Toliara

Toliara (also known as Toliary, [tuliˈar]; formerly Tuléar) is a city in Madagascar.

It is the capital of the Atsimo-Andrefana region, located 936 km southwest of Antananarivo.

The current spelling of the name was adopted in the 1970s, and reflects the orthography of the Malagasy language. Many geographic place names, assigned French spellings during the colonial period, were altered following Malagasy independence in 1960.

The city has a population of 156,710 in 2013. As a port town it acts as a major import/export hub for commodities such as sisal, soap, hemp, cotton, rice, and peanuts.

Air Madagascar operates scheduled flights to here.

Geography and Climate

Toliara is located on a broad coastal plain, surrounded by dunes and mangroves, near the Tropic of Capricorn in the Mozambique Channel. A nearby barrier reef (the Great Reef) is 18 km long and 3 km wide. The beach area is extended by an underwater beach along the continental shelf that slopes gently seaward. To the north lies the Delta Fiherenana.