1000 Views of Madagascar

Overview

1000 Views of Madagascar

A small-group guided lodge safari through Madagascar, starting and ending in Antananarivo – 12 Days

12 DAYS FROM AND TO ANTANANARIVO

This is an island waiting to be explored.

Discover the best of Madagascar during this fascinating eleven-day tour with lemurs, colourful tribes, tropical beaches, bustling markets and ever-changing scenery. Begin your adventure in Tana and travel through unspoilt nature, the dense forests of Andasibe, the eroded hills of Antsirabe, Fianarantsoa, Isalo National Park, Ifaty and Tulear.

Learn about the women of community project ‘Soalandy’; an interwoven effort of cultural resilience and economic survival. This group of female artisans exemplify determination and entrepreneurship. Weaving together the world of tourism and conservation provides a silkier future for projects such as ‘Soalandy’, providing a sustainable channel to continue practicing their Malagasy craft and ensuring survival.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Antananarivo: Capital city of Madagascar
Natural Reserve of Andasibe: Great location for finding lemurs
Antsirabe: Known as the centre of the beer industry
Ambositra: The centre of Madagascar’s wood carving industry
Ranomafana National Park: Known for its rain forest covered hills and abundant wildlife
Fianarantsoa:  The centre of wine industry in Madagascar
Ihosy: Drive through the capital of the Bara tribes
Isalo National Park: Hike in the park known for its beautiful vegetation and natural pool
Ifaty: Hike in the park known for its beautiful vegetation and natural pool
Reniala Park: A small reserve hosting baobabs, spiny foresy and some of the largest chameleons in the world.

TOUR PRICE INCLUSIONS:

• Accommodation as mentioned in the itinerary or of similar standard (on bed and breakfast basis in twin sharing room)
• All transport and group transfers in applicable vehicle*
• Airport transfers on day of arrival and departure of tour**
• English-speaking guide for 2 clients+ (Day 1-9)
• Activities and excursions as mentioned
• Specialist local guides in national parks as per programme
• Park entrance fees

*Kindly note vehicle type as indicated on tour itinerary.

**Should you require transfers on preceding or subsequent days, these can be arranged at an additional cost. For transfers to different points or alternative accommodation, please contact our reservation office who will gladly assist you.

EXCLUDED FROM TOUR PRICE:

• Flights: International & domestic from Tuléar to Tana
• Pre and post tour accommodation
• Optional activities
• All drinks
• Gratuities
• Personal expenses such as telephone calls, curios etc.
• Travel insurance

*** NOTE prices are subject to change.

***2021 (Jan-Jul) Price EURO 2,760 is per person sharing, excludes single supplement, internal flight and any additional meals or activities not set out in the itinerary.

****2021 (Aug-Dec) Price EURO 2,880 is per person sharing, excludes single supplement, internal flight and any additional meals or activities not set out in the itinerary.

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On arrival in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, you will be welcomed and provided with assistance by one of our friendly staff before transferring to your hotel in the city. Spend the rest of the day at your leisure.

Distance:  150 km    Departure: 10h00

In the morning we will start our journey with a drive to Andasibe through the green and luxuriant vegetation of eastern Madagascar. This brings us to a very humid part of the country with many primary forests and lakes. Along the way we will see Merina villages spread in the rocky mountains. We arrive at Andasibe in the afternoon and check-in to the hotel. In the evening we will set off from the hotel at approximately 18h00 (depending on the season) on a night walk to observe night active lemurs and other nocturnal animals. We return to the hotel where we overnight.

We start our morning with a visit to the Special Reserve of Andasibe to see the Indri, the largest lemurs on the island. This 810 ha reserve is unique with its endemic fauna and flora and contains a wide variety of orchids, canopy, and endemic animals like chameleons, tenrecs, and many birds. In the afternoon, we visit the V.O.I.I.M.A community reserve. Here you will also come across a variety of wildlife, ranging from brown lemurs, indri, chameleons, geckos and birds. We overnight at the same hotel. This reserve provides a sustainable way of saving the remaining rainforests in the area by creating a livelihood for the local communities through reforestation projects

Distance:  309 km

We drive back to Tana, and head south to Antsirabe, across the highland landscape with its beautiful rice fields on display. The spectacular eroded hills called ‘lavaka’ remind us of the Far East with its rice fields and green landscape with vegetables and fruit trees. We stop in Ambatolampy for a quick visit to this huge agricultural city, also recognised as the “capital of aluminium recycling”. Arrival in Antsirabe is around 18h00. ‘The place of salt’ is an elegant city and known as the centre of the beer industry – we can smell the Star Brewery as we enter the town! Founded by Norwegians in 1856, it is the only place which really feels and looks like a European city. It has a temperate climate and therefore fruit and vegetables which grow in colder climates, are found in Antsirabe.

Distance:  250 km

After breakfast we drive to Ambositra, the centre of Madagascar’s wood carving industry. The highlands are characterized by its architecture: The houses are made with ornately carved wooden balconies and shutters with bright colours. Further on we pass the ‘le col de tapia’, a type of tree resistant to bush fires. The landscape is still dominated by rice fields, pine forests, eucalyptus trees and rocky mountains. We turn off from the main road to reach our destination for the day: Ranomafana National Park.

The approximately 40,000 ha of Parc National de Ranomafana with its rain forest covered hills and abundant wildlife, has long been considered one of Madagascar’s highlights, and is one of the country’s national parks most heavily visited. Its entrance lies about 7 km from Ranomafana village and altitudes in the Park Range from 800 m to 1200 m. In addition to its densely forested hills, Ranomafana’s terrain is characterised by numerous small streams which plummet down to the beautiful Namorona River. Although much of the region has been logged, the easternmost part of the park retains relatively large areas of primary forest. You will go for long walks in the National Park spotting some of the lemurs, chameleons and other animals.

Distance:  355 km

Returning on the road we came on, we leave Ranomafana and visit a local wine farm for wine tasting near Fianarantsoa ‘the city where one learns good things’. Note that visits to the wine farms may not be possible over weekends. The city is the gate to the South, the capital of the Betsileo tribes and the centre of the catholic religion. Most of the best schools in the country are also found here.

We head southwards to Ambalavao and visit the ‘Anteimoro Paper Factory’ which is a vestige of the Arabian civilisation on the island. We then partake in a community based silk weaving project run by the women’s association “Soalandy”. We also visit Anja Park – a community run park where you can see some families of ring-tailed lemurs, also known as “Lemur Catta”.

We pass through the mountain chain of Andringitra, which serves as a transition between the dry south and green highlands with its famous ‘3 hillocks’ and its huge ‘archbishop’s cape’. Along the way we will see from afar a spectacular huge granite dome with twin rock towers called ‘the gate of the south’, which in fact marks the end of the highland and the beginning of the south. The ‘Bishop’s hat’ is another noticeable, imposing formation and a sacred location for the local people – a place where their ancestors chose a collective suicide rather than to give in to the Merina tribes.  We then continue to Ihosy, the capital of the Bara tribes, who are shepherds of Zebu, and further on through the huge ‘Plateaux de Horombe’ with its very deep red soil, which reminds us of ‘the no man’s land’ and we arrive in Isalo.

Today, we will visit and hike in the Isalo National Park. The park covers an area of 81,540 ha, comprising of the entire stretch of the Isalo massif. This huge mountain is very spectacular with its eroded sandstone elevations. Along the way we will see vegetation like Uapaca bojeri, Pachypodium rosulatum or ‘elephant’s foot’ and Aloe isaloensis, a native species of aloe endemic to Isalo. The eroded mountains also served as a place where the Bara kept their dead before they could bury them in their actual tombs.

We start our climb and reach the massif after walking about 20 minutes, where we will have a spectacular view of the huge sandstone mountains with its beautiful colours and its strange and battered formations creating many different images like ‘the tortoise’, ‘the masks’ and ‘the crocodiles’. We see small streams of water, and rivers which are marked by lines of brilliant green, generally made up of numerous Pandanus pulcher and the delicate, slim-stemmed, feathery leaved palm Chrysalidocarpus isaloensis. Along the way, there may be sifakas, brown lemurs and ring-tailed lemurs, as well as fifty-five species of birds, lizards and snakes.

Distance:  265 km

After breakfast, we continue to Tuléar, the terminal of the National Road N° 7. This part of our journey brings us to new scenery among the dry forests of the west and the spiny desert of the south. On the way, we admire the different ‘Mahafaly tombs’ and the ‘Antandroy tombs’. After a short visit of Tuléar we drive to Ifaty, which lies about 27 km from Tuléar. Thanks to the newly tared road, it will take us about 1 hour to reach Ifaty, the driest part of the country. Situated in the Deep South, the landscape is dominated by the cactus-like, spiny forest of different euphorbiaceae and didieraceae. We will cross the dry and sandy soil where the local people battle to find drinking water. Mangrove trees line the coast alternated by Vezo communities which earn their living from fishing. We will see many small pirogues with men who go out fishing twice a day, while children and women wait on the coast to collect the fish before taking them to Tuléar for sale.

Ifaty lies on the beach. It is therefore an ideal place for diving and snorkelling and a popular place for birdwatchers. Here you can also experience the Vezo fishermen’s life. Many excursions are possible on this leisure day. Visit the Reniala Forest where you can see two kinds of baobabs, spiny bush, reptiles like ‘boa madagascariensis’, geckos and the ‘chameleon parsoni’, which is one of the largest chameleons in the world. You can also take a boat trip to see whales. From July to mid-September, whales come to the cool seas of Madagascar to give birth to their young. It is a spectacular experience, and it is possible to see the whales very near to the boat. Situated in the largest lagoon of the country, Ifaty is also protected by a large coral reef, which makes it an ideal place for diving and snorkelling. In the afternoon we can walk to the village of Mangily to visit a local school and experience the Vezo fishermen’s way of life, especially as they return from fishing.

Today is the end of our tour and you will be transferred to the airport for your onward flight.