A Day 1, 17th October, 2023: Arrive to Antananarivo

Antananarivo – Fly into Ivato Airport in Antananarivo (from Paris on Air France, from Johannesburg on South African Airways, or from Nairobi on Kenya Airways), the capital of Madagascar, known as “Tana” for short. From the airport, we will be driven to the venerable Hotel Colbert located in the upper town and in continuous operation since colonial times. Overnight and dinner at the Hotel Colbert.

B Day 2, 18th October, 2023: Antananarivo to Andasibe

After breakfast we head off on the well-maintained Route Nationale 2 through the verdant Imerina countryside until we reach the World Heritage site of ‘ala atsinanana’, the eastern rainforest, about 4 hours from the capital. All the while we will pass amazing and unique scenery and witness the highly photogenic locals going about their daily business. After lunch at Feon’ny Ala restaurant, we check into Mantadia Lodge. In the evening, we explore the forest on a night walk searching for tenrecs, chameleons and nocturnal lemurs. Dinner and overnight at Mantadia Lodge.

C Day 3, 19th October 2023: Day visit to Mantadia National Park

Rise early to hike into the forest of Analamazaotra to see and hear the totally unforgettable indri lemurs as they wail vociferously proclaiming their territory. Expert local guides will help us find a host of other strange Madagascan mammals, birds and reptiles.
After lunch in Andasibe we will move to the Vakôna Lodge where we will explore the surrounding forests with a visit to ‘lemur island’ on the premises of the hotel for direct interaction with some of its inhabitants. This is an excellent forest for a night walk too. Dinner and overnight Vakôna Forest Lodge.

D Day 4, 20th October, 2023: Analamazaotra / Palmarium

After a morning visit in the Mantadia forest we will head east to the coast. We will have a picnic lunch en-route. We will continue to the colonial town of Manambato on the coastal plain, where a 10-km track leads to the Pangalanes Canal, a waterway that runs parallel to the coast from the harbor town of Toamasina almost all the way down to the southern tip of the island. A boat will be waiting at the canal port of Ambila-Lemaitso to take us to Ampitabe Lake about 50km to the north, home to the Palmarium private reserve. All the way the journey will be fascinating while accompanied by continuous greetings of ‘Salud Vaza!’. We will stop en-route as often as time allows to interact with and photograph the endearing locals and their environment in the beautiful rural landscape. We will stay at Palmarium for two nights allowing ample time to enjoy the reserve and the lake (including swimming from the beach). The coastal forest that is the setting for the reserve boasts a wide variety of Madagascan palms, including Dypsis, Ravenea, Orania, Voanioala, Lemurophoenix and of course Ravinala – the ‘traveler’s palm’, many orchids and a host of different faunal species. We do night walks to find aye-aye and sportive lemurs. During the day we hope to see black and white ruffed lemurs, crowned lemurs, indri, sifakas and woolly lemurs, (not forgetting chameleons, bizarre lizards, insects and new tenrecs – hedgehog-like animals) we will be kept very busy photographing, exploring on our own, interacting with local fishermen on the beach or simply communing with the lemurs – most of which are totally habituated to humans. Overnight at Palmarium.

E Day 5, 21st October, 2023: Palmarium

Full day in and around the trails of Palmarium with a visit to a local fishing village for those that wish. A night visit to the Aye-Aye island to see the most bizarre of all the lemurs. Overnight at Palmarium.

F Day 6, 22nd October, 2023: Palmarium /Tamatave

Last morning in the beautiful forest of Palmarium and after lunch we travel by boat for 3 hours to Tamatave. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Calypso.

A Day 7, 23rd October, 2023: Tamatave to Antananarivo

Morning flight from Tamatave back to Tana. We will explore this lovely city with its markets and friendly people and dinner and overnight at Hotel Colbert.

G Day 8, 24th October, 2023: Antananarivo to Berenty Reserve

We will fly from Tana to Fort-Dauphin to meet our drivers for one of our favorite road trips to arrive to Berenty Reserve. We Will have a picnic lunch en-route and arrive in time for an afternoon walk in the forest. Berenty is situated at the point where the spiny dry-forest meets the lazy Mandrare river. This is home to one of Madagascar’s most iconic species, the ring-tailed lemur. We will have two, very busy, full days to enjoy Berenty. From dawn we will begin exploring the grounds and interacting directly with the ring-tailed lemurs which will seem to be everywhere. As it warms up Verreaux’s sifakas will become active and a highlight will be to watch them ‘dance’ across the open ground as they move between feeding trees. We will see brown lemurs, sportive lemurs and a host of birds including giant couas, Madagascar scops owls, vangas and cuckoo rollers. With luck we may even spot a radiated tortoise or two. After dinner we will head to the spiny forest of Dideraceae in search of minuscule, nocturnal, mouse lemurs. Meals and overnight in Berenty.

H Days 9 & 10 , 25th & 26th October, 2023: Berenty

Full days in the Berenty reserve and the surrounding area where we will also interact with the local people. Meals and overnight in Berenty.

I Day 11, 27th October, 2023: Ifotaka to Antananarivo

We will fly by private charter from Ifotaka to Tana for lunch and Overnight at Hotel Colbert.

A Day 12, 28th October, 2023: Antananarivo to Anjajavy

After breakfast we transfer to Tana airport for our flight to Anjajavy. The exclusive Anjajavy is only accessible by aircraft where the hotel is situated on a small peninsula adjacent to beautiful sandy beaches and pockets of deciduous forest and mangroves. This is a bird watcher’s paradise with endemic species including the bizarre sickle-billed vanga and the extremely rare Madagascar fish eagle as well as Madagascar sacred ibis, vasa parrot, grey-headed lovebirds, red-capped coua, Coquerel’s coua, crested coua and Madagascar pygmy kingfisher. Lemurs include the charming Coquerel’s sifaka, brown lemur, mouse and sportive lemurs. We aim to see many other species including flying foxes, lizards, boas and chameleons. Overnight and all meals at Anjajavy.

J Day 13, 29th October, 2023: Anjajavy

Snorkeling at Maromba Bay (equipment provided by the hotel)
We will visit the coastal baobab forest at Moromba Bay for snorkelling and hopefully good looks at the Madagascar fish eagle. Overnight Anjajavy.

J Day 14, 30th October, 2023: Anjajavy

Another full day at Anjajavy starting with early morning nature walk and ending with a night walk. Overnight Anjajavy.

A Day 15, 31st October, 2023: Anjajavy to Antananarivo