Nature, culture and lemurs in Madagascar

Today you depart from your chosen airport with connecting flight(s) along the way. The tour is to stunning Madagascar, the big red island in the Indian Ocean.

On arrival in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, you will be greeted by our local partner at the airport.

We recommend that you exchange money at the airport. Our partner can assist with this, and also if you want to buy a local SIM card.

You will then be driven to your hotel. You have one night in the capital before the tour really takes off the following day.

After breakfast, you will be picked up from your hotel, and soon you will leave ‘Tana’ as Antananarivo is also often called. The tour heads towards eastern Madagascar and the beautiful Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.

Along the way, you will stop off at a small reserve, where you will be able to see some chameleons. Keep an eye out here for the local (wild) boas, which can be found in the trees near the car park.

After a couple of hours of driving through a hilly plateau landscape with lots of rice fields, the scenery changes. The hills become higher, and the forests denser. Here and there, you can glimpse the river at the bottom of the valleys.

You arrive at Andasibe-Mantadia National Park during the afternoon, where you check into your hotel for the next two 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.

The rest of the day is at your leisure, so you can enjoy the beautiful scenery around the lodge.

It is said that it brings good luck being close to the Indriidae, which are the largest of Madagascar’s lemur species. This morning you will go looking for luck!

Together with a local guide, you will go hiking in the national park in search of the Indriidae lemurs.

Indriidae lemurs cannot survive in captivity, and the only way to ensure their survival is to protect their habitat – which you will be helping to do through visiting the park, as the admission fee to the national park goes to guides, forest restoration etc., and the mere fact that you are visiting the park provides an incentive for preserving and enlarging it.

In fact, you will probably hear them before you see them. Their call can be heard up to 5 km away, and the sound is very 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 – whether everything has gone as it should throughout the night.

In addition to your guide, a ‘spotter’ often accompanies the morning tour. The spotter runs ahead and locates the Indriidae families, which you then force your way through the forest to see. They usually sit high up in the trees, where they have spent the night. Feel free to bring binoculars so you can see their furry arms clinging to the branches with almost human-like hands.

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 the Indriidae 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 life.

Around noon, you will return to the lodge, where lunch is served. In the afternoon, you can relax, and perhaps even go for a short walk in the nearby forest.

At sunset, you will again depart for the national park together with the local guide. Now, it’s time to spot the nocturnal animals, in particular the mouse lemurs. 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, Goodman’s mouse lemur, was only discovered in 2005! Keep an eye out too for stick insects, frogs and chameleons.

Back at the lodge, dinner is served before a good night’s sleep awaits.

After breakfast, you leave Andasibe and head back to Tana. Here, you have lunch at your hotel before the afternoon sightseeing tour.

Although Madagascar is now a republic, the country has a long history of kings and queens, and Tana was central to this story for centuries.

The city is located in Madagascar’s central highlands, which are home to the ethnic Merina people. It was founded in the early 17th century by the local Merina king, King Andrianjaka, and was back then called Analamanga. He removed 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 country under him and becoming the first king of all of Madagascar.

When you visit the Queen’s Palace, rather than the King’s Palace, it is because, even though King Andrianampoinimerina united the country, Madagascar has to a much greater extent been shaped by its queens rather than its kings. 

The most famous of them all is Queen Ranavalona I, who ruled from 1828 to 1861. She was also called 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 palace burned down some years ago, but has now been rebuilt, and the guided tour is very interesting and provides a good insight into Madagascar’s history.

The view from the palace, which is located on top of the largest hill in the city, is phenomenal, and gives a very good overview of Tana.

The next few days offer a real road trip through the most beautiful landscapes.

It is a good idea to arm yourself with a certain degree of patience when you are on a road trip in Madagascar. The roads are of varying quality, and even on the best highways, you might well encounter a broken-down Mercedes-Benz truck from the time of the French or an ox cart slowing down traffic. “Mura mura” as they say in Madagascar – just take it easy.

You have a driver-guide at your disposal, and you will travel in a good and comfortable car (or bus – depending on the number of people) with air conditioning and good suspension, so you can just sit back and soak up the impressions.

Welcome to what is popularly – and quite understandably – called the eighth continent of the world!

It’s as if India or Bali meet Africa – until you meet some rainforest that is reminiscent of what you find in Costa Rica. Soon, however, you’ll be making your way across the plains of the Serengeti to end up in north-west Australia. It feels as if all the other continents in the world have somehow left their mark on Madagascar – the difference being that 90% of the wildlife in Madagascar is not found anywhere else in the world.

Today, you will mainly be driving through the central highlands. There are paddy fields here, including some beautiful terraced rice fields. Look down at the bottom of the valleys – even the smallest patch has been turned into a paddy field, with ingeniously excavated irrigation channels providing the necessary water.

You will definitely notice the ubiquitous zebu as well. They resemble the characteristic Indian cow with a fatty hump on the neck, but the zebu is not sacred in the same way as in India. In Madagascar, you are allowed to eat zebu. The meat is delicious when cooked with lots of tomatoes, onions, garlic and ginger. Ask for ‘romazava’, which is eaten with rice.

It is sometimes said that the Malagasy are among those who consume the most rice worldwide on a daily basis. In fact, they are so fond of it that the boiled rice which always burns to the bottom of the pot is allowed to burn a little more before they boil tea on it. The tea is then consumed with a rice meal. The taste is a bit strange – like a cross between burnt rice and popcorn – but in the form of tea. So, now you’re suitably warned if you are offered ‘ranovola’.

The final destination today is Ambositra. Along the way, you will make a few stops, including a lunch stop in the city of Antsirabe, which you will fortunately return to later on the tour.

The drive to Ambositra takes 7-8 hours depending on how often you stop and the traffic.

If you arrive on time, you should go for a walk in Ambositra. The town is very well known for its woodcarving, and small workshops and shops line the main street, where you can see demonstrations and buy the goods on sale.

You spend one night in Ambositra.

You have a long drive ahead of you, so you leave the hotel early. There are good refuelling stations in Madagascar, so if you need to recharge your batteries for the trip, just ask your driver-guide to stop at a petrol station with a good kiosk.

After about 4 hours on the road, you will arrive in the town of Fianarantsoa, which is otherwise known as the gateway to the south. It’s only just over 1½ hours by car from Fianarantsoa to Ambavalao, but the landscape changes dramatically from manicured rice terraces to a wild landscape with impressive rock formations. It is these dramatic changes in the landscape within relatively short distances that make Madagascar such a fantastic country in which to travel! There is simply never a dull moment when looking out of the window.

Outside Ambalavao, you visit the Anja Reserve game reserve, where you have a very good chance of seeing ring-tailed lemurs.

The Anja Reserve is a small reserve but it is a very exciting project. Several local villages have joined forces to protect the reserve, which can only be visited with a local guide. The income from the visits goes to the villages involved, and helps to ensure, among other things, schooling for the children, mosquito nets and tree planting – and the preservation and expansion of the reserve.

In the past, it was possible to feed the lemurs, but it is no longer permitted to do so. However, it means that the older lemurs are tame, so it is possible to get relatively close to them before they climb a little higher up into the treetops. The reserve has the largest concentration of ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar, so there is a very good chance of seeing the beautiful striped tails!

In addition to the lemurs, the reserve has a beautiful rocky landscape, which you can admire on a short walk, and where you will also be able to see a traditional burial site situated high up on the rocks.

From the Anja Reserve, you continue in a more south-westerly direction, and the landscape changes again. You drive through the mountains and up to the town of Ihosy – about a two-hour trip. You will now find yourself on a highland plateau, the Horombe Plateau, which is home to the Bara tribe.

The Bara people are semi-nomadic and are – like the Maasai in East Africa – cattle people. In fact, they are so fond of their zebu that if a young man is to have any hope of being allowed to marry, he must first steal a zebu and present it to his future in-laws.

From Ihosy, it is just over an hour’s drive before you reach the day’s final destination, Ranohira. The journey crosses the plains, and it is easy to understand why the Bara people drive their cattle here. Long deserted stretches of knee-high grass as far as the eye can see. It almost looks like an East African savannah.

When the savannah gives way to a lunar landscape with the most beautiful sandstone rocks, you know you have arrived at Isalo National Park.

Here, you will spend the next two nights, and tonight (weather permitting) you will experience a magical sunset over Isalo.

The landscape in Isalo National Park takes most people’s breath away.

Rugged sandstone formations, deep ravines, oases with iridescent palm-fringed lakes and flat, plain-like expanses. Isalo has it all, and it is also Madagascar’s most famous national park.

The 800-square-kilometre park offers unique flora and fauna. In addition to six different species of lemur, including ring-tailed lemur and sifika lemurs, you will also find over 100 different bird species and a wide variety of reptiles and amphibians, such as lizards and frogs, here.

Several plant and animal species are only found here in the park, such as the fine elephant’s foot or ponytail palm plant, which almost resembles a mini-baobab tree with its bright yellow flowers.

To complete the magic of Isalo, the place also holds huge cultural significance for the Bara people. They bury their dead in caves high up in the rocks.

Today has been earmarked for experiencing Isalo.

There are several walks of varying length, and you decide together with your guide which one to take. You have to be a fairly practised walker to go hiking in Isalo. The paths are reasonably well maintained, but there are lots of ascents and descents, and they can be narrow at times. On the other hand, you have the opportunity to take a cooling dip in one of the beautiful natural pools found in the park, and you will be rewarded with the most wonderful natural scenery.

After breakfast, you say goodbye to beautiful Isalo, and start the return journey back to central Madagascar.

This time you will make a stop in the town of Fianarantsoa, which you passed through a few days ago. The town is about a 5-hour drive from Isalo. Here, you will visit a small local silk factory and watch a demonstration of the incredibly slow and labour-intensive process of making silk. You will also visit Madagascar’s only tea plantation before the tour continues to Ranomafana.

It is just over a 1½-hour drive from Fianarantsoa to your hotel in Ranomafana National Park.

You will spend two nights in the park, and the rest of the afternoon is at your leisure to allow you to acclimatise to the rainforest. It will undoubtedly feel like a big contrast moving from the dry plateau landscape of Isalo to the more humid climate of Ranomafana.

Ranomafana is part of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana, which are on the UNESCO World Heritage List of natural sites.

The steep slopes are covered with dense rainforest, the ferns are as tall as a man, moss grows on the trees, and in many places water trickles down over the path, turning the dust into mud. The biodiversity of Ranomafana is unmatched. Here, you will find 12 species of lemurs, more than 100 species of birds, chameleons, frogs, butterflies and rare orchids.

The morning is spent on a guided hike in the park. As in Andasibe, there is both a ‘spotter’ and a guide on the trip, and here too, the spotter runs ahead in advance to look for the lemurs. The golden bamboo lemur is the main attraction here. It is rare, and is one of the world’s most endangered lemur species. It was first discovered in 1986, which is quite incredible when you consider that it is just over half a metre tall! The discovery directly led to Ranomafana becoming a national park – it simply became clear that something had to be done if the golden bamboo lemur was to be saved.

You have to be a fairly practised walker to go on the morning’s walk. It is not strenuous as such, but due to the humid climate, the paths can be muddy, and you sometimes have to force your way through the dense undergrowth to get to the trees where the lemurs are sitting. On the other hand, the reward is enormous when you see the little furry animal sitting and munching on its bamboo stick.

Also, you are almost guaranteed to see more chameleons, frogs, birds and fascinating nature in general.

Towards late morning, you head back to the hotel, where lunch is served and you can relax.

Ranomafana means ‘hot water’, and refers to all the hot springs which can be found in the area. You are going to experience them this afternoon. They are said to have healing powers – if nothing else, the warm water is relaxing.

Back at the hotel, dinner awaits.

The drive continues north, and today’s destination is the charming city of Antsirabe, which you passed through on the way from Tana towards Ambositra. The trip lasts a good 3 hours. Notice again how the landscape changes dramatically within a relatively short distance – from rainforest to highlands with the distinctive paddy fields.

Once in Madagascar’s third-largest city, Antsirabe, you will have lunch before embarking on a rickshaw ride. Like its big sister, Antananarivo, Antsirabe is steeped in history.

Antsirabe was founded by Norwegian missionaries in the late 19th century. They taught the local inhabitants how to make bricks. This benefited the French during the colonial period, and several prominent buildings were built; hotels, a post office, a cathedral and the most beautiful railway station building.

Like all other cities in Madagascar where the French were present, there is a long, wide boulevard in the city centre – and it is at the end of the boulevard that you will find the railway station, which is no longer in use.

The rickshaw ride is a wonderful way to experience the city, and the tour takes in some of the city’s most distinguished colonial buildings. You will also visit a couple of the local handicraft workshops and shops, with a demonstration, for example, of how an old washing machine motor is converted into a polishing instrument for making spoons and jewellery out of zebu horn.

You will have dinner at your hotel, and spend one night in Antsirabe.

There is an early departure from Antsirabe, and you return to Antanarivo. Depending on your return journey, it’s possible to purchase an extra excursion in the capital.

If your flight is not until late at night, our local partner will arrange for you to be taken to a hotel near the airport, where you can wait until it’s time to go to the airport. Here, you can use the pool and have a bath, and dinner is included in the price. It is also possible to book a massage. Well in advance of departure, you will be taken to the airport by the hotel’s shuttle bus.

It is also possible to buy a beach holiday extension to one of Madagascar’s beautiful beach destinations.

You land at your chosen airport after an adventurous tour.