Antsohihy

Antsohihy (pronounced Antsooee) is the capital of the Sofia and Antsohihy district, within the larger Mahajanga district of northern Madagascar. Antsohihy can be translated into “where there are sohihy” – a tree of the Rubiaceae family, once widespread in the region and mainly used for shipbuilding.
From Antsohihy travellers can continue their journey in all points of the compass: Ambanja to the north (217km paved road in good condition), Antananarivo to the southwest, Bealanana to the northeast, Befandriana to the southeast, Port Bergé to the south and Analalava to the west (79km paved road).

Antsohihy is connected inland with the River Loza that joins a waterway some 50km leading to the ocean, past various villages and finally Ananalava at the mouth of the river, an isolated coastal village which during wet periods is only accessible by boat or light plane. The river port is located about two kilometres from the Antsohihy town centre and the trip takes between 5 hours and half a day.The people of Antsohihy live from forestry, trade and transport activities. Collection of seafood (mud crabs, sea cucumbers, shrimps) from Analalava and Bay Narinda. In 2005, the town of Antsohihy had about 20,000 inhabitants. The name of the city means “where the sohihy are”. The sohihy was a tree once very present in the region and mainly used for building boats. Today, unfortunately, only a few specimens remain, deforestation, in fact, has made most of these trees disappear.35 km from Antsohihy is the special reserve of Bora, which is home to numerous species of endemic birds including the beautiful Foudia madagascariensis, species of aquatic turtles and other reptiles. The reserve is also the habitat of 6 species of diurnal and nocturnal lemurs.