Cultural Tourism

Experience the local culture of Madagascar, support community/conservation tourism - and have a good time

A visit to Akany Avoko children's home near Antananarivo offers a closer look at Madagascar's culture and environment. This unique project helps destitute children to help themselves and their environment.
Akany Avoko cares for about 130 children. It is not a sad place. Children from desperate situations are supported in transforming their lives. Akany Avoko offers all levels of education and helps them to grow into happier, more able people.
On a visit to Akany Avoko, you can see the children creating beautiful crafts from raffia, recycled paper, banana bark, and sisal; buy Fair Trade souvenirs; and watch live performances of traditional dance and music. If you are interested in endangered species and deforestation, you can learn about creative initiatives to combat poverty and environmental degradation. Environmental tours, traditional music & dance performances and refreshments can all be booked in advance. New: You can now visit the palace ruins and the local market with a local guide.
You can visit Akany Avoko on any of our tailor-made itineraries and on some of our escorted tours. For further information, visit the Akany Avoko website.
Joanna Lumley is Patron of Akany Avoko.

Projet SoaVezo is a sewing and embroidery project for the women of Anakao, south of Tulear. It provides an alernative source of income for the women, reduces the pressure on octopus fishing (their primary source of income), and empowers them to lead progressive developments for their families and community. The thirty-two women who participate in Projet SoaVezo have helped build six toilets in the village (villagers generally use the high tide zone as their WC) and have led Anakao and Madagascar in its first participation in International Coastal Clean-up Day.
The women congregate at the Centre Sociale, behind the village approximately 200 meters from the Catholic Church, to use the four manual sewing machines to produce shirts embroidered with marine species. Visitors are encouraged to visit the center and talk with the women. These Vezo women are inspiring. By custom, the women are responsible for taking care of the children, cooking, cleaning, selling the fish that their husbands’ catch, and generating any additional income needed to care for their families. These motivated women often work through lunch in order to finish their goods. Purchasing a shirt from the project supports the sustainable development of Anakao.

Project Ifotaka
In southern Madagascar, about 30 km north of Berenty, the dry spiny Ifotaka Forest and its strong cultural tradition are threatened by increasing deforestation, cattle grazing, and the hunting of species such as lemurs, fosa and tortoises as the local Antandroy population grows. This unprotected forest, rich in biodiversity (95% of species endemic to the area) contains lemurs including ring-tail, sifaka, mouse lemur and sportive lemur.
Project Ifotaka is engaged in scientific work, including the cataloguing of medicinal plants and recording Antandroy resource management; educational work aimed at promoting awareness of the value of the biodiversity of the spiny forest; and development work, including the formulation of a management strategy and a basic tourism infrastructure. Tours - from Fort Dauphin or Berenty - allow the visitor to actively contribute to the conservation of this rich habitat and participate in rural Malagasy life.
Project Ifotaka is a BP Conservation Award winner.

If you are travelling overland to Isalo, we recommend you visit Feedback Madagascar/CCD Namana's silkworks at Ambalavao.
Feedback Madagascar has been operating in Eastern Madagascar since 1992, and supports the development of projects at the request of local people.
Projects focus on:
*Relieving poverty through income generating activities,
*Improving the local stewardship of natural resources (especially rainforest),
*Advancing the provision of education,
*Promoting primary health care.