Natural Madagascar day-by-day itinerary

Day 2, Tana – Andasibe
Today is a picturesque drive through rolling hills of terraced rice paddies, with zebu (local horned cattle) ambling past. Pass through occasional villages, a riot of colour in the otherwise green landscape.

This is the main road in Madagascar, heading from the capital Tana to the main port at Toamasina, so the driving times can vary quite substantially depending on the traffic. You will stop en route at the Peyrieras Reserve, where they have a netted area with many different species of chameleon, as well as snakes and flat-tailed geckos.

Day 3, Andasibe
Rise early this morning to head to Andasibe National Park, a treasure trove of secondary forest offering superb lemur sightings. Here you can spot the Indri, Madagascar’s largest lemur, and the Diadem sifaka, a wonderfully cute bronze fluffball. Start early when the lemurs are at their most active, and with luck you may see families with young lemurs playing, leaping from branch to branch, chomping on fresh leaves and jostling with each other.

The forest is beautiful, with soaring bamboo groves, giant tree ferns, and moss-covered eucalypts.

Enjoy lunch at a local restaurant before exploring Andisabe village. This is a great opportunity for the children to see local life ‘up close’. Rickety wooden shacks line the main street, selling mounds of exotic fruit and vegetables and long strings of sausages, as scrawny chickens run around, pecking in the dust and groups of children muster the courage to start up a conversation.

In the early evening head out for a nocturnal walk to search for frogs, spiders and nocturnal lemurs. You should be able to spot a Mouse lemur, the smallest lemur in Madagascar with huge eyes and a fluffy body, but only the size of a mouse (it can fit into an egg cup!).

Day 4, Andasibe
This morning you will head to Villager’s Park, set up by the local community as part of a cooperative where the money goes straight back to the village. Walk along the forested track, keeping your eyes peeled for Indri, Eastern bamboo lemur and Red-bellied lemur.

After lunch, take a canoe ride along the Mantadia River, past lush fertile fields dotted with thatch houses. Later visit Lemur Island, a small island where there are a number of lemur that have been rescued from nearby villages where they may have been kept as pets.

Day 5, Andasibe – Palmarium
Today head further east, towards the coast by vehicle and boat. Your destination is a simple lodge in the Palmarium Reserve, the only place left in Madagascar where you can see the Aye-Aye lemur. In the afternoon you can relax on the river beach.

In the early evening, take a (20min) boat ride to a small island where there are eight remaining Aye-Aye. This lemur, made famous by the eponymous Gerald Durrell book, has long been feared and hunted in Madagascar as it is thought to bring bad luck. They are unusual to look at, with a long extending middle finger that they use to extract bugs from inside tree holes (something that would not have developed elsewhere, as woodpeckers would have filled this evolutionary niche). Just a few remain on the island and you will spend an hour spotting them.

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