DAY 1 : ARRIVAL – ANTANANARIVO
Arrival at the international airport of Ivato-Antananarivo. Upon arrival, meet with our staff at the custom area. Assistance for visa delivery and luggage formalities. Transfer to your hotel. Accommodation on bed and breakfast basis at ROVA Hotel OR Similar.
DAY 2 : ANTANANARIVO – MORONDAVA – CAMP AMOUREUX (domestic flight)
After breakfast, moving toward the airport Ivato for a flight to Morondava capital of Sakalava tribe. Arrived and welcome at aiport then transfer to your Camp. You will take a first excursion toward the baobabs avenue. Visit the baobabs twin, baobabs in love. Arrival and installation at your Camp before nights walk inside the forest. You must spot the fork marked sportive lemur, mouse lemur, reptiles and insects.
Accommodation on Half Board basis at CAMP AMOUREUX.
DAY 3 : CAMP AMOUREUX – KIRINDY – BEKOPAKA (146 +/- 6hours)
Breakfast in the morning and visit before departure by 4X4 car for Bekopaka. You can spot the white-breasted mesite, coquerel`s coua, crested coua, Madagascar cuckoo-roller before two hours visit at Kirindy forest. After crossing the river Tsiribihina with ferryboat. Lunch at Belo Sur Tsiribihina (at your own arrangement). Check-in Bekopaka in the early evening. Accommodation on Half Board basis for 2nights at SOLEIL DES TSINGY hotel or similar.
DAY 4 : Small Tsingy & Big Tsingy (21 KM +/- 8 hours)
Breakfast at hotel. 2hours visit to small tsingy with traditional canoe. Chance on crested coua, Madagascar green pigeon, heron, Madagascar fish eagle, Madagascar harrier hawk, Madagascar pigmy kingfisher, Madagascar magpie-robin, crested drongo, red-capped coua, sickle-billed vanga, white-headed vanga, rufous vanga and grey-headed lovebirds. Continuation for 6 hours visits of the big Tsingy. UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Tsingy of Bemaraha is without doubt one of the most prestigious protected areas in Madagascar. The limestone massif is an ancient coral reef. At Bemaraha, erosion has created deep vertical cliffs, filled with faults and a deep fissure, which form a complex labyrinth of caves and rivers. Overnights
DAY 5 : BEKOPAKA – MORONDAVA (210 Km +/- 8 hours)
Breakfast at the hotel, then return to Morondava. Free lunch. Towards the end of the afternoon we pass by the charming baobab sentinels, the famous « avenue of the baobabs ». Avenue of Baobab is one of the most photographed places in Masdagascar. It is a splendid avenue about 15 km north of Morondava, flanked by imposing specimens of « Adansonia Grandidieri ». The most suggestive moments to admire it are sunset and sunrise, when the colors of the trees change and their long shadows are accentuated. Morondava, located in the heart of the Sakalava territory, is known for the tombs of the Menabe ancestors (their erotic sculptures are famous). The city has one of the mildest climates in all of Madagascar: in fact there are 10 months of hot and dry sunny days, tempered by the sea breeze. Accommodation on Half Board basis at KIMONY RESORT or similar.
DAY 6 : MORONDAVA – BELO SUR MER (100 Km +/- 5 hours)
Breakfast and departure for the typical fishing village of Belo sur Mer overlooking a splendid slightly jagged bay. The village is famous for the presence of numerous artisans expert in the construction of elderberries and schooners (boats of Arab and Breton origin), thanks to which the economy of the west coast of the country has been able to develop. Visit Kirindy Mitea National Park before arriving in Belo/Mer . Possibility to visit also the salt pans, another important source of income for the local population. Free lunch. Accommodation on Half Board basis at ECOLODGE DU MENABE or similar.
DAY 7 : BELO SUR MER – MANJA (105 Km +/- 6 hours)
Early in the morning departure for the village of Morombe through changing landscapes, initially characterized by the presence of large rice fields and fruit trees and then, along the sandy coastal path, dotted with the typical thorny forest and huge baobabs. Stop along the road for breakfast and continue to Manja, where you cross the Mangoky river at low tide, thus reaching the coast. Free lunch. Arrival in Manja for dinner and overnight at the KANTO HOTEL (SIMPLE, Spartan Hotel, without alternative).
DAY 8 : MANJA – ANDAVADAOKA (210 Km +/- 8 hours)
Breakfast and continuation along the track through the typical southern thorny forest to Andavadaoka. ANDAVADAOKA is the most interesting place and point of this route, you must not jump, a great sin not to pass ….), free lunch during the trip. Surrounded by a sea of unspoiled beauty and an enchanting landscape characterized by the thorny forest, with local endemic plants that you will not have the opportunity to admire in any other country in the world. Half board treatment basis at OLO BE LODGE or similar.
DAY 9 : ANDAVADOAKA – ANKASY (80 Km +/- 4 hours)
Leaving around 6:00 am for ANKASY, crossing the magnificent beach, where the Great Barrier Reef of Madagascar begins. Along the way, the fisherman villages will attract your curiosity and the characteristic tombs and funerary art that make them original. On the way, you will cross the forest of dwarf baobabs, then the forest of Mikéa (ancestral people of the region) before bordering a magnificent lagoon for several kilometers. Arrival at ANKASY, installation and Accommodation on Half Board basis for 2 nights at ANKASY LODGE or similar.
DAY 9: MORONDAVA – ANTANANARIVO
Breakfast at the hotel. Flight back to Antananarivo. Arrival in Antananarivo, meet and transfer to your hotel. Accommodation on Half Board basis at AU BOIS VERT HOTEL.
DAY 10 : ANKASY
ANKASY is an exceptional site, on the edge of an emerald and turquoise lagoon, on a superb white sand beach, welcome to Ankasy Lodge, a small world at the end of the world, still preserved from mass tourism. Nestled in a wild and virgin nature, an ecolodge which integrates perfectly into its environment to offer you a parenthesis of happiness and serenity. Ankasy Lodge is one of Madagascar’s best kept secrets, a paradise without artifices, where natural luxury and exotic charm combine to delight the senses, an exceptional discovery that will mark your stay in Madagascar.
Possible activities offer by ANKASY LODGE
- Water activities: water skiing, towed buoy, hobby cat catamaran, mask and snorkel, diving, traditional canoe ride, kite surfing, speedboat excursions, humpback whale watching in season (July July September, see conditions on site).
- Land activities: quad or jeep excursions to the typical vezo village of Tsiandamba, massages, botanical trail, beach volleyball, pétanque, kite flying, archery and pellet rifle, board games, reading.
DAY 11 : ANKASY – IFATY –R ANOHIRA (Isalo) (330 Km +/- 4 Hours tar road)
Leaving early to reach Ranohira. Possibility of frequent stops for picture and to visit Renala reserve and the turtle village in Ifaty if time allowed. Arrived at Ranohira, after sunset in window of Isalo. Accommodation on Half Board basis for 2 nights at ISALO RANCH Hotel or similar.
DAY 12 : RANOHIRA : The Magnificent massif
Breakfast at the hotel and drive to the village of Ranohira to meet your local guide. Transfer to the parking area where you are starting to walk towards the natural swimming pool. In the afternoon, visit of Namaza canyon in visiting the Cascade des Nymphs. Spotting the ring tailed lemur, the verreaux’s sifaka lemur and the red fronted brown lemur during the pick nic lunch with those lemurs. You might spot some bird species as Madagascar Hoopoe, common Newtonia and with the chance
the juvenile long eared owl. Possibility to enjoy the sunset at the natural rock window of Isalo if time allowed. Overnight at Hotel.
DAY 13 : RANOHIRA – AMBALAVAO – FIANARANTSOA (420 Km +/- 6 hours)
Morning departure to get through Fianarantsoa for the very long way drive up to the highland. Stop in Ambalavao for Anja reserve visit, you can spot easily the ring tailed lemur. The scenery begins to change as you travel through the ‘Gateway to the mountain and the attractive countryside of the Betsileo people where granite outcrops dominate the skyline. Here the village architecture also begins to change. Accommodation on half board basis in ZOMATEL hotel.
DAY 14 : FIANARANTSOA – ANTSIRABE (240 km +/- 6 hours)
After breakfast, Continue to Antsirabe through the typical Betsileo villages (the ethnic group of central Madagascar) characterized by typical red earth houses and surrounded by rice paddies along the way stop in Ambositra, the city nestled in the center of a large valley surrounded by peaks covered with lush vegetation that occupies a place of honor in the field of craftsmanship. The Zafimaniry people are famous for their skill in woodworking. Called « the city of roses », in the past it has been able to use its forest resources to make a name for itself in the Malagasy inlay sector. Craftsmanship is visible primarily in the city center, where the balconies of the houses are sculpted with extreme skill. Visit to one of the workshops of the artisans who work the precious wood, including ebony and rosewood. Arrival towards the end of the day in Antsirabe, Half board accommodation at COULEUR CAFE or similar.
DAY 15 : ANTSIRABE – ANTANANARIVO – FLIGHT BACK HOME (170 km- +/-3 hours)
After breakfast, continuation to the capital (Antananarivo). : « Free lunch during the road, to be chosen with the Guide. Upon arrival in the Capital, check in to AU BOIS VERT for day use. Before, to go to the airport, stop to make the handicraft market, a long market, which we find all the local handicrafts of all the 6 Province of Madagascar, are all handmade objects; it must be said that here is the time that we can get to know the COUNTRY well, because we all find it there. Transfer to the airport for departure with our agent.
