Costal road from Toliara to Morondava

Hi,

They say it is a very bad road and it takes 2 full days. I would not go there without a driver.
When do you go? Maybe we can share part of the trip (back from toliar to tana) with the four of us (plus driver?).
We will be going up from Toliar to Tana around Nov 11 or 12.

drienke

Hi there,
We took it for 05 days with the driver, i think it will not be easy to for you to drive by yourself because there are no road so the driver who know where is the way . It's really adventure !
Good luck!
Laura

Hi,

The trail is very beautiful and rewarding, but long stretches are also very difficult. You will need a high-clearance 4x4, as in places you will need to pass through quite deep water and also deep sand. Your vehicle should have good tyres all round, otherwise you will not have enough traction in the deep sand, and you should also have at least two spares and a heavy duty jack capable of lifting the vehicle high enough to place branches etc. under the wheels should it dig itself into the sand.

Getting lost is unlikely to be a problem – you can follow the tyre tracks of preceding vehicles, and even if there are two or more variants of the trail to choose from, as long as you keep the coastline on your left (northbound) or right (southbound), you’ll end up where you want to go.

It is not possible to get from Toliara to Morondava in two days by this route (nor, for that matter, by the alternative inland route).

My suggestion would be

Day 1: Toliara to Andavadoaka or Morombe

Day 2: Andavadoaka or Morombe to Manja

Day 3: Manja to Belo sur Mer

Day 4: Belo sur Mer to Morondava

There are pleasant places to stay in all of these villages and towns.

Worthwhile breaks in your journey would be Salary, which is not too far from Toliara, and (definitely) at least a day at Belo sur Mer to visit Kirindy Mitea National Park (which is not to be confused with Kirindy Forest reserve north of Morondava). The park has spectacular sand dunes, a lake with rare water birds including flamingos, and mangrove lagoons with literally hundreds of flying foxes.

The most difficult part of the route is south of Andavadoaka where it is necessary to drive through many uninterrupted kilometres of deep sand. If you lose traction or stop on this stretch, you’ll have severe difficulty getting moving again. If you’re a 4x4 driver with experience of driving in deep sand, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t drive yourself. If you take a driver, try and make sure that he knows how to handle very long stretches of deep sand.

Parts of the route, by the way, become impassable during the wet season, starting about now - which may mean that #2 will have to go inland. Get the latest local information before deciding, drienke.

Good luck!