Mananara Nord National Park
The Mananara Nord Biosphere Reserve is part of the global network of Biosphere Reserves. Launched in 1971, UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) encourages interdisciplinary research, training and demonstration on resource management. It helps to improve the understanding of biophysical, socio-economic and cultural factors that affect the environment, and to increase the participation of scientists in decisions about more efficient use of resources.
The Mananara Nord National Park is located in the Mananara Nord district of the Analanjirofo region, 280km north of Toamasina (Tamatave). The park is bounded by the Mananara river to the north, the Sandrakatsy river and Fotsialanana river to the west, the Anove river to the south and the Indian Ocean to the east.
The entire Mananara Nord National Park consists of 23,000ha terrestrial park and 1,000ha marine park. The altitude reaches from 0m to 569m. The park is subject to a humid tropical climate. The average temperature is 25.2°C and the humidity is constantly high. It rains most of the year and can reach up to 2,900mm per year. There is a warm and rainy season from September to March and a cooler season from April to September. Mananara is often a passage area for tropical cyclones.
The Precambrian basement of Mananara, dating back 2,750 million years, belongs to the Antongilian system. Following geological metamorphisms that led to this substrate of rocks composed of amphibolites, micaschists, greenschist and schist, granitic intrusions of about 770 million years ago appeared which, together with Neocene alteration and erosion, are responsible for the orthogonal shape of the region's relief with narrowly linear valleys, rock walls, cascades and waterfalls, falling rocky shores and the hydrographic network following the lines of the landscape and valleys. This explains the difficulty of access to monitor the park, the history of linear fragmentation of the forest and the human occupation along the lines of valleys. The density of vegetation and the ability of forest regeneration worsen the problems as they favour the camouflage of offenders.
Due to presence of the South Equatorial Current coming from South Asia that runs along the east coast to become Madagascar's southward current, this current brings warm surface waters in all seasons and conditions the water temperature to never drop below 18°-20°C. In order to develop, coral reefs require warm, clear water (above 18°C) on a shallow bottom with 30 to 35% salinity, which is the case for the Mananara Nord Marine Park. At the highest sea (during high tide minus the half maximum hight of a wave) the water is between 25m and 35m deep. The Malagasy east coast is swept throughout the year by the Alizé (trade wind). The average wind speed is 20m/s.
The Mananara Nord National Park consists of a land and marine park that are both rich in biodiversity as well as natural and original beauty. The marine park is the first created in Madagascar. The site is commonly called Nosy Antafana. It is a set of three islets located 2.5km off Sahasoa. The largest is Nosy Be or Nosy Antafana, where a fresh water source is located. The second is Nosy Rangontsy, named after the man whose remains were the first to be deposited there. On this islet are a mangrove swamp, an expanse of brackish water with fish and in the east huge masses of granite. The last island and the smallest is Nosy Hely. It is a real marine ecosystem with various representative ecological niches. Coral reefs are among the most beautiful and rich in biodiversity of the east coast of Madagascar. The land park represents the eastern eco-region with littoral forests and forest islands.
How to get there
By road from Antananarivo to Toamasina on RN2, then Toamasina to Mananara Nord on RN5. There is a paved road from Toamasina to Soanierana Ivongo and thereafter a secondary road from Soanierana Ivongo to Mananara. The roads are accessible all year round, but in poor condition. The total travel time from Antananarivo to the park is two to three days.
By taxi brousse from Antananarivo (Ambodivona bus station) to Toamasina and then from Toamasina (Tanambao V bus station) to Mananara.
By boat from Mananara to the park (1-1.5 hour by speedboat, 3-4 hours by slow boat), or from Antanambe to the park (45 minutes by speedboat). From Soanierana Ivongo or Sainte Marie to Mananara it takes 5 hours by boat respectively. The sea is calm from April to October.
Population
There are over 186 villages and hamlets. A large part of the population is farmers. The dominant agricultural activity is rice cultivation (slash/burn and irrigated) and cash crops. Mananara is the largest producer of cloves in Madagascar, of vanilla in the Toamasina province and is also one of the largest coffee producers. As for fishing, despite strong potential, fishery resources are still underutilised in Mananara.
The majority of the population consists of the Betsimisaraka ethnic group with a strong presence of Tsimihety and Métis (mixed-race). Most of the people live in the fertile valleys of Mananara, Sandrakatsy, Saharamy and Manambato.
