Sambava is a city and commune (commune urbaine; ) at the east coast of northern

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. It is the capital of Sambava District and

Sava Region Sava is a Regions of Madagascar, region in northern Madagascar. Its capital is Sambava. Until 2009 Sava belonged to Antsiranana Province. The region is situated at the northern part of the east coast of Madagascar. It is bordered by the region Dian ...

. The population of the commune was 84,039 in as of the 2018 commune

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

Infrastructure

Sambava is located on Route Nationale 5a Ambilobe -

Antalaha Antalaha is an urban municipality in northern Madagascar. It belongs to the Districts of Madagascar, district of Antalaha District, Antalaha, which is a part of Sava Region. The population of Antalaha was 67.888 in 2018. Farming provides employm ...

. It is also the starting point of the National road 3b to Andapa. It has a local, regional airport. In addition to primary schooling the town offers secondary education at both junior and senior levels. The town provides access to hospital services to its citizens.

Economy

Farming and raising livestock provides employment for 45% and 0.5% of the working population. The most important crop is

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

, while other important products are

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

and

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

. Industry and services provide employment for 0.5% and 53.5% of the population, respectively. Additionally fishing employs 0.5% of the population. Sambava disposes of white, sandy beaches with several hotels. The

Marojejy National Park Marojejy National Park () is a national park in the Sava region of northeastern Madagascar. It covers and is centered on the Marojejy Massif, a mountain chain that rises to an elevation of . Access to the area around the massif was restricted t ...

is close to Sambava on the road to Andapa. Image:Sambava, plage(2).jpg, Beach view from Sambava Image:Sambava, mairie.jpg, Townhall Image:Sambava, rue du marché.jpg, Market road in Sambava Image:Sambava - grading vanilla beans.jpg, Women grading

beans Image:Sambava - beach.jpg, Beach view from Sambava Image:Antsirabe Nord centre.jpg, the village of Antsirabe Nord

Commune

The municipality of Sambava covers the surrounding 16 fokontany (villages): Ambia, Antohomaro, Ambodisatrana I, Amboisatrana II, Sambava centre, Antaimby, Antsirabe-Nord, Antanifotsy I, Antanifotsy II, Ambariomihambana, Ambohitrakongona, Ampisasahanala, Analamandrorofo, Ambatofitatra, Ampandrozonana, Besopaka, Menagisy, and Soavinandriana.

Sports

* FC Joel Sava (regional football champion 2010, 2011, 2015 & 2016).

Climate

References and notes

{{coord, 14, 16, S, 50, 10, E, region:MG_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Cities in Madagascar Populated places in Sava Region Regional capitals in Madagascar