Morondava

Morondava sits on a low sand spit between the Mozambique Channel and a tidal creek, a Sakalava town of wooden houses, pirogues and a long grey-sand beach with fishing boats on it. It is a pleasant enough place to spend a day but almost everyone is here for what lies around it: the baobab avenue twenty kilometres north, the Kirindy forest beyond that, and the Tsiribihina river descent starting inland. Hotels line the beach at Nosy Kely, the spit south of the centre, where sunsets over the channel are the evening event. Erosion is a visible problem: the sea has taken streets of the old town within living memory and continues to. The market and the harbour give the town its working character.

What you actually see

• The beach spit - grey sand, pirogues and sunset over the channel.
• The fishing harbour - boats landing the day's catch.
• Sakalava town life - market streets and wooden houses.
• Coastal erosion - the sea visibly taking the shoreline.

When to go

April to November for dry roads and the whole Menabe circuit. December to March brings rain, cyclone risk and closed tracks north to the baobabs and Kirindy.

Honest expectations

The town itself has few sights and the beach is grey and not the best in Madagascar. Swimming is possible but the sea is murky and there are currents. It is a base rather than a destination, and the flights in are limited and often changed.

Nearby

The Avenue of the Baobabs and Kirindy are north; Belo sur Mer lies south.