Madagascar In Depth: Lemurs, Baobabs, and Stone Forests

Arrive in Antananarivo, often called simply “Tana.” Enjoy a welcome dinner and overnight in the capital. The next day, drive through scenic countryside of terraced rice paddies to Antsirabe, a former French colonial town in the highlands.

This lush rainforest shelters many species of lemurs, including red-bellied, black-and-white ruffed, red-fronted brown, eastern bamboo, and Milne-Edwards’ sifaka—as well as the rare golden bamboo lemur. We’ll enjoy day and night walks as we look for lemurs, geckos, and chameleons such as the nose-horned, carpet, canopy, and Perinet chameleons. Ranomafana is also home to a multitude of bird species, including the blue coua, broad-billed roller, velvet asity, and slender-billed flufftail. On one evening here, we enjoy a private talk with a wildlife researcher.

Heading south into the tapia woodlands and palm savannas of the high plateaus, we explore Isalo National Park, whose landscape is dominated by a Jurassic sandstone massif eroded by the elements into surreal ridges, and there are impressive gorges and canyons as well as tiny stalagmite pinnacles. The park shelters endemic plants, ring-tail, red-fronted brown, and Verreaux's Sifaka lemurs, as well as sacred Bara burial sites in the high cliffs.

Zombitse-Vohibasia Park is a rare example of Madagascar's dry, deciduous forest. The park acts as a transition zone between the dry and the humid forests of Madagascar and as a result has a high level of biodiversity. Baobabs and several species of orchids are common here as well as multiple types of lemurs including Verreaux´s sifaka, red-fronted brown, ring-tailed, white-footed sportive, and the Hubbard's sportive lemurs.

A small private park that preserves a third of Madagascar’s remaining tamarind forest, Berenty is a superb place to see a variety of lemurs, from friendly ring-tails to superbly acrobatic sifakas, known for their death-defying tree leaps and the sideways hops they use to get around on the ground.

We view unique baobab trees and plant some baobab seedlings, enjoy an outrigger canoe ride to a traditional fishing village, watch the sunrise over the Avenue of the Baobabs, and discover the Kirindy Forest, a highly threatened ecosystem and habitat for the Verreaux's sifaka lemur and several endemic chameleons. It is also the most likely place to see the elusive cat-like fossa, Madagascar's largest carnivore.

We enjoy a visit to a school outside Tana, then continue through highland countryside to the upland rainforests of Andasibe, whose montane forest has a wealth of lush fern and orchid species, fantastic birdlife, and colorful reptiles including huge Parson’s chameleons, and is also home to the famed Indri lemurs. Our hikes give us a good opportunity to become familiar with the special flora and fauna of Madagascar’s eastern rainforests, and we visit the friendly lemurs on Lemur Island.

The Pangalanes Canal is a series of rivers, waterways, and lakes that runs down the east coast of Madagascar for over 400 miles and we’ll ride along a portion of the canal. Accessible only by boat, the isolation of the forested banks of the Palmarium Reserve is one of the few places where it's possible to come close to some of the least timid and tamer species on the island including the Indri and the sifaka. We take walks through rainforests watching for lemurs, birds, and other wildlife.

We spend a day in the 10 acre sanctuary of Ivoloina Park, visit the famous bazaar in the center of Tamatave, and enjoy a Farewell Dinner in Antananarivo before departing on Day 26.