Up on arrival in the capital, we pick you up at the airport and bring you to a comfortable hotel in the city center.

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Hotel Chalet des Roses

After a good night’s rest and a sturdy breakfast, you leave in our 4-wheel drive on a 3 to 4 hours trip to Andasibe in the east of the country. The Andasibe – Mantadia NP (better known as Périnet) is home to the biggest of all lemurs, the Indri indri. That evening a walk is planned to give you the opportunity to see nocturnal animals, such as mouse lemurs, chameleons, geckos and tree frogs, in action. Two nights in the luxurious Vakona Forest Lodge.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Vakona Forest Lodge

A professional guide leads you through the park all morning. You will surely see the Indri indri and there’s also a good chance of spotting bamboo lemurs, brown lemurs and the biggest of all chameleons: The Parson’s chameleon. After lunch, you can visit a shelter for lemurs located on an island on the hotel grounds, where you get a good chance to photograph some animals spotted earlier in the wild. You’ll see the brown lemur and the black and white ruffed lemur as well as the dancing sifaka. At the other side of the estate there’s a former crocodile farm. In the lake, there are still dozens of these prehistoric monsters around.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Vakona Forest Lodge

After breakfast, a three-hour drive to Manambato, the gateway to the Canal de Pangalanes. The Pangalanes are formed by hundreds of kilometres long succession of lakes, creeks and lagoons, which are connected by canals. In colonial times the water was used for transport, but now it has become so overgrown that only the small pirogues of local fishermen can still easily find their way there. A unique nature reserve, and your accommodation (Palmarium) is right in the middle of it! A boat will take you there over Lake Akanin'ny Nofy and the different arms of the Canal.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Palmarium Hotel Ankanin'Nofy

There is a beautiful nature reserve on the peninsula, which is the domain of Palmarium. Here you can take walks (with a guide or on your own) and encounter dancing sifakas, Indri Indri and other lemurs. The lush jungle is also home to a fine selection of carnivorous plants. You can also continue on the Canal by boat. Birdwatching along the shores or visiting a fishing village situated on the narrow isthmus between the Canal and the Indian Ocean. At night, a nocturnal visit is planned to spot the mysterious Aye aye.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Palmarium Hotel Ankanin'Nofy

After breakfast, the Palmarium boat will take you back through the creeks to where your driver is waiting for you. Then you drive in a few hours to Andasibe where you spend the night in now familiar chalets.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Vakona Forest Lodge

A six-hour drive (with stops of course) along the Route National 7 will take you to Antsirabe. It is the capital of the pousse pousse, a type of brightly coloured rickshaw operating solely on manpower. This charming town has some beautiful historical colonial buildings, which make it the perfect place for a stopover on your way to the south. You’ll stay at the beautifully located Résidence Madalief, a very comfortable guesthouse that is part of a Dutch NGO that helps orphans in Madagascar.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Residence Madalief

After breakfast you will drive to a crater lake 20 kilometres away. After you have explored this, you can jump on our mountain bikes to make a beautiful guided bike ride through the authentic hinterland. This tour will stay with you for a long time because of the casual encounters with the rural residents who are happy to pose in front of your camera. There is still plenty of time to visit the charming town of Antsirabe in the afternoon.

Meals: Breakfast, Dinner

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Residence Madalief

After breakfast, you will be heading for Ranomafana National Park, where you’ll arrive 5 hours later. This evening or the next, you’ll get the chance to go spot nocturnal animals in the wild. You’ll stay two nights in a very comfortable hotel in the town center.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Centrest Hotel Restaurant

The Ranomafana NP became world-famous in the eighties when a new kind of lemur was discovered there: the golden bamboo lemur. A professional guide will lead you through the park in search of this unique animal and other kinds of lemurs. In the afternoon, it’s time to enjoy a relaxing bath in the natural hot springs of a nearby spa.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Centrest Hotel Restaurant

A three-hour drive takes you to Ambalavao. It’s highly enjoyable to ramble around in the streets of this picturesque fairy tale town. You can also visit a local project where women make paper the traditional way.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: BETSILEO COUNTRY LODGE

On your way to Isalo you will stop in a small park called Parc d’Anja. You’ll go for a short walk to spot ring-tailed lemurs, perhaps the best-known kind of lemur. You will sleep twice in Isalo staying in a very comfortable ranch.

Guide: Included for the day

Meals: Breakfast, Lunch

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: ISALO RANCH

Experts agree, Isalo is the most impressive park in the south of this beautiful island. Today you will spend all day exploring this park with its waterfalls, natural swimming pools and adventurous canyons. In the midst of this wilderness you’ll enjoy a beautiful BBQ lunch surrounded by playing ring-tailed and red fronted brown lemurs.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: ISALO RANCH

The Route National takes you to Tulear where you’ll take a coastal road to a little beach town named Ifaty. You will stay here for two nights in a luxurious hotel with an activity center that organizes everything from kite surfing to scuba diving.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Hotel de la Plage Ifaty Tuléar

Depending on the season, today is a day for snorkelling in a nearby reef or to go whale watching on the ocean. Needless to say, Ifaty is also an ideal place to relax after your southern adventure.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Hotel de la Plage Ifaty Tuléar

A one-hour morning flight takes you back to the capital, where you’ll spend the night in the same hotel you did the first night.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Hotel Chalet des Roses

You can keep your room today until the transfer comes to pick you up for your transfer to the airport. The city can be explored in the afternoon. Lots of activity on Independence Avenue and the surrounding markets. With a taxi you can easily get to the highest point of the city where the palaces of the last queen and that of her prime minister are worth a visit.

Meals: Breakfast

Accommodation:

• Mid-Range Accommodation: Hotel Chalet des Roses

Today you will be pick-up from your accommodation and transfer to the airport for your departure flight.

Meals: Breakfast