckoo-roller & Madagascar cisticola for birds.

It's better to have one full day to visit these two Parks Andasibe Perinet and Mantadia,

A good trekking through Pandanus trees and tree-ferns. Where you can see too a large numbers of epiphytes and orchids. Andasibe Perinet - Mantadia National Parkis in a mid-altitude rainforest ( about 1000 m - 1200 m ), very easy to get to, just at 3 Kms to the North of the main N2 Antananarivo-Toamasina road ; about 140 Kms or four hours drive from Antananarivo.

The pleasant drive over highlands into the escarpment passes through many mud-hut villages and picturesque mountain landscapes. The climate is not too hot, and rain falls mainly at night so the mistshrouded rainforest creates an awesome spectacle in the early morning.

You can visit too the village of Andasibe which is a small medieval village. But it's a village which merits a couple of hours exploring and soaking up its inherent serenity. Andasibe and Mantadia area lies in a region of low hills covered by degraded forest and is punctuated by beautiful small lakes.

The most striking feature about the Indri Indri is its voice : while other lemurs grunt, the Indri Indri sings an eerie and very loud wailing sound that resembles a police siren, and it carries for up to 3 Km away. Family group often occupy ranges which are proclaimed by territorial calls, helping to maintain spacing between groups of Indri. The best time to spot the Indri Indri is either early morning or late afternoon.