Madagascar Wildlife Photography and Trekking Adventure

ACCOMMODATION
Comfortable Lodges throughout Madagascar

FITNESS LEVEL
A reasonable level of mobility and fitness is important to fully enjoy the parks of Madagascar. Throughout the trip, we will be hiking along narrow trails through pristine forests, sometimes in hilly terrain.

WHAT’S INCLUDED

• 14 day tour in a comfortable vehicle for transfers between parks.
• 13 nights accommodation in a variety of lodges and hotels (single room upgrades available).
• All meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner).
• Park entrance fees to ten of southern Madagascar’s best national parks and private reserves
• Expert local english speaking guides in each region.
• Malagasy, French and English speaking Tour Guide throughout the trip.

NOT INCLUDED

• Flights.
• Soft drinks and alcohol.
• Tips.

Once the sun sets, Madagascar’s diurnal lemurs settle down for the night but the forest remains very much awake.

When the sun dips below the horizon, Madagascar’s diurnal lemurs settle in, but the forest is only just beginning to wake. Nearly half of the island’s 100+ lemur species are nocturnal, including the elusive Aye-aye, the Sportive lemur, and the world’s smallest primate, the Mouse lemur.

Armed with spotlights, we venture into the cooling forest at dusk to search for ‘eye shine’ among the branches. These night walks offer a slower, more intimate pace, where even the chameleons are easier to spot as they turn pale shades to sleep on the leaves. Nocturnal lemurs are often surprisingly curious; don’t be shocked if a tiny Mouse lemur remains perched just a meter away, watching you with wide, amber eyes. If you’ve never experienced the magic of a forest after dark, these night walks will be a revelation!

Day 1: Welcome to Madagascar! We will meet you at Antananarivo (Tana) Airport and bring you to the Grand Hotel Urban located in the heart of the old city.

Day 2: After an early breakfast in Tana, we will make our way up into the hills to Andasibe, deep in Madagascar’s eastern rainforest (approx. 4hrs) and settle into our lodge overlooking the forest. This may be your first chance to see or hear lemurs, before we even set foot on a trail! After lunch and a quick briefing, we’ll head out for an afternoon hike in Vohimana Reserve; the best spot in Madagscar to find blue-nosed chameleons. You can also expect to see enormous Parson’s  chameleons, plus lemurs, bats, and many other endemic Madagascan species.

We return to the lodge to relax for a while before dinner and then head out again for a night walk at Andasibe Orchid Garden; home to tiny nocturnal lemur species such as Goodman’s Mouse Lemurs and Furry-eared Dwarf Lemurs. This is another great spot for chameleons, including leaf chameleons that are so well camouflaged, they’re virtually identical to the leaf litter they inhabit.

Day 3: This morning we will trek deep into Analamazoatra Special Reserve to seek out the world’s largest lemur species; the beautiful Indri. Before you spot them, you will probably hear their haunting calls echoing across the canopy. Numerous other lemurs also live in Analamazotra’s pristine jungle canopy including Common Brown Lemurs and Diademed Sifakas.

After the hike, we’ll head back to the lodge for lunch and a well earned rest, so you will have plenty of time to go through your images or relax in the bar and prepare for your second night walk; this time in Mitsinjo Special Reserve; another great place to see a wide variety of lemur and chameleon species. Watch out for Parson’s Chameleons; the largest chameleon species in the world!

Day 4: After breakfast this morning we will head to Mantadia National Park; a pristine old-growth forest that supports countless endemic species. Mantadia has steep trails, but they are worth exploring for encounters with Red-bellied Lemurs, Diademed Sifakas, Black and White Ruffed Lemurs, and many more. You may also see many amphibians such as the exquisitely-colored Baron’s Mantella Frog. The jungle vistas alone are breathtaking!

We’ll take a well-earned break in the afternoon, but head out for our final night walk in the evening. This time at VOI, a community owned reserve where you have a good chance of seeing Weasel Sportive Lemurs and Eastern Wooly Lemurs.

Day 5: Before we say goodbye to the mountainous rainforest, we’ll make a morning trip to Vakona Wildlife Sanctuary to see some habituated local lemur species at close range. Vakona also has two introduced species of lemurs from the north of Madagascar; Rufus Brown lemurs and beautiful Red Ruffed Lemurs.
After lunch, we will drive southwest to Antsirabe (approx 6hrs) and enjoy a relaxing dinner at a comfortable hotel.

Day 6: This is mostly a travel day but with otherworldly scenery! We will drive out of the central mountains to Kirindi on the west coast of Madagascar. Just before sunset we will stop for dinner at the world famous Avenue of the Baobabs; the iconic, millenia-old trees are a sight to be seen as the sky turns to pink around them.

Day 7: After breakfast at Relais du Kirindy Lodge, we will head into Kirindy National Park to enjoy a morning hike through the flat dry forest where you will undoubtedly encounter many Red-fronted Brown Lemurs and Verreaux’s Sifakas, also known as Dancing Sifakas because they hop sideways along the forest floor. Kirindi is also one of the best places in Madagascar to spot the elusive fossa; the country’s largest terrestrial predator, which looks like a small lioness, but is actually descended from a mongoose.

After the hike, we will return to the lodge for lunch. Kirindi is in the western lowlands so the afternoons can be rather warm. Fortunately, Relais du Kirindy Lodge has a lovely swimming pool where you can relax until supper, or grab a cool drink at the hotel bar.
In the cool of the evening, we will head into a different sector of Kirindi National Park to see nocturnal lemurs including Pale Fork-marked Lemurs, Red-tailed Sportive Lemurs, Gray Mouse Lemurs, and the locally-endemic Madam Berte’s Mouse Lemur; the world’s smallest primate!

Day 8: After a final early morning walk through Kirindy National Park, we will retrace our steps to the Avenue of the Baobabs and then head east to Andasibe to continue our journey south. During the walk in Kirindi you will probably see large families of red-fronted brown lemurs which are quite common in this area. Also, keep a look out for Oustalet’s Chameleons; another of the world’s largest chameleons.

Day 9: After an early breakfast, we will continue south to Ranomafana National Park nestled in the high rainforest. After lunch at the lodge, we will head deep into the mountainous park to look for Ranomafana’s three endemic species of Bamboo Lemurs, plus Milne Edwards Sifakas, and an incredible diversity of beautiful frogs and lizards.

After dinner at the lodge, we will have an easy night walk next to the park. The foliage on the edge of the forest is teaming with chameleons. This is a great place to photograph Blue-legged Chameleons and tiny Dwarf Chameleons, but we also run into mammals so be ready for encounters with Rufus Mouse Lemurs and Crossley’s Dwarf Lemurs.

Day 10: On our second morning in Ranomafana National Park, we’ll head for a stretch of rainforest that is a great place to find southern Black and White Ruffed Lemurs and Red-bellied Lemurs. The bird species here are also very colorful. A couple of species that birders will love are endemic Blue Vangas and Paradise Flycatchers.

After lunch, you’ll have a few hours to kick back and simply enjoy the epic view of the rainforest from the patio of the lodge until we head out on another evening night walk to see more of Ranomafana’s incredible chameleons, frogs, and nocturnal mammals. Ranomafana boasts more species of frogs than anywhere else in the world!

Day 11: After an early breakfast, we will head south out of the tropical central highlands to Anja Park where you will see rambunctious families of Ring-tailed Lemurs; perhaps Madagascar’s most iconic lemur species. Ringtail lemurs live high up in the rocks, but head down to the forest floor each day to forage for food. We will also go for a short hike through the forest to look for other lemurs and endemic reptiles. There is a tiny species of dwarf leaf chamelion at Anja that you won’t see anywhere else in Madagascar.
After a picnic lunch, we’ll continue onward to Relais de la Reine; a luxurious lodge on the edge of Isalo National Park. The lodge is surrounded by exotic spiny desert filled with cactuses and stunted caudiciform trees that look like tiny baobabs. After dinner, you are free to explore the grounds in search of chameleons and other desert species. Remember that there are no venomous snakes in all of Madagascar so you can wander the grounds at night in complete safety.

Day 12: This morning, before the sun warms the desert, we will hike through the spectacular otherworldly terrain of Isalo National Park. This moonscape is home to a surprising amount of exotic flora and fauna including large spinytailed lizards, chameleons, and tiny mouse lemurs. Keep a look out for beautiful white-browed owls roosting in the desert trees.

After lunch,  you will have time to go birding and reptile hunting on a self guided trail next to the lodge.

Day 13: After an early breakfast, we’ll continue on to Zombitse National Park; home of the Zombitse Sportive Lemur which is critically endangered, but relatively easy to see here. You will probably also run into families of Verreaux’s Sifakas and Red-fronted Brown Lemurs, plus some new chameleons and lizards that do not live in the parks further north.

By late afternoon, we will arrive at the Arboretum d’Antsokay; a lovely private park containing introduced flora from numerous dry-zone forests around Madagascar. The gardens and the surrounding scrubland are home to many species of lizards and frogs that you won’t have seen earlier on the trip. Once the sun sets, we will head into the arboretum for a guided night walk to look for Gray-brown Mouse Lemurs, tenrecs (Madagascan hedgehogs), and even more endemic chameleons.
After our farewell group dinner, you’ll probably be busy packing for tomorrow’s flight back to Tana, but save a little time to explore the surrounding forest, which has lots of cool nocturnal critters.

Day 14: One last breakfast together at the Arboretum and then, after fond farewells, we will bring you to Tulear Airport in time for the morning flight to Tana.

Most international flights leave from Tana in the evening, so you’ll have plenty of time to make your transfer, but if you would like to overnight in Tana, we can arrange extra nights for you at the Grand Hotel Urban. If you want to spend a bit more time in the south, we can also help you book a few nights at a beach hotel around Ifany, where there is scuba diving.