The little fishing town of Morondava takes about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other. Set on the west coast of Madagascar, Morondava has been touted as a far more relaxing vacation spot than the capital city. It’s less crowded, cheaper, the beaches that extend far to the north side of the town, are particularly beautiful, and the town has some of the best restaurants in Madagascar.

It serves as the capital of one of the largest ethnic groups of the island, the Sakalava of Menabe and two religious groups of people manage to live fairly peacefully side-by-side – the rather rigid Lutheran Protestants, and a fairly tolerant group of Islam Sunnite. One of the highlights of a holiday in Morondava is the incredible avenue of baobabs (also known as baobab alley) – a series of giant baobab trees that have stood here over 800 years, a legacy of the dense tropical forests that used to thrive here. When they flower, these giants of Madagascar produce a beautiful pale, yellow flower that is quite breathtaking. Unfortunately large areas of this region are being cleared to make way for sugar cane plantations and deforestation occurs at a rapid rate.

Just inland from Morondava there are beautiful examples of tropical, dry, deciduous forest with an array of lemurs and bird life. Kirindy Forest, a nature reserve, lies about 60 kilometres from Morondava and easy to do as a day trip, whilst Tsingy de Bemaraha Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, lies 150 kilometres north of Morondava. However, this is a more difficult journey on roads in rather poor condition, so it isn’t always easy to get there.