Wildflife and Photo tour with guide Armel

Arrival with AF 0934 at 21.40 or with ET853 at 13.40
Meet and greet at Ivato International Airport and transfer to the city. Check in at the hotel and Overnight stay in CHAT’O PARK HOTEL OR SIMILAR

(87 km about 3 to 4 hour-drive)

After an early breakfast transfer to the airport and flight to Fort Dauphin in the extreme southeast of Madagascar. Reception at the airport and drive on bumpy roads (National Road 13) to the 250 hectare Berenty private reserve of the old-established De Heaulme family, founded in 1936 (flight must arrive in Fort Dauphin before 2 pm, otherwise an overnight stay in the city with its museum in Fort Flacourt, built by the French in 1643, and its beautiful bays is necessary due to the long car journey).

On the drive to Berenty there are attractive memorials for deceased of the Antanosy tribe near the road. 40 km northwest of Fort Dauphin is the 76020 hectare National Park Andohahela (since 1997), with several ecosystems (humid tropical forest, dry thorn bush land and transition area between the two biotopes) and hiking trails. In Andohahela, but also at the top of the pass, you can see on the mountainside some of the few remaining palms with a three-line crown (“triangular palm”, Dypsis decaryi), which is endemic to this area. After 45 km at Ranopiso the road drops off to the west and the dry thorn country is reached, with a much drier climate than Fort Dauphin. On the way you will see many thorn plants (allaudias) and just before Berenty also large sisal plantations near the town of Amboasary Sud on the Mandrare River. Saturday is market day here. A 400 meter long bridge leads over the river. The Berenty Reserve was open exclusively for scientific purposes until 1975. It was then continuously expanded and made accessible to tourists. Dinner and overnight stay at the GITE OF BERENTY

After breakfast, visit of the reserve accompanied by a local guide: dry forest on the Mandrare river, succulents and thorny plants, various lemurs (kattas, sifakas, mouse lemurs, etc.) and birds (couas, vangas, drongos, falcons…) The reserve offers best observation and photography opportunities of lemur groups (mostly red-fronted macaws, large catta groups and sifakas, the “dancing lemurs”. The latter can be well photographed when they hop sideways over the relatively wide paths. It is also possible to go on a photo stalk alone and visit the interesting museum Arembelo with lots of information about the people living here and the culture of the Antandroy. Next to it is a “model village” in the architectural style of the Antandroy and a small garden with impressive specimens of thorn plants in the south of Madagascar. On adventurous night excursions in the light of the flashlights you will meet mouse lemurs in their feeding areas of the thorn forest. A good 80 endemic bird species populate the forests. You also meet ray turtles and various species of chameleon. Dinner and overnight stay at the GITE OF BERENTY

(100 km about 3 to 4 hour-drive)
Morning free. Drive back to Fort-Dauphin in the afternoon then. Dinner and night at the hotel CROIX DU SUD OR SIMILAR

ANTANANARIVO 09:35/11:35

Transfer to the airport and flight to the capital city.  Meet at the airport and transfer to the city.

Overnight at the hotel CHAT’O OR SIMILAR

MORONDAVA 12:00/13:10 – KIRINDY RESERVE (45 km about 2 hours)
Flight to Morondava. Reception at the airport and drive directly through Baobab Alley to the Kirindy Reserve. By the way, the German Primate Center Göttingen operates a field station in Kirindy since 1993. The researchers’ investigations are mainly concerned with the behaviour and ecology of lemurs, but also cats of prey, birds and chameleons are studied. Despite the extraordinary biodiversity and massive destruction of the remaining dry forests, the Kirindy region was not protected until 2013 (Site de Consérvation Menabe-Antimena). Night hike on the paths created for visitors in the reserve. We try to find nocturnal lemurs, including the mouse lemur, the Madagascar rat, sleeping chameleons, etc. Overnight in RELAIS DU KIRINDY OR SIMILAR

Hike in the Kirindy Dry Forest Reserve, on mostly flat trails to spot lemurs, snakes, iguanas, birds, fossas etc. And nocturnal visit in this reserve. Back to the hotel

(45 km about 2 hours)
Drive back to Morondava. Visit the baobabs in love, and then you may stay at the Baobab Avenue until sunset, a magical and photographically attractive highlight of the tour. Overnight at the hotel SUN BEACH OR SIMILAR

ANTANANARIVO 13:45/14:55

Transfer to the airport and return flight to the capital. Reception at the airport and transfer to the hotel, overnight stay at CHAT’O OR SIMILAR

(140 Km about 3,5 hours drive)

After breakfast, drive east by car, through a landscape characterized by its nested rice fields and wooded hills. In Marozevo visit the Exotic Park (also called Peyrieras Park after its founder), where you can see many chameleons from close up, as well as butterflies, frogs and other amphibians. Then on to Andasibe, the place looks more like a poor wooden shack village, it is the starting point for the visit of the national park, the realm of the legendary Indris. Once the only hotel in Andasibe was in the mighty train station building with a few bungalows opposite on the hillside.  But in the course of the years, thanks to the visitors from all over the world, numerous new hotel complexes were opened, in which a lot of jobs were created. Possibility to walk with a local guide along the road near the National Park Perinet-Analamazaotra in search of nocturnal animals before dinner. With a little luck you will see wool and mouse makis, chameleons etc. Overnight stay at the hotel FEON’NY ALA OR SIMILAR

Visit of Andasibe reserve where you may see various species of birds such as Madagascar starling, Short-legged- and Scaly ground-roller, Crested ibis, Madagascar fluff tail, Ward’s flycatcher, Brown wood-rail, Madagascar pygmy kingfishers & Madagascar sparrow-hawk,…. Overnight at the same hotel

Full day visit of Mantadia national park where we can spot various species of birds such as the Madagascar pond heron, Madagascar coucal, Madagascar Hoopoe, Fody Madagascariensis, Madagascar white-eye,… Overnight at the same hotel

125 km of ordinary road, then 7 km of earth road (about 4 to 5 hours drive in total), then about one and a half hours by boat on the canal

After breakfast, an early morning visit to the 810 hectare reserve of Analamazaotra (930 to 1000 meters altitude), the realm of the mysterious Indri lemurs with their distinctive calls heard for miles around, and 13 other species of lemurs. You can also find various species of birds, chameleons etc. This hike on the Trail “Indri II” takes about three hours and leads on paths first in an upward gradient, and is then mostly flat. Afterwards you drive on the national road 2 about 113 km into the sugar cane and fruit growing area around Brickaville. After a few kilometres, the road turns right onto a 7 km long dirt road to the formerly busy holiday resort of Manambato. There we board a covered motorboat and transfer on the Pangalanes Canal (about 20 km) to the hotel in the middle of beautiful nature in Akanin’ny Nofy at Lake Ampitabe.  Overnight stay at PALMARIUM HOTEL OR SIMILAR

By the way, the Pangalanes Canal is considered to be the second longest canal in the world. It is a continuous waterway of about 645 km in length, which leads from Tamatave, the northernmost end point, to the village of Farafangana in the south, running parallel to the Indian Ocean. The distance to the sea is sometimes only a few meters, at some points it also touches the sea, and therefore the water is slightly salty. During the colonial period, eight years of construction work created artificial connections between the naturally formed lakes and river courses, which are fed with water from wooded elevations. Artificially constructed branch canals were used to create connections to the nearest standing or flowing water sources.

A whole day to discover the surroundings of the hotel on the shores of Lake Ampitabe. Among other things, you can visit the private Palmarium Park with a great variety of lemurs during a hike lasting several hours, or you can explore the area by canoe or on foot. A nocturnal excursion is planned, partly by boat, in search of the rare and endangered Aye Aye lemurs (Daubentonia madagascariensis) with their unusual appearance. These strange lemurs have been settled on the island and are guarded around the clock. In the evening during the Aye Aye stalking, coconuts are clamped between two tree trunks, and one can watch how they are opened by this creatures with the beaver-like teeth and spooned out with the long middle finger. Overnight stay at the hotel.

(03 hours/60 km by boat on the canal)
Transfer by motor boat along the Pangalanes canal until Tamatave. Pick up at the port and transfer to the hotel. Overnight at the hotel VICTORIA BEACH OR SIMILAR

ANTANANARIVO 17:10/18:10

Transfer to the airport and return flight to the capital. Reception at the airport and transfer to the hotel, overnight stay at CHAT’O OR SIMILAR

EUROPE with AF 0935 at 23.55 or with ET 852 at 14.40

transfer to the airport and check-in for departure for departure for the flight home.