Sambava to Diego Suarez

Hi,

Has anyone gone overland from Sambava (on the N. E. Coast) to Diego Suarez? I am presuming it's taxi-brousse, any idea how long it takes and, more importantly, if it's do-able? (in Oct, so no rain) Merci!

Hi,

Has anyone gone overland from Sambava (on the N. E. Coast) to Diego Suarez? I am presuming it's taxi-brousse, any idea how long it takes and, more importantly, if it's do-able? (in Oct, so no rain) Merci!

HI Mantaray, I did this route in May. It's a two-day trip, but will probably take you at least 3 days by taxi brouse. It takes about 2-3hrs from Sambava to Vohemar (good tarmac), about 10hrs driving (but probably many stops, on a truly terrible "road") from Vohemar to Ambilobe, and about 4hrs from there to Diego Suarez (on decent tarmac). It was dry the whole time when I did it, but the Vohemar to Ambilobe section is incredibly rutted and slow going and there's not much traffic on it going the whole way. As I wanted to stop at Daraina to see the Tattersall's sifakas, I rented a 4x4 to do the route, and agreed the driver could pick up passengers and I would get a good couple of hours to visit the lemurs. It worked out fine, and while this trans-island section cost me 510,000ar (about $150?) I thought it was worth it for the Tattersall's sifakas (amazing, sweet creatures that came down from their trees seemingly to meet me) hanging on in their weird woodland, invaded by gold panners, and the fact that I had a comfortable seat in the front and was guaranteed to get to Ambilobe the same day.

Thanks Richard