Travel Detail

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.

Distance: 150 km

Departure: 10h00

Mantadia Lodge opened March 10, 2018. It is located on a Hill 100 meters high allowing him to enjoy a panoramic view of the forest. The hotel offers 25 rooms including 10 Twins and 1 family suite for 5 people. All rooms offer the comfort of a 3 star with Wi-Fi, cable TV, panoramic views with private terrace, indoor lounge and a wood stove for the cool season. The restaurant has also been designed with an exceptional view thanks to these huge windows and a terrace of 40 square meters for a single lunch. There is a bar and a lounge with reading area. In the morning you may be woken by the song of Indri Indri, these lemurs that can only be seen in Andasibe Park. The hotel also has an infinity pool and 2 massage parlors. The whole team is waiting for you to make your stay unforgettable. Mantadia lodge offers in its shop 2 ranges of sweaters and shall: the cashmir and the natural silk of Madagascar. You will also find products and souvenirs made by local artisans: jewelry, decorative objects, honey, wild pepper.

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.

Mantadia Lodge opened March 10, 2018. It is located on a Hill 100 meters high allowing him to enjoy a panoramic view of the forest. The hotel offers 25 rooms including 10 Twins and 1 family suite for 5 people. All rooms offer the comfort of a 3 star with Wi-Fi, cable TV, panoramic views with private terrace, indoor lounge and a wood stove for the cool season. The restaurant has also been designed with an exceptional view thanks to these huge windows and a terrace of 40 square meters for a single lunch. There is a bar and a lounge with reading area. In the morning you may be woken by the song of Indri Indri, these lemurs that can only be seen in Andasibe Park. The hotel also has an infinity pool and 2 massage parlors. The whole team is waiting for you to make your stay unforgettable. Mantadia lodge offers in its shop 2 ranges of sweaters and shall: the cashmir and the natural silk of Madagascar. You will also find products and souvenirs made by local artisans: jewelry, decorative objects, honey, wild pepper.

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 recognized as the “capital of aluminum 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: 309 km

Hotel Plumeria welcomes you in a warm and charming setting. Arranged noble wood, typical of sculpture and works of famous Malagasy artists. Located in the center of Antsirabe Madagascar, 150m from the station, 7km Lake Andraikiba, 17km from Lake Tritriva, 30km Mount Ibity.

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.

Distance: 250 km

Arriving at the Setam Lodge on the edge of Ranomafana National Park, the first thing you will notice (providing it is daylight!) are the magnificent views of the mountains and rainforest. The lodge has been built to make the most of its location, so the restaurant has huge windows to allow in as much of the view as possible and all of the rooms have small terraces facing down over the valley. Stone steps lead up the hillside to ten chalets, each containing ensuite bathrooms. The décor of the rooms is fairly simple; but has everything you will need.

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.

Arriving at the Setam Lodge on the edge of Ranomafana National Park, the first thing you will notice (providing it is daylight!) are the magnificent views of the mountains and rainforest. The lodge has been built to make the most of its location, so the restaurant has huge windows to allow in as much of the view as possible and all of the rooms have small terraces facing down over the valley. Stone steps lead up the hillside to ten chalets, each containing ensuite bathrooms. The décor of the rooms is fairly simple; but has everything you will need.

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 then head southwards to Ambalavao and visit the ‘Anteimoro Paper Factory’ which is a vestige of the Arabian civilization on the island. Afterwards, we partake in a community-based silk weaving project run by the women's association "Soalandy".

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.

Isalo Rock Lodge is a modern and stunning 60 Room Retreat, positioned high in the Sandstone Mountains, overlooking the Isalo National Park in south western Madagascar.The views from the lodge are breathtaking. Whilst luxury abounds in the hotel with all modern amenities, Isalo is home to many species of flora and fauna, including, the Giant Chameleon and the renowned Lemurs. A discerning destination for the world traveller offering a travel experience in its own right. Isalo Rock Lodge is a destination rather than just a hotel and guests will leave having experienced one of the most memorable adventures one can imagine. Madagascar is one of the most interesting islands on the planet, and experiencing some of natures most intriguing secrets and guests at Isalo Rock Lodge will be assured of luxury accommodation, outstanding cuisine at one of the most special and spectacular locations in Madagascar.

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.

Isalo Rock Lodge is a modern and stunning 60 Room Retreat, positioned high in the Sandstone Mountains, overlooking the Isalo National Park in south western Madagascar.The views from the lodge are breathtaking. Whilst luxury abounds in the hotel with all modern amenities, Isalo is home to many species of flora and fauna, including, the Giant Chameleon and the renowned Lemurs. A discerning destination for the world traveller offering a travel experience in its own right. Isalo Rock Lodge is a destination rather than just a hotel and guests will leave having experienced one of the most memorable adventures one can imagine. Madagascar is one of the most interesting islands on the planet, and experiencing some of natures most intriguing secrets and guests at Isalo Rock Lodge will be assured of luxury accommodation, outstanding cuisine at one of the most special and spectacular locations in Madagascar.

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.

Distance: 265 km

Le Paradisier is built above the southern beach of Ifaty, around ten minutes from the village. The lodge has been designed to make the most of the landscape around it. The incredible spiny forest plants line the stone pathways, the main restaurant has floor to ceiling windows to take in the views, and the infinity pool drops off into the ocean. There are twenty luxury rooms and one suite, all facing the water. The ten original rooms are built in stone rondavels.

Ifaty lies on the beach. It is therefore an ideal place for diving and snorkeling 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 snorkeling. 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.

Le Paradisier is built above the southern beach of Ifaty, around ten minutes from the village. The lodge has been designed to make the most of the landscape around it. The incredible spiny forest plants line the stone pathways, the main restaurant has floor to ceiling windows to take in the views, and the infinity pool drops off into the ocean. There are twenty luxury rooms and one suite, all facing the water. The ten original rooms are built in stone rondavels.

Early in the morning at around 6h00 we transfer to the airport for the flight back to Tana. After check-in at the hotel, you have the afternoon free to explore and to do some sightseeing. The capital of Madagascar is also called the ‘City of Thousands’ and it is where the first King started to unify the different kingdoms of the island. Tana was built in three stages: The high city, the first area occupied during the regal period where the old queen's palace is situated; the mid-city, where all the chic boutiques of the capital are found; and then the low city, which is the commercial area of the town.

Walk from the high city to see the Rova, the queen's palace, and the house of the first minister during these days, which is now a museum. All of these were built by Frenchman Jean Laborde during the royal period. The mid-city, or the administration area, ends at the Rainiharo tombs and the lower town is situated in the main avenue called ‘L'avenue de l'independence’ dominated by the railway station.

Distance: 20 km

Accommodation: Radisson Water Front Hotel formerly Tamboho Hotel

Experience timeless comfort with the warmth of Malagasy hospitality at Radisson Hotel Tamboho Antananarivo Waterfront, Antananarivo Waterfront. Explore the heart of Madagascar's capital from this centrally-located hotel, nestled in the secure and modern Tana Waterfront. The private location is close to the recently established premier business district - just steps away from entertainment, shops, and businesses. Relax by the rooftop pool and admire the view, or work up a sweat at the fitness center. For a tasty meal, the restaurants offer a variety of international dishes, grilled meats, and fresh seafood.

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