The source of the Mangoky River’s largest tributary, the Matsiatra, is located deep in Madagascar’s highlands, to the south-east of Fianarantsoa.
We transported our expedition equipment to the source of the Matsiatra River using a 4×4, then a Kamaz truck, then on foot, as the area is not accessible to vehicles.
From there, we were on our own, hiking along the river until it became large enough to be navigable with a kayak. We then constructed and launched the Klepper and continued downriver. We faced large sections of portage over a major mountain range to the west of Ikalamavony (over 200km in the end), due to sections of the Matsiatra being unnavigable due to rapids and waterfalls. In this section we even managed some kayaking on another of the Mangoky’s tributaries: the Mananatanana River. Eventually, we arrived at the start of the Mangoky-proper, and paddled out into the Mozambique Channel near Ambohibe, around 150km south of Morondava.
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