Day 1: Antananarivo

After arrival into Antananarivo, you will be welcomed and transferred to a comfortable hotel about 15 minutes drive from the airport, where the group will meet up. 

 

Day 2: Antananarivo to Morondava to Kirindy Forest

We transfer to the airport to check in for the late morning flight to Morondava on the central-west coast. Then we drive to Kirindy, making a photo stop at the famed Avenue of Baobabs. Our targets at Kirindy include the likes of Fosa (Madagascar’s biggest carnivore), Narrow-striped Mongoose, and a plethora of lemurs such as Verreaux’s sifakas and Red-fronted brown lemurs by day, and at night, Pale Fork-marked Lemur, Coquerels Giant Mouse Lemur, Red-tailed Sportive Lemur, and the diminutive Madame Berthe’s Mouse Lemurs. We will also seek the endangered Giant Jumping Rat and Western Big-footed Mouse. In terms of herps we should locate Oustalets Chameleon and Fish-scaled gecko.

 

Day 3: Kirindy Forest

We will make a morning and late afternoon/ night walk in Kirindy Forest in search of its wildlife. Trails are flat and the terrain is easy.

 

Day 4: Kirindy Forest to Morondava

After an early breakfast, we spend a final morning in Kirindy Forest to catch up on species previously missed. Afterwards, we travel back to Morondava to stay overnight in a relaxed and comfortable beach hotel.

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Day 5: Morondava to Antananarivo (flight)

We visit a private forest site near Morondava before we transfer to the airport for the flight to Antananarivo, which acts as a centrally located hub.

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Day 6: Antananarivo to Diego Suarez (flight) to Amber Mountain

We transfer to Ivato Airport to check in for the flight up to Diego Suarez in the far north of Madagascar. On arrival, we travel in 4-wheel drive vehicles to the nearby Montagne des Francais Reserve where we do the easy Baobab Trail walk. Then we head an hour’s drive south to the rainforest-clad Amber Mountain for a two-night stay. Like Kirindy, the private reserve at Domain de Fontenay, can be exceptionally rewarding for nocturnal wildlife viewing. This is a great place for herps, which include a few species of the remarkable Leaf-tailed geckos (Uroplatus). There is also a wide variety of chameleons and frogs, as well as nocturnal lemurs (Arnhold’s Mouse Lemur and Amber Mountain Dwarf Lemur are both common here). Amber Mountain National Park also holds mammals such as Sanford’s Lemur, Ring-tailed Vontsira, and Red Forest Rat.

 

Day 7: Amber Mountain

After breakfast, we’ll visit Amber Mountain National Park, which has some of the most beautiful rainforest anywhere on the “8th Continent”. This isolated rainforest is not part of the eastern rainforest band. As such, there’s a high level of endemism, with many new species having been described from here during surveys over the last couple of decades.

 

Day 8: Amber Mountain to Andrafiamena Andavakoera Protected Area

We drive along some rugged roads to this new protected area, where we stay for two nights in the well set up Black Lemur Camp, a community-managed property on a forested hillside. 

 

Day 9: Andrafiamena-Andavakoera Protected Area

After breakfast we walk into the forest starting directly behind the camp. The main attraction here is a population of one of the world’s 25 rarest primates, Perrier’s Sifaka, whose population may number as few as 150 individuals. Day and night walks in the deciduous forest are delightful. Mammals resident in addition to the sifaka include Daraina Sportive Lemur, Ankarana Sportive Lemur, and Crowned lemur. We will also look for Northern Rufous Mouse Lemur and ‘herps’ like the robust Madagascar Velvet Gecko, Henkel’s Leaf-tailed Gecko, Madagascar Giant Day Gecko, and chameleons such as the unusual Petter’s Chameleon.

 

Day 10: Andrafiamena-Andavakoera to Ankarana National Park

We travel along more rugged roads to Ankarana west, where we stay for two nights in the uniquely stylish Iharana Bush Camp, set on the shore of a shallow wetland, which mirrors its own “private” patch of Tsingy. In the late afternoon/early evening we will go up to a viewpoint in the Tsingy, where we enjoy sundowners. A night walk will take us to the lakeshore near the lodge, where we will look for snakes that congregate to prey on amphibians at night. 

 

Day 11: Ankarana NP (eastern side)

The next area on our program is the otherworldly Ankarana National Park, which has world-class “WOW” factor when it comes to incredible landscapes. Here we’re talking ‘Tsingy’ limestone pinnacle-fields, caves, and wildlife-rich dry deciduous forests. We’ll look for Crowned and Sanford’s lemurs, Ankarana Sportive Lemur ,and a variety of birds including Crested Coua, Sickle-billed, Blue and Rufous Vangas and a variety of herps, such as the localized endemic Tsingy Plated Lizard. Many of the island’s endemic bat species frequent Ankarana’s caves. 

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Day 12: Ankarana to Ankify (drive) to Nosy Be (speedboat)

We next travel through Sambirano countryside to the village of Ankify, then cross by speedboat to Nosy Be island. Here, an excursion to Lokobe National Park should reveal Black Lemur, the critically endangered Hawk’s Sportive Lemur, and the locally endemic Claire’s Mouse Lemur. Herps are prolific in this small tract of Sambirano rainforest, with key species including Minute Leaf Chameleon, Red-legged Plated Lizard, Henkel’s Leaf-tailed Gecko, and Northern Big-eyed Snake. In the late afternoon, we take an excursion for sundowners to Mont Passot, where the sunsets are magical.

 

Day 13: Nosy Be to Antananarivo (flight)

As long as our flight time allows, we will spend the morning at Lokobe. Then we transfer to Nosy Be airport to check in for the flight back to Antananarivo.

 

Day 14: Antananarivo to Palmarium

After breakfast, we head eastwards in 4-wheel drive vehicles. We cross the eastern escarpment, then drop down to Manambato, where we are met and transferred by motorboat to the relaxed Palmarium, for a two-night stay.
 

Day 15: Palmarium Private Reserve

The main attraction here is habituated Aye ayes that live on a wooded islet in a lake. These bizarre lemurs epitomize all that is weird and wonderful about Madagascar’s wildlife. Wildlife is prolific in this small tract of east coast littoral forest, with notable species present including the Critically Endangered Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur.

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Day 16: Palmarium Private Reserve to Andasibe-Mantadia National Park

We transfer back to Manambato, from where we travel inland to the country’s most popular rainforest, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. If time allows we’ll do a night walk. 

 

Day 17: Andasibe-Mantadia National Park

This is Madagascar’s number one protected eastern rainforest area. Here we’ll explore the wildlife-rich rainforest by day and by night, to seek its diverse inhabitants. Iconic mammals here include Indri, Diademed Sifaka, and at night, Eastern Woolly Lemur, Weasel Sportive Lemur, and Goodman’s Mouse Lemur. Birding is superb, with specials such as Blue Coua and Nuthatch Vanga. The area’s herpetofauna is rich, with chameleons including the gigantic Parson’s Chameleon and the far smaller Nose-horned Chameleon and Brown Leaf Chameleon. 

 

Day 18: Andasibe-Mantadia National Park to Antananarivo

After a final morning walk in Andasibe, we drive back up to Antananarivo, where we have the use of day/evening rooms for those departing on Air France early next morning, or stay overnight.

 

Day 19: Departure from Antananarivo

You will be transferred to Ivato Airport to check in for your flight home.