Madagascar day 11: from Ifaty Mangily to Manja.

At 7 o'clock our 4x4 adventure begins to Manja.

Market to Manja

We will miss the great cabin that we have enjoyed in the Danielle and Leontine. It didn't have running hot water but they gave us boilers, you learn to appreciate the little things..

At 8 o'clock we met Sanson, our 4x4 driver, who is accompanied by his assistant Pascal.

The first stretch is a paved road, but it lasts a few kilometers, of the 8 hours of travel, 7 are by road, crossing rivers in very original ferries. Our first stop is about two hours later, our driver wants to buy sacks of shallots (French onions) in a village, we get off and buy them too, our meal today will be bread with tomato and onion.

When we get to cross the first river we have to wait for a while because another 4x4 coming in the opposite direction has got stuck in the sand and we have to help it out. We continue our way through overflowing riverbeds, Pascal has to get off constantly to check the depth... it's quite an adventure.

Ferry

An hour before we reach Manja, the clutch of our car breaks. Sanson and Pascal are a handful and manage to fix it until they reach the village. We start up and smoke starts coming out of the car... What a scare, fortunately it's nothing serious and some locals who were passing by help us. Sanson is very skilled, drives with flip-flops and is able to put the pedal between his foot and the flip-flop to lift the clutch.

We arrive to Manja very tired and full of dust (we don't have air conditioning in the 4x4), we take the accommodation in the only hostel in the village and we stretch our legs a little.

Tomorrow will be a hard day too.

Travelling along the west coast of Madagascar is difficult in the rainy season so we recommend you only do this trip in the dry season. Hiring a good driver is essential and if he is a good mechanic, better.

Accommodation: Manja Hotel bungalow 3 pax 40.000 Ar. is very basic but there are no other options in this small town, at night there is karaoke in the bar.

Breakfast, dinner, two big waters and beer 3 pax 60.000 Ar.