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<\/a>are Ratsimilaho<\/strong>, son of the English Pirates Thomas White<\/strong> and founder of the first Betsimisaraka Kingdom<\/strong>, and Jean Ren\u00e9.<\/p>\nAs the son of a clerk of the French East India Company<\/strong> Jean Ren\u00e9 proclaimed himself king of Mahavelona and Toamasina in 1811 and hunted down the Zana-malata. In 1817, he accepted the suzerainty of Radama I<\/strong>, to retain local power, and helped him conquer the southeast. Later he defended the Mahavelona Fortress<\/strong> victorious against the French and English.<\/p>\n 13 km from Toamasina and accessible by a path that branches off the RN5 to reach the coast, the Ivoloina Valley<\/strong> used for the cultivation of food.<\/p>\n King Jean Ren\u00e9<\/strong> rests on the Manahoro Plateau, an eminence that dominates the Toamasina Plain and the mouth of the Ivoloina River.<\/p>\n 55 km northwest of Toamasina via Sahandahatra<\/strong> and Ambodiriana<\/strong> located, this station, served by a seasonal track, is the laboratory of a large World Bank project aimed at involving the population in environmental protection (halting deforestation, especially by changing agricultural practices).<\/p>\n 30 km from Toamasina<\/strong> <\/a>away, on the RN5, Fasandiana (fasana means \"grave\"), the wooden buildings of the Ravinala, built on the beautiful beach to the right of the road, house temporary burials of Betsimisaraka fishermen<\/strong>. The coffins - made from overturned pirogues - point toward the ocean, a mysterious expanse from which the ancestors one day came.<\/p>\n If marauding sharks make swimming difficult in Toamasina, the Ivorian beaches of Mahavelona<\/strong><\/a> - 60 km north on the RN5 - and the turquoise waters of its lagoon it soon became a seaside resort.<\/p>\n In the 18th century, the French established a trading post there, which they called Foulpointe, from Hopeful Point, the name given to the English Pirate Thomas White<\/a><\/strong> had given the place.<\/p>\n This Merina Citadel<\/strong>, whose remains guard the northern entrance to the city, was built between 1822 and 1831. It is one of the five forts built by Radama I to assert his sovereignty on the east coast against the French and English.<\/p>\n A circular enclosure 6 meters high and 4 meters thick at its base, doubled by a deep ditch, protected the four buildings of the Manda: the officers' residence, the barracks of the troops, the arsenal and the prison.<\/p>\n As in Ambohimanga<\/strong> cement made of sand, crushed coral and egg white was used to grout the stones. The fort was armed with English mortars, then with cannons fired from Jean Laborde in Mantasoa<\/strong> <\/a>were cast.<\/p>\n Decommissioned after 1898, it became a den of robbers and a retreat for the independenceists and their families during the 1947 uprising. This historic monument, gradually dismantled for the needs of local construction, especially that of the RN5 in the 1950s, has been listed since 1975.<\/p>\n The old cemetery, which is gradually being reclaimed by vegetation, has a romantic atmosphere and is home to interdicts, slave traders and other adventurers from the 17th to 19th centuries. One of the most visited funerals is that of Couillandeau de la Touche, surgeon to the King of France, who died at Mahavelona in 1766.<\/p>\n 95 km from Tomasina hides this village, representative of the east coast, with its wooden houses and Walking in the forest, swimming, snorkeling near the coral reef, pirogue rides with the Betsimisaraka fishermen or lazing... Temptations do not mark!<\/p>\n Mahambo is also the meeting place for surfers. Like Mahavelona, the place was equipped with a merina fortress, but only scattered stones remain.<\/p>\n In F\u00e9n\u00e9rive-est, 105 km from Toamasina, this is surrounded by vast plantations of Coffee trees<\/a>, Cloves<\/strong><\/a> and Lychees<\/strong><\/a> surrounded main prefectural city one of the most important agricultural centers in the region.<\/p>\n In Fenoarivo (which is more than a thousand) proclaimed itself Ratsimilaho<\/strong> 1712 to the king of the Betsimisaraka,<\/strong><\/a> after chasing Ramanana and his men away from the fortified hill of Vohimasina.<\/p>\n At this height, 2 km to the southwest, one can still see the remains of a fort built by Radama I in the 1820s.<\/p>\n From this fishing village, 58 km from Fenoarivo<\/strong> away, you can look for Nosy Boraha (Sainte-Marie)<\/strong> <\/a>embark or the Marimbona<\/strong> go up in a pirogue under a beautiful forest cover.<\/p>\nBotanical Garden of the Ivoloina Valley<\/h3>\n
<\/a>The botanical garden, built near the river, presents a very complete collection of plants endemic to the region. The adjacent zoo is home to turtles, chameleons, snakes and lemurs of the east coast.<\/p>\nBetampona Forest Station<\/h3>\n
Pheasantiana Necropolis<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Mahavelona (Foul Pointe)<\/h3>\n
According to oral tradition, this village takes its Malagasy name, \"that gives life,\" from a pond into which a deceased person dipped for the needs of his mortuary toilet and from which he would have emerged alive.<\/p>\nManda Fortress<\/h3>\n
Mahavelona Cemetery<\/h3>\n
Mahambo<\/h3>\n
Ravinala leaves at the bottom of a bay lined by dense forests and closed by a lagoon.<\/p>\nFenoarivo Atsinanana<\/h3>\n
Soanierana-Ivongo<\/h3>\n
<\/a>Soanierana Ivongo<\/strong> is a large city with 24-hour electricity and a modest port from which the Ferries to Sainte-Marie<\/strong> depart. Soanierana Ivongo does not have much to offer, except that it is one of the departure points for the crossing to Sainte-Marie or the beginning of the infamous Extreme track RN5<\/strong><\/a> to Mananara North<\/strong> <\/a>and Maroantsetra<\/strong><\/a> is.<\/p>\n