Sava is a 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 Diana to the north, Sofia to the west, and Analanjirofo to the south. As of 2018, its population was 1,123,013[1] and the total area is 25,518 km2 (9,853 sq mi).[3] The region contains wild areas such as Marojejy National Park.
The name of the region is composed of the initial letters of its four principal towns: Sambava, Antalaha, Iharana (Vohimaro), and Andapa. Each of these towns claims itself the World Capital of Vanilla, a spice of which the region is the largest producer of in the world (especially the highly sought Bourbon vanilla variety).
The economic importance of vanilla cultivation in the Sava Region encouraged the reconstruction of the road that connects the towns, called the Route de la vanille (The Vanilla Route), in the latter half of 2005. However, due to the volatile fluctuations in the price of vanilla, in turn often caused by the dramatic cyclones occurring in the southwestern Indian Ocean, many poor vanilla farmers in the Sava Region have periodically been forced to resort to the mostly illegal logging of ebony, palisander, and rosewood.
Sava Region is divided into four districts, which are subdivided into 75 communes:
There are regional ports in Vohemar and Antalaha.
The main rivers of the Sava Region are (north to south):
This region is crossed by 454 km of national roads:[5]
furthermore by 520 km provincial roads (RIP) and 230 km of roads without a classification.
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