Visit the city of Morondava

 

Morondava is one of the most visited destinations in Madagascar. It is located in the west of the island, about 700 km from the capital Tananarive, with a 10-hour drive on the RN34 and RN35.

 

Morondava has been frequented since the 17th century by foreign sailors and traders. A village of fishermen, built on a sandbank, it is known until the late 19th century under the name of Nosy Miandroka. In the 19th century, Morondava became a landing point for Makoa slaves, of African origin, and transit before their re-expedition to the Southwest and inland. Early 20th century the fishing village became a big village, an advanced military post under the French Protectorate.

 

On July 16, 1932, the Governor-General of the Colony decided, by decree, to create the commune of Morondava, then to make it an elected municipality on June 6, 1939. The inhabitants of the Menabe region are called the Sakalava and has ceremonial royal bathing relics and Sakalava necropolises. The Sakalava necropolis is a funeral art status that can be seen on all four sides of the sculpted tombs in the form of couples. For the bath of royal relics, the ancient Sakalava kings held absolute power that they drew from the worship of "Dady" or "Jiny", symbolic remains of the deceased kings. According to Sakalava legend, a king had the initiative to bathe the bones of these ancestors in the Tsiribihina to appease their wrath and thus eradicate the long and worrying drought that had plagued his kingdom.

 

This article was featured in Prime Magazine December 2017