River · Madagascar
Mangoky
Mangoky is the longest river of Madagascar, the big island east of Africa. It gathers water in the central highlands and crosses the dry south-west of the island. North of Morombe it reaches the sea.
Picture credit: MissPlumb (Public domain) · LeFnake (CC BY-SA 4.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where is the Mangoky?
The river starts here: central highlands of Madagascar.
It ends in the Mozambique Channel north of Morombe.
Countries on the river: Madagascar.
The story behind it
Seen from above, the Mangoky looks like a rust-red ribbon. Heavy rain washes soil off the bare hills of the highlands, and the river carries it all the way to the coast, where it paints the sea brown after every storm. In the rainy season, from December to March, the water swells enormously and spreads over the flat valley floor; in the dry months it shrinks into braided channels between wide banks of sand. Farmers use that pattern: on the damp mud they plant rice, cotton and beans. Along the lower course grow spiny bushes and thick-trunked baobab trees, and lemurs live in the last gallery forests near the banks. Crocodiles rest in quiet pools, and fishers in narrow canoes set out where the river finally opens into the Mozambique Channel.
Questions children ask
How long is the Mangoky?
The Mangoky is 564 kilometres long. The whole course lies on the island of Madagascar. That length makes it the longest river of the country.
Which country does the Mangoky flow through?
The Mangoky flows only through Madagascar. It begins where several highland rivers meet and then heads south-west. Because Madagascar is an island, the river has no neighbouring country to share.
Where does the Mangoky flow into the sea?
The Mangoky ends in the Mozambique Channel, a little north of the town of Morombe. That channel is the arm of the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and mainland Africa. The river builds a wide delta of sand there.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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