Top right: You won't believe the lizards in Madagascar. Top left: Or the butterflys. Bottom: The furry critters can be very friendly
14 Day Safari
Itinerary
Day 1 - Arrival in Tana
You will met and transfered to your city center hotel. After you settle in enjoy dinner and an overnight at Hotel Royal Palissandre.
Day 2 - Tana
After breakfast, you’ll be driven by a 4x4 to Antongona, one of the country’s most important spiritual places. An easy hike up the hill brings you to the King's Tombs. With luck the Diviner may be there. Connected to the spirits, these see-ers can share with you your path and potential future. Hear stories that relay the significance of this sacred place from your English speaking guide and learn why it is so important for local people to have such a spiritual safe haven. Break for a barbeque picnic, then in the afternoon, drive back to the town. You will make a stop at a local family house where toys made of recycled tin are manufactured. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Royal Palissandre. All meals included.
Day 3 - More Tana
Morning visit of a pottery village. Traditional lunch with dance and music performed by local musicians and singers. Then you’ll engage in storytelling and other activities at Antshow, a musical oasis created by Madagascar’s most beloved and internationally famous musician, Hanitra. Dinner and overnight at Hotel Royal Palissandre. All meals included
Day 4 - Night Walks in the Perinet
Morning departure is set for a drive through the highlands towards eastern rain forests. Stop to visit La Mandraka Nature Farm, where you are introduced to the different reptiles in Madagascar. After checking in to your lodge, you will have the afternoon to explore the small Vakona reserve. Dinner at the lodge is followed by a night safari walk in the Analmazaotra Forest in pursuit of nocturnal lemur species such as the mouse lemur, the tiniest of the furry little critters. Overnight Vakona Lodge. All meals included.
Day 5 - Encounters of the lemur kind in Mantadia
An early start allows you to look for the Indri Indri, the largest of the lemurs and listen for their haunting "singing call". The hike provides an opportunity to experience and awe at the abundant flora and fauna of the eastern rain forest. After lunch take a short drive to Mantadia National Park, for further wildlife sightings, including a chance of encounters with diademed sifakas. With patience and luck these beautiful, though elusive, lemurs can be seen in their luxuriant, primary rainforest home. Overnight Vakona Forest Lodge. All meals included.
Day 6 - Onward to Isalo
This morning you’ll be driven back to Tanŕ and the airport. You’ll fly south to Tulear. You will be met your driver guide who will escort you to Isalo Park. While the drive is 4 hours long, the scenery is breath taking and makes the time pass by quickly. You arrive in Isalo in time for a sundowner at the famous Isalo Window. The eroded sandstone the area is known for seems to create a frame through which travellers can watch the sun slip down into the earth for the evening. Overnight Relais de la Reine. All meals included.
Day 7 - Discovering the flora and fauna of Isalo
This morning, you’ll visit the Canyon des Makis, which is a tropical oasis cutting into Isalo’s rugged sandstone massif. After lunch, embark on a hike of 6 km to a natural bathing pool, which offers stunning views of the national park and a chance to see some of its fascinating endemic flora. Enjoy a sundowner at the Fenętre de l’Isalo before returning to the hotel. Overnight Relais de la Reine. All meals included.
Day 8 - Through Antanosy villages to Berenty
This morning, you’ll return to the airport for your flight to Fort Dauphin where you will be met and transferred 2.5 hours to the Berenty Reserve. On your day’s journey, you’ll pass through the villages of the Antanosy people who make impressive stone stele and exquisitely carved wooden memorials to the dead, and you’ll learn about the rites and customs that accompany such traditions. After checking in to your room at Berenty Lodge, you can take a guided walk into the bizarre landscape called the Spiny Forest. Overnight Berenty Lodge. All meals included.
Day 9 & 10 - Exploring Berenty's Spiny Forest
The whole day is spent exploring the reserve, who’s shady gallery forest lines the Mandrare River and is home to ring-tailed lemurs, red-fronted brown lemurs and Verreaux’s sifakas, as well as several nocturnal species. As you stroll along Berenty’s quiet trails, close encounters with lemurs are virtually guaranteed and the opportunities for photography are superb. Birds and reptiles are abundant as well and time will also be spent in the ‘spiny forest’, whose endemic didieracae, euphorbias and kalanchoes will delight plant enthusiasts. Take a break in the day to visit the fascinating ethnographic museum, which focuses on the struggle for survival of the local Antandroy people in this arid part of the island. Overnight at Berenty Lodge. All meals included.
Day 11 - Antshow!
You’ll depart Berenty in the morning to drive to Fort Dauphin and visit the tropical Botanic Gardens. You’ll also have lunch at the panoramic Miramar Restaurant before the transfer to the airport and flight to Tanŕ. Upon arrival, you’ll be taken to Antshow, which is a cultural engine of traditional and contemporary Malagasy music and art. Enjoy a traditional Malagasy Dinner and talk by Hanitra. Overnight at Hotel Royal Palissandre. All meals included.
Day 12 - Tana to Sainte Marie
Transfer to the airport and fly to Sainte-Marie. Upon arrival, you’ll be met and taken to your hotel. Overnight at Hotel Soanambo. All meals included.
Day 13 - Sainte Marie
In the morning, you’ll tour the island, taking in the main village of Ambodifotatra, Madagascar’s oldest church, as well as the pirate cemetery. Travellers arriving from November to June will take a traditional pirogue to reach the smaller Ile aux Nattes for a picnic lunch, a swim and time to relax on the beach. From July and October travellers will marvel at the hundreds of humpback whales that gather around Sainte Marie to raise their calves. Overnight at Hotel Soanambo. All meals included.
Day 14 - Farewell to Madagascar
You’ll have the morning free at your leisure. In the afternoon, you’ll transfer to the airport and fly back to Tanŕ, where you may visit the craft market which has some remarkable finds. You’ll have day rooms at the Hotel Soanambo to freshen up, repack before your flight and have a farewell dinner before being transferred to the airport. All meals included.
Itinerary subject to change.
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