Madagascar Discovery Tour

2008 escorted small group tours, which take you to some of the most interesting wildlife sites in Madagascar

Rainforest at Perinet

For the eighth year, LALAINA RAMAROSON leads our 'Madagascar Discovery Tour'. Small group tours are an easy and more affordable way to discover Madagascar. Comfortable or best accommodation is used throughout.

Lalaina Ramaroson (pictured here at Ivato Airport) qualified as a professional guide in 1996. He has worked as a travel agent cum guide for a leading destination management company in Antananarivo, Madagascar. He has led British, South African and American groups and worked with specialists, including Nick Garbutt and Ian Davidson, and journalists from major British national papers. In 2005, he spent three months in London on secondment to Rainbow Tours, to experience the other end of the travel business.

MADAGASCAR DISCOVERY TOUR

7 - 25 November, 2008
Tour leader: Lalaina Ramaroson

ITINERARY

7 Depart from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport on the Air Madagascar overnight flight to Antananarivo†.

8 Your tour leader, Lalaina Ramaroson, will meet you on arrival. Depart for Analamazaotra, travelling through Merina territory with the characteristic brickworks, paddy-fields, and villages. The journey takes about 3½ hours. Introductory walk in the rainforest. Vakona Forest Lodge.

9 Day for the rainforest reserve of Périnet. You are nearly certain to see the famous Indri. Other species include the Grey Bamboo lemur, common brown lemur, some of the rainforest dependent groundrollers, Parsons and short-horned chameleons and Madagascar day gecko. On our night walk, we may see the Greater Dwarf lemur, Rufous mouse lemur, Small-toothed Sportive lemur and Eastern Woolly lemur. Vakona Forest Lodge.

10 After a last day in either walk in either Périnet or Mantadia National Park, travel overland to Antananarivo. Overnight at the Royal Palissandre Hotel & Spa, which has magnificent views over the capital, a gym and spa, and an outdoor swimming pool.

11 Transfer to the airport for the flight to Fort Dauphin. Flight schedule permitting, visit the Nahampoana Reserve or tour the city. Overnight at Le Croix du Sud.

12 After an early breakfast, travel overland to Berenty Reserve (about 2½ hrs on deteriorating road). Introductory walk in the spiny forest. Berenty Lodge.

13 Best known for its large and well habituated populations of Ringtail lemur and the ‘dancing’ Verreaux’ sifaka, Berenty also holds a wide variety of birds, reptiles and fascinating dry country flora; and contains two of the only four remaining stands of gallery forest in the entire Mandrare River valley. Berenty Lodge.

14 Travel to Fort Dauphin for the Air Madagascar flight to Tulear. Overnight at Paille en Queue.

15 Travel north, past the Antandroy and Mahafaly tombs (much larger than those in the highlands and adorned with bright, animated paintings of scenes from the lives of the departed), majestic baobabs and the sapphire-mining town Ilakaka, to Zombitse Forest National Park (about 3 hrs, excluding stops).
Contine to to Isalo National Park to stay 2 nights at Renes d'Isalo.

16 In the morning, we visit the so-called Canyon des Singes, where we hope to see Verreaux sifaka and Ringtails, and the Namaza waterfall, where we have a picnic lunch and expect to spot brown lemurs. Return to the hotel to relax and enjoy the pool before our late afternoon excursion to La Fenêtre, where we watch the sun set.

17 Travel north to Ambalavao, to visit the silkworks and the Antaimoro paper “factory” and Anja Park, where Ringtail lemurs may be observed among granite domes. Continue to Fianarantsoa to overnight at Tsara Guesthouse, which provides fine food and wonderful views over Madagascar’s second city.

18 It is now a short drive to Ranomafana National Park and we begin our exploration of this rich and beautiful rainforest. Centrest Sejour

19 Full day for Ranomafana National Park. In this montane rainforest, 12 species of lemur find sanctuary, including all three species of bamboo lemur. Two - the Golden and Greater Bamboo lemur - are found almost nowhere else. Other key species include the Milne-Edwards Sifaka and Red-bellied lemur. We may see five or more species of lemur in a single day here. Ranomafana is a delight for twitchers, who come to see rarities like brown mesite, rufous-headed ground-roller, yellow-bellied sunbird asity and Pollen's vanga. During the night walk, we would hope for sightings of the mouse lemur, striped civet and, with luck, the leaf-tailed gecko. Centrest Sejour.

20 Those willing to get up early will return to the rainforest to search for species missed the previous day. Afterwards, travel north through Betsileo country and the rice paddies of these very industrious people to Antsirabe. Overnight at Residence Camelia, a small hotel with lovely gardens.

21 Visit the market, where the produce reflects the altitude of Antsirabe, and traditional crafts workshops. Towards the end of the day, complete the journey to Antananarivo (about 2½ hrs). Overnight at the Royal Palissandre Hotel & Spa.

22 Transfer to the airport for the Air Hotel flight to Anjajavy, where we stay in luxurious, air-conditioned beachfront accommodation for 3 nights. Here, we explore the dry deciduous forest during the early morning and late afternoon for wildlife, birds and reptiles unique to western Madagascar.
We will also visit one of the local villages to see the developments achieved in partnership with Ecole du Monde. Between times, you can enjoy the beaches and the pool, go waterskiing, sit in ‘The Oasis’, hire a mountain bike, enjoy a massage... Anjajavy Hotel.

25 Depart on the Air Hotel flight to Antananarivo. Time permitting, we tour the city and visit the artisans’ market before an early farewell dinner. Transfer to the airport for the Air Madagascar overnight flight to Paris CDG.

27 Arrive in Paris and connect with the flight to London.

Price: £3095 per person sharing
Single supplement: £425
Maximum number: 8

Price includes:
All international and domestic flights specified (economy class); airport taxes; all transportation, accommodation and meals; all transfers; guides in and entrance permits to the reserves specified; the services of your English-speaking guide, Mr Lalaina Ramaroson*, throughout the tour.

Not included:
Gratuities, items of a personal nature, travel insurance, Madagascar entry visa.

This itinerary can be extended to allow you to visit another reserve or to enjoy a beach holiday. Please contact us for further details.

† Participants from North America may wish to join the tours in Paris, Johannesburg or Antananarivo. People travelling from Australia and New Zealand will generally prefer to join in Johannesburg or Antananarivo. Contact us for further details.

Please note that Madagascar is a poor country new to tourism and with an undeveloped tourism infrastructure. This itinerary has been arranged in good faith and based on the best local information available in September. However, things change in Madagascar and flight schedules can be altered, sometimes at short notice. We reserve the right to alter the accommodation specified and the order of this itinerary in what we consider to be the best interests of the participants.

* Lalaina Ramaroson was mentioned in an article in The Guardian on 5 August 2000, which you can read on the paper's website.

COQUEREL'S SIFAKAS AT ANJAJAVY by David Rogers

Updated 1 December, 2007