Travel Guide Mananjary

Planted with coconut palms and bougainvilleas, Mananjary has that subtle "cachet" of the ports at the end of the world, with its decrepit facades, its nonchalant atmosphere... A certain air of abandonment that does not leave everyone indifferent. Its cargo ships and oil tankers (Mananjary is a regional fuel depot) remain in deep water while barges shuttle between the port and the city. The city, formerly called Masindrano ("holy water") is organized around a central street, on the seafront, lined with buildings washed out by the rains and numerous businesses run by Chinese and Indo-Pakistanis. It is separated in two by the Pangalanes canal, and inhabited by the Antembahoaka ethnic group. 3 religious buildings compete here for influence: the Protestant temple, the mosque and the Catholic church. Here and there, old buildings of colonial style show their beautiful washed ochre colors.The main means of transportation are the rickshaws and cycle rickshaws, lacquered in red and black, green and blue, and decorated with inscriptions such as "Follow me" "It's beautiful at night" ... The outlying areas are those of traditional houses, built of ravinala wood. The market, where you can buy soubiques, seasonal fruits and vanilla, is very colorful. On weekends, the city seems to sleep, the streets are deserted, the stores and restaurants closed. The time passes, indolent: it is certainly not a place for the nervous.One can go on an excursion on the Pangalanes canal: it is the main tourist interest of the locality.