Manakara > Tana options

Trying to plan a trip and struggling with this bit of the journey!

I'm in Tana from either Sunday or Monday (currently flight is booked for Sunday but may change due to plans for the first bit of the trip) and have to be back by Friday evening.

I want to go on the train, so from Tana is it a day's journey on taxi brousse to Fianar? Then a day to Manakara. Then, I'm stuck. What are the options for getting back to Tana from Manakara? Do you have to go back to Fianar or is there a taxi brousse and how long would it take? I guess there's always the option of hiring a car, but how long is the journey - just one day?

If it's possible to do Manakara - Tana in one day, then we could arrive in Fianar on Wednesday, go on the train on Thursday and get back to Tana Friday (flight is 1am Saturday so have to be at the airport late Friday night).

Is there somewhere (i.e. national park) between Tana and Fianar that's good for a couple of days - so we could stay in Tana Sunday/Monday night, go to [someplace] Monday/Tuesday morning and go to Fianar Wednesday?

I don't have any specific things that I want to see as it's all being covered in the first part of the trip, so just somewhere pretty and interesting is good!

Many thanks.

That's a lot of road time for only five days.

There's no direct taxi-brousse from Manakara to Tana, don't believe the guys at the station in Fianar if they tell you there is! They said they would pick me up en route (Ranomafana) and we'd bypass Fianar to go straight to Tana, but they lied and we waited for hours at Fianar... There MIGHT be other companies from Manakara that do it, but you don't have a lot of time to play with, and you're talking about covering a lot of distance...

I suggest just going to Ranomafana, a national park two hours' out of Fianar. Much less stressful to spend a few days, and you can be assured to get back to Tana in the evening on Friday (IF you leave Fianar on the earliest taxi brousse, if you have a flight Friday evening, I recommend leaving Fianar on Thursday, just in case...)

But good luck with whatever you decide

Thanks for the advice!

I had so many plans, wanted to go to Morondava initially but flights from Fort Dauphin to there would not work given that you have to change in Tana and Air Mad never stick to their schedule.

Oh well. It's going to be awesome anyway.

Thanks!