Tolagnaro Fort-Dauphin, Madagascar
Madagascar
13
Cruises availables
At departure or passage at this port
Azamara Club Cruises (11 Cruises)
Azamara Onward
11 Cruises
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on the size of the ship: alongside at Ehoala port, a few kilometres from the town, or by tender in the bay. Either way the setting grips you at once: steep relief, dense vegetation and that deep-south light that carves out every ridge.
Because the road to Tolagnaro still means long hours of rough track. This tip of southeastern Madagascar was cut off from the rest of the country for a long time, beaten by the trade winds. Few calls give such a strong sense of the end of the world.
Nahampoana reserve, about seven kilometres from the centre, fits into a half day and is for most passengers the high point of the call. The rest of the time goes to the town and its market. The Lokaro peninsula, by contrast, needs a full excursion by track or by boat.
It is a tropical garden that concentrates in one place what is most appealing about the region. Ring-tailed lemurs, recognizable by their striped tails, move about in noisy bands; sifakas leap from trunk to trunk; chameleons and tortoises complete the picture at ground level. The paths wind among giant bamboo, palms and carnivorous plants.
Because in the mid-17th century France established one of its very first colonies here, long before the great settlements of the Indian Ocean. The remains of the fort and a small museum recall that short-lived venture, made of fevers, alliances and hurried departures. The visit is modest, but it gives the walk an unexpected depth.
In the sheltered coves only. The water stays cool and the swell is serious in places: elsewhere you walk rather than swim. The beaches near town are within walking distance, and some locals head down with a surfboard under one arm.
It is a headland northeast of town spreading out coves, lagoons and grassy hills, reached by excursion overland or by boat. It is the finest coastal landscape in the region, and it deserves a full day rather than half an hour.
The central market, overflowing with fruit, basketwork and lambas, the colourful cloths worn as shawls or wraps. The streets rise and fall with the terrain, offering here a glimpse of the sea, there a street scene around a zebu cart. No landscaped waterfront and no row of shops: life is simple and the welcome direct.
The Malagasy ariary, in small denominations, and Malagasy. French is spoken in shops and at the reserves, a legacy of the long French presence. Bring cash: credit cards are essentially useless outside the few hotels.
April to November, the dry season, when the tracks to Lokaro and Nahampoana are passable. From December to March, rain and cyclones complicate any outing. The trade winds, for their part, blow on this headland nearly year round.
