Madagascar is a relatively unknown destination, which is a real pity. The country is truly magical and offers some wonderfully unique experiences. Its history, culture, and especially its nature and fauna are the focus here. As much as 90% of the country’s nature and wildlife is endemic to Madagascar, so we’re happy to guarantee a trip out of the ordinary!
The lemurs are, of course, one of the highlights of this tour, and you stand every chance of seeing them in the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. However, smaller animals such as chameleons, frogs, stick insects, and birds also deserve a mention as some of the great nature experiences.
This tour gives you a little taste of what magical Madagascar has to offer, before the journey continues to a true tropical island, Mauritius.
Here, you will stay at two different beaches, which allows you to experience different parts of the island. There are opportunities for excursions in the southern part of the island, as well as a truly relaxing holiday on a lovely beach in the east.
If you can’t get enough of the beach holiday, you can choose to extend your stay in Mauritius by several days.
Today you depart from your chosen airport with a connecting flight(s) along the way. The tour is to the big red island in the Indian Ocean – Madagascar!
Upon arrival to Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, you will be greeted by our local partner at the airport. We recommend that you exchange some euros for the local currency, the ariary, as there are only a few places where you can pay by card. Our partner can help you with this.
You will be driven to your hotel in Antananrivo, where you will spend one night.
You have landed on the world’s fourth-largest island, and it’s a world quite unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
The two primary languages are Malagasy and – as a former French colony – French.
Madagascar officially belongs to the African continent and shares a tectonic plate with East Africa. However, the country has been separated from (the rest of) Africa for more than 160 million years and has therefore developed completely unique flora and fauna. In fact, it is estimated that 90% of Madagascar’s animal and plant life is unique to the island.
Curiously, the original inhabitants of Madagascar came from South-east Asia, which is more than 6,000 km away, and only later did Bantu migrants from East Africa come and settle here.
One part of the population looks like South-east Asians, and another part looks like Africans – and many of them speak French. The food is a wonderful mishmash of French and Asian – with its very own Malagasy touch. The flora and fauna are completely unfamiliar, and the natural scenery is a mixture of all the countries in the world on one and the same island.
There are 18 official tribes, all of which have their own customs and traditions, while, at the same time, the country stands very united with a shared national identity.
Madagascar is completely unique, and we hope you will enjoy the insights into the country’s unique history, culture, and plant and animal life which the next days will offer!
Madagascar has a fascinating past, and the capital Antananarivo, which in daily parlance is often just called ‘Tana’, has been the focal point of this history for many centuries.
The largest and most significant tribe in Madagascar is the Merina tribe. The tribe belongs to the indigenous population group that came from South-east Asia. They settled in the central highlands of Madagascar, where they began to cultivate rice, which is still seen everywhere in this part of the island.
‘Tana’ – or Analamanga as it was known back then – was founded in the early 17th century by the local Merina king, King Andrianjaka. He ousted a rival ethnic group and slowly began to build his kingdom. At the end of the 17th century, the city was renamed Antananarivo.
In 1787, through cunning alliances and shrewd political moves, the Merina king, Andrianampoinimerina, succeeded in uniting the entire country under him and becoming the first king of all of Madagascar.
Already under King Andrianjaka, the first stones were laid for a royal palace on Antananarivo’s highest hill, but it was not until the reign of Queen Ranavalona I that the most prominent building was added. She also has the slightly flattering nickname ‘the mad queen’, and you can look forward to hearing more about her today! You will also meet the country’s last queen, Queen Ranavalona III, who was sent into exile when the French invaded and colonised Madagascar in the late 19th century.
The guided tour of the palace is very interesting and provides good insight into Madagascar’s history.
After lunch at the hotel, you will head out of the city towards one of Madagascar’s most famous national parks: Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.
Even close to the centre of Tana, you can see rice fields and zebu cattle with their characteristic hump. As you approach the Alaotra-Mangor region, the hills become higher, the forests denser, and here and there, you can catch a glimpse of a river at the bottom of the valleys.
You arrive at Andasibe-Mantadia National Park in the late afternoon, where you will check into your hotel for the next three nights.
The seeds of the national park were sown in 1970 by the French. They created the Analamazoatra Special Reserve to preserve the forest and the area’s unique biodiversity. In 1989, Mantadia National Park was established next to the reserve, and together the two areas are now called Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.
Already after sunset, the first guided walk awaits you, where you will look for the nocturnal lemurs. Mouse lemurs in particular are the focus of this walk. These are tiny creatures – the size of a small mouse – and they jump quickly and elegantly between the branches of the trees as if they were squirrels. It is no wonder that one of the species, the Goodman’s mouse lemur, was only discovered in 2005! Keep an eye out too for stick insects, frogs, and chameleons.
Many people probably associate Madagascar with the half-monkey species, the lemur. They are endemic to Madagascar, and there are over 100 different species of lemurs.
The biggest of them all is the Indri-indri, which in Malagasy is called the babakoto. It means – somewhat freely translated – ‘ancestor’. There are many legends about how the animal got the name babakoto, but common to them all is that the lemur, in certain ways, acts as a kind of spiritual companion to humans. It is therefore not surprising that in Madagascar, it brings you luck if you live close to the Indri.
Therefore, today, you will obviously go looking for the Indri lemur!
Indri lemurs cannot survive in captivity, and the only way to ensure their survival is to protect their habitat – and you contribute to this through your visit to the park. The national park fee goes to guides, restoration of the forest etc., and so the mere fact that you are visiting the park is an incentive for it to be preserved and expanded.
Together with a local guide and a ‘spotter’, you will set off into the national park from early morning. The spotter runs ahead to locate the lemurs, and you then force your way through the forest to see them. Often, they sit relatively high up in the treetops, so it can be a good idea to take binoculars with you.
You will probably hear the Indri lemurs before you see them. Their call, which sounds like a cross between screaming and singing, can be heard at a distance of up to 5 km. The sound is penetrating and absolutely magical. It’s hard not to get goosepimples when they start singing. It’s almost as if, immediately after sunrise, with their piercing singing voices, they are checking to see how each of them is doing – whether everything has gone as it should during the night.
As always with wildlife, there is no guarantee that you will see them, but Andasibe is one of the best places in Madagascar to see Indri lemurs.
Of course, there are lots of other animals in the national park as well. You might be lucky enough to see bamboo lemurs, sifaka lemurs, brown lemurs, chameleons, and a rich bird variety.
You have a packed lunch with you today, so that you can make the most of your time in the park. After the morning’s hike, there is time to relax at a waterfall, where you can eat your packed lunch and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Depending on what shape you are in, you can continue the hike in the afternoon, or you can choose to head back to the lodge and relax for the rest of the day.
The day begins with another guided walk in the national park. You are unlikely to be tired of seeing lemurs yet, but remember to enjoy the park’s many other fascinating animals and plants as well. It’s always fun to see stick insects, which we usually associate with terrariums. And you should also keep an eye out for the funny giraffe weevil, which has a long neck like a giraffe and the most beautiful bright red body!
Perhaps you’ll be lucky enough to see the fabulously beautiful and colourful kingfisher, or the paradise flycatcher with its elegant and impressively long tail.
Back at the hotel, lunch and perhaps a dip in the pool await, before an afternoon visit to the V.O.I.M.M.A Reserve, which is a privately owned reserve established in connection with the national park. In the V.O.I.M.M.A Reserve, locals from the village of Andasibe have come together and created the reserve, where they offer guided tours to locals and visitors alike. In addition to a source of income for the village, which has paid for a hospital and running water, the project helps to ensure that local residents in the area gain a greater insight into nature and the importance of preserving it. The reserve thus contributes both to expanding the natural habitats of the endangered lemurs and to the survival of the village community.
After visiting the reserve, dinner is served at the hotel before a good night’s sleep beckons.
You depart from Andasibe, and return to the capital Antananarivo.
From here, you fly on to Mauritius and the next leg of this journey – experiences and a beach holiday in beautiful Mauritius.
Our local partner will pick you up at the airport and drive you to your hotel.
The stay in Mauritius is split between two different hotels at opposite ends of the island. This gives you the perfect chance to see something different while also taking advantage of the opportunity to make the most of the regional differences that exist on the island.
You will spend the first three nights in the south-western part of the island, where you will find some of Mauritius’s most beautiful beaches, such as Le Morne, Tamarin, and Flic en Flac.
There is also every opportunity for some fantastic nature experiences. You are close to, for example, the Black River Gorges National Park, which offers some fantastic hiking routes. In this part of Mauritius, you also have the opportunity to go hiking to Le Morne – the iconic mountain you almost always see in photos from Mauritius.
The days are at your leisure to enjoy the wonderful beach or to perhaps visit the southern part of Mauritius. You can explore this part of Mauritius on your own, or you can join one of the optional tours we offer below.
From south-western Mauritius, the tour now takes you to the opposite side of the island – towards another of Mauritius’s beautiful beaches: Palmar Beach.
Here, you will spend three nights, and our guess is that you will probably just want to relax and enjoy the beach and pool.
The days are at your leisure. If you want to go on more excursions, this is obviously possible. Mauritius is not large, so all parts of the island are easily accessible.
You can choose to extend your stay in Mauritius if you wish.
It is time to say goodbye to Mauritius’ beautiful beaches. You will be picked up at your hotel and driven to the airport, from where you will fly to the U.K with connecting flight(s) along the way.
You land at your chosen airport after an adventurous tour.
Children under 12 years from £2289
Single room supplement from £479
Catriona is passionate about helping other people fulfill their travel dreams, as she knows how much travel has only improved her life for the better!
