Morondava is a city located in Menabe Region, of which it is the capital, in Madagascar. It is located in the delta of the Morondava River at 20°17′5″S 44°19′3″E / 20.28472°S 44.31750°E / -20.28472; 44.31750. Its population as of the 2018 census, was 53,510.
Population
The predominant tribe is the Sakalava, but there are also a few Betsileo, Tsimihety, Merina, and Makoa as well as Europeans.2
Transportation
Air Madagascar has regular scheduled flights to Morondava Airport. The main road to town has been renovated recently. With the new road established, a trip from Antananarivo to Morondava by taxi-brousse takes approximately 12 hours. Pirogues are consequently a popular mode of transport used to ferry people and goods along the coast, especially to Morombe.
Roads
- RN 34 and RN 35 to Ivato, Ambositra and Antsirabe.
- RN 8 to Belo-sur-Tsiribihina.
Ecology
The city is famous amongst other things for the spectacular Avenue of the Baobabs nearby at 20°15′04″S 44°25′06″E / 20.251000°S 44.418403°E / -20.251000; 44.418403 (Avenue of Baobabs). These giant baobab trees are an 800-year-old legacy of the dense tropical forests that once throve here. Over the years, as the country's population grew, the forests were steadily cut down, leaving only the baobab trees, which the locals preserved for religious reasons. Today, deforestation still continues as large areas of this region, including some of few remaining baobabs, are cleared to make way for sugar cane plantations.
The Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is located 150 km north of Morondava. The road from Morondava is poor, but Tsingy de Bemaraha is reachable by 4x4 in approximately 10 hours. In the South there is the Andranomena Reserve.
Kirindy Forest at 20°04′12″S 44°36′07″E / 20.070000°S 44.601944°E / -20.070000; 44.601944 (Kirindy Forest) is a nature reserve about 60 km from Morondava where many of the local species of lemurs as well as other plants and animals can be spotted during a day or night trip.
Education
French international schools:
- École de l'Alliance3
Religion
- Roman Catholic Diocese (Cathedral of Mary Queen of the World).
- Fiangonana Jesosy Mamonjy Morondava
- FJKM - Fiangonan'i Jesoa Kristy eto Madagasikara (Church of Jesus Christ in Madagascar)
- FLM - Fiangonana Loterana Malagasy (Malagasy Lutheran Church)
There are also 4 mosques in Morandava.4
See also
- Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve
- Madagascar dry deciduous forests
- Kirindy Mitea National Park (70 km south of Morondava)
- Betania, a beach village of this municipality.
- Avenue of the Baobabs, 20 km north of Morondava.
- Andranomena Special Reserve
Climate
Morondova experiences a hot semi-arid (BSh) climate.
| Climate data for Morondava (1991-2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 34.9(94.8) | 34.9(94.8) | 34.9(94.8) | 34.9(94.8) | 34.9(94.8) | 34.8(94.6) | 34.4(93.9) | 34.8(94.6) | 34.9(94.8) | 35.5(95.9) | 35.7(96.3) | 35.0(95.0) | 35.7(96.3) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 31.8(89.2) | 31.9(89.4) | 32.4(90.3) | 32.0(89.6) | 30.8(87.4) | 29.5(85.1) | 29.2(84.6) | 29.5(85.1) | 30.4(86.7) | 31.1(88.0) | 32.0(89.6) | 32.2(90.0) | 31.1(88.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 28.1(82.6) | 28.0(82.4) | 28.1(82.6) | 26.9(80.4) | 24.8(76.6) | 23.0(73.4) | 22.6(72.7) | 23.3(73.9) | 24.6(76.3) | 26.3(79.3) | 27.6(81.7) | 28.2(82.8) | 26.0(78.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 24.4(75.9) | 24.1(75.4) | 23.8(74.8) | 21.7(71.1) | 18.7(65.7) | 16.4(61.5) | 16.0(60.8) | 17.1(62.8) | 19.0(66.2) | 21.3(70.3) | 23.2(73.8) | 24.2(75.6) | 20.8(69.4) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 20.5(68.9) | 20.5(68.9) | 18.5(65.3) | 13.9(57.0) | 9.7(49.5) | 9.2(48.6) | 9.0(48.2) | 10.0(50.0) | 11.3(52.3) | 13.0(55.4) | 16.2(61.2) | 17.3(63.1) | 9.0(48.2) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 292.0(11.50) | 194.1(7.64) | 75.3(2.96) | 16.7(0.66) | 2.8(0.11) | 3.2(0.13) | 1.5(0.06) | 1.8(0.07) | 2.5(0.10) | 7.9(0.31) | 24.4(0.96) | 89.7(3.53) | 711.9(28.03) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 13.7 | 10.5 | 6.2 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 2.3 | 7.2 | 44.4 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 269.3 | 241.6 | 287.8 | 290.0 | 302.5 | 289.4 | 297.6 | 310.0 | 298.1 | 322.1 | 313.2 | 283.4 | 3,505 |
| Source: NOAA (sun, 1961-1990)56 | |||||||||||||
International relations
Morondava is twinned with:
- Le Grand-Quevilly, France, since 1964.7
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Morondava.- Morondava travel guide from Wikivoyage
- What are the historical causes of deforestation in Madagascar and what is the situation today?
References
Rajemisa-Raolison, Régis (1966). "Morondava". Dictionnaire Historique et Géographique. Antananarivo: Ambozontany – via Malagasy Dictionary and Encyclopedia of Madagascar. https://en.mondemalgache.org/bins/teny2/Morondava ↩
www.morondava-autrement.com http://www.morondava-autrement.com/pages/la-ville/presentation/morondava-vezo-et-urbaine-a-la-fois.html ↩
"École de l'Alliance." AEFE. Retrieved on May 7, 2015. http://www.aefe.fr/reseau-scolaire-mondial/rechercher-un-etablissement/madagascar-morondava-ecole-de-lalliance ↩
Morondava autrement http://www.morondava-autrement.com/pages/la-ville/presentation/morondava-et-la-religion.html ↩
"Morondav Climate Normals 1991–2020". World Meteorological Organization Climatological Standard Normals (1991–2020). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230923234825/https://www.nodc.noaa.gov/archive/arc0216/0253808/4.4/data/0-data/Region-1-WMO-Normals-9120/Madagascar/CSV/MORONDAVA_67117.csv ↩
"Morondava Climate Normals 1961–1990". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (FTP). Retrieved October 19, 2015. (To view documents see Help:FTP) ftp://ftp.atdd.noaa.gov/pub/GCOS/WMO-Normals/TABLES/REG__I/MG/67117.TXT ↩
grandquevilly.fr https://grandquevilly.fr/actions-et-competences/jumelages/ ↩