This trip has annual departure dates and fixed times and travels in a group of 6-24 people. We offer the lowest cost on the market and bring you the best of the island in a price-busting and personalized quality experience

*this year's tour departs on June 15, 2015 and ends on June 25 in Antananarivo. 

**Please contact MTT for pre and post departure hotels and optional activity extensions.

ITINERARY: THE GREAT MADAGASCAR RAINFOREST ROADTOUR 

This tour will cover both the best of the National Route 7, replete with wildlife and spectacular scenery, and the rainforests of breathtaking and unique Ramanofana in the South, and Andasibe in the East, the 2 best in Madagascar.

Day 1: Arrival in Tana. Overnight in Tana

Breakfast at the hotel. Meet with your driver‐guide then hit the road to the north part of the capital to Ambohimanga or Blue hill, where the old summer palace of the last monarch is settled. 

This one-of-a-kind cultural heritage site is considered to be the spot of unification of the Imerina kingdom. At the capture of Antananarivo in 1794, the famous 12 sacred hills of the Imerina country became unified and directed by one and only king: Andrianampoinimerina. Originally born in Ambohimanga, he decided to establish his summer palace in the city, and at death, he was buried there. The ex-royal city was considered as sacred and forbidden to any foreigner. This situation changed in 1897, when Gallieni decided to transfer all the powers to Antananarivo. 

Lunch in a restaurant on the overlook spot. Return to center of Antananarivo in the afternoon. Visit the Old city, situated on the highest hill of the capital city. Visit the Queen's Palace. Return to the hotel at the end of the afternoon. Accommodation and half board in Hotel Sakamanga.

Day 2: Drive to Antsirabe. City tour by pousse-pousse. Overnight in Antsirabe  

Day fully dedicated to visiting Antsirabe or the "Vichy Malagasy." This modest-sized, scenic cultural town is known for its thermal springs. The city economically burst at the arrival of the Norwegian missionaries, who developed pastures thanks to the fresh air, altitude, and climate. The French developed a thermal complex along the Ranomafana lake, where the buildings still remain. Meet with your local guide and transfer by car to the trailhead for trekking through the countryside of Antsirabe.  Walk high through rice fields, encounter peasants and their daily work and life. Lunch. Drive to Tritriva and Andraikiba crater lakes to hear the fascinating history about them. Back to the hotel. Accommodation and half board in Hotel Vatolahy

Day 3: Ranomafana National Park. Night walk. Overnight in Ranomafana     

Possibility of other visits depending on the timing : the park museum and education center are also a free option, and if open, the thermal pool (hot springs.) 

Day 4: Ranomafana. Overnight in Ranomafana

Breakfast  at  the  hotel.  Transfer  by  car  from  the  hotel  to  the  National  Park  entrance.  Discover more of Ranomafana national park, characterized by its unmistakably spectacular rain forest, lying at an altitude of 800 to 1200 meters. It was created in 1990; thanks to the discovery in 1986 of the “golden bamboo lemur” (his scientific name is Hapalemur Aureus). This particular and amazing specie of lemur has strange eating habits and can’t be seen anywhere else. Apart from this you hunt through the woods in search of other species such as:  the  Red‐fronted  brown  lemur,  Red‐bellied  lemur,  and  the  shy  Grey  bamboo  lemur.

Ranomafana appears on all Madagascar birding itineraries, and with good reason: many of the "rainforest- dwelling endemics" occur in the park. Frequently-seen specials include the nationally rare Brown mesite, the lovely   Blue   coua,   Grey‐crowned   tetraka,   the   peculiar   Velvet   asity,   and   the   diminutive Common sunbird‐asity. Ranomafana is a holy grail of herpetology as well, with a variety of  chameleons, geckoes, skinks, snakes and frogs being spotted frequenting the humid rainforest. 

The floral diversity is bewildering, with numerous species of palm, bamboo, and orchid thriving in the sea of green. Note that trails are steep and when it rains, they can also be muddy.Overnight and half board in Setam Lodge.

Day 5: Drive to Isalo. Stop at Anja Park. Lunch there. Overnight in Isalo 

Breakfast at the hotel. Start the day with a walk inside the private park of Anja, which is owned by the villagers and benefits the local community while saving countless (cute) ringtail lemurs, that are extremely friendly and known to even hang out with the guests! You can find there and approach easily the famous "Maki" or Lemur Catta, the emblem of this region but also of the country. This maki is characterized by its ringed tail and appearance in lots of cartoon movies. After the visit, drive to Ranohira. Lunch on the way. Leave behind the highlands once we get over the “Porte du Sud” (Gate of the South), a rock structure crossing the Plateau of Horombe. Arrival late in the afternoon. Accommodation and half board. Welcome to Isalo, Madagascar's magical massif.

Half board and accommodation in Isalo Ranch

Day 6: Isalo National Park. Overnight in Isalo

You will have a full day to visit the National Park of Isalo, the coolest geology of the island. - Ruiniform rocks wildly carved by the wind and the rain give Isalo strange, ghostly shapes as if from another planet. Choose on the spot which way to drive (It is all a great direction!) by following your local guide's advice and your sense of discovery! A lot of tours are proposed depending on your physical capacity and curiosity on foot too, but today, Isalo is your playground. Picnic lunch inside the park. Return on foot to parking where the vehicle is waiting for you. Enjoy a beautifull sunset during an aperitif. Bact to the hotel. Accommodation and half board in Isalo Ranch

Day 7: Visit Zombitse National Park ; Ethnological Museum (If time.) Fly to Tana. Overnight in Tana. 

Zombitse Vohibasia shelters 47% of the endemic birds of Madagascar and a local endemic species: the the Appert’s Greenbul Bernieria. It also counts 8 species of lemurs of which some are almost threatened as the case of the Phaner furcifer pallescens.      

Fly in the afternoon back to the capital and overnight in Hotel Sakamanga.

Day 8: Drive to Andasibe.  Stop at a reptile farm. Lunch en route. Night walk. Overnight in Andasibe.

Breakfast at the hotel. Meet at the hotel in the morning, then begin the beautiful drive east through the National Route 2. This region of Madagascar is characterized by its wet climate thanks to the dense, beautiful, and biodiverse rainforest within. Crossing staggering landscapes dotted with traditional houses and myriad small villages, the road today gives a feel for the traditional lifestyle of the Malagasy people. Incomprehensibly abundant rice paddies, chimney-less long clay red houses, and thousands of roadside markets displaying a variety of handicrafts, endemic and tasty Mada-only fruit, and organic free range meat markets- all this against a pretty backdrop of golden grasslands and granite inselbergs. On the way, visit the Perieyras farm, where you can easily view a wide array of reptiles, like chameleons from the biggest to the smallest in the world (Madagascar hosts both.) Keep on driving past Moramanga. Lunch en route at a cafe. Arrival in Andasibe in the afternoon. Visit Vakona private park. Later on that evening enjoy a Nocturnal visit of the Vakona private park. Dinner and overnight at Indri Lodge

Day 9: Early morning visit of the Indri Reserve. Lemur Island Reserve visit. Overnight in Andasibe 

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer by car to the entrance of the park. Visit today the national park of Andasibe. The Perinet Reserve is well known to be the shelter of the lemur "Indri-Indri," only present in the whole world in this area. This species is considered to be the biggest primate living in Madagascar. At this time of year baby Indris are born, and as the rainy season has just finished, the entire forest is amazingly green and full of life!

Dinner and overnight at Indri Lodge

Day 10:  After breakfast, early morning departure to Tana to meet your flight out. 

Stop at artisan's market for souvenir shopping.

See you again next year!!

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Included in quotation:

• Accommodation on full board accommodation during the stay
• An English speaking Tour Guide during the stay
• All transfers as mentioned (car, motorboat)
• Air ticket: Tuléar - Tana
• An air conditioned bus from Tana to Tuléar, from Tana to Andasibe, fuel included
• All visits and excursions as per detailed program (park entrance fees)
• One water bottle per person per day (on table, in the car, in the room)
• Tips and porters
• Tourists taxes

Not included:

• Drinks
• Optional visits or excursions