EXUBERANT & EVERGREEN EAST
Tour overview
Soak in the lush and the exuberant East part of Madagascar, from primate watching in the dense rainforest to the stunning scenery along the river trip on Pangalanes canal. This trip offers an awe-inspiring experience. You will enjoy the remarkable unique wildlife such as lemurs, chameleons, and orchids. You will experience the warm local hospitality with the remote villages visits.
Itinerary:
Antananarivo, Andasibe, Mahanoro, Mananjary, Ranomafana, Ambositra, Antananarivo: 10days/09nights
Highlights:
- Overland journey on a scenic road along the central highland
- Wildlife watching in the rainforest national parks
- Hike in a site of Unesco World Heritage
- River trip on Pangalanes canal
- Cultural visits and meeting with local villagers.
Price information
Price for 2 to 5 persons starts from ......Euro
6 to 8 people start from ......Euro
Price includes:
• Accommodation in a double room on Bed and breakfast according to the program above
• All transfer Hotel / Airport /hotel as mentioned in the program
• Entrance fees and local guides in National Parks and private parks mentioned in the program
• Transport with private vehicle with driver and fuel during the whole trip
• Tourist tax and VAT
Price excludes:
• All excursions mentioned as optional in the program
• All excursions which are not in the program
• All personal expenses, drinks, laundry, tips
• Personal insurance for eventualities like accidents, theft or damage to luggage, cancellation etc
• All flights and airport taxes
• Meals: Lunch and dinner
• Visa fee
Booking and cancellation policies:
• A reservation requires a deposit of 40% of the total price.
• The deposit is non-refundable, if the booking is cancelled.
• The rest of the payment should be paid before departure to or on arrival in Antananarivo.
• If Red Island adventures Madagascar is in charge of issuing domestic flight, payment for all flights will be requested in order to confirm them.
• Confirm a trip with Red Island Adventures Madagascar involves having read, agreed and accepted the Terms and Conditions.
• The general sales terms and conditions can be found here.
Detailed program
Day 01: WELCOME TO ANTANANARIVO CAPITAL OF MADAGASCAR
Upon arrival in Antananarivo, you have a private transfer from the airport to your hotel with an English speaking driver/guide.
Spend the night in Antananarivo.
Overnight in Antananarivo
* Palissandre hotel
* Sakamanga
* Les Trois Metis
Day 02: Antananarivo - Andasibe
You will be picked up from your hotel and head for the rainforest of Andasibe. Along the way, you will drive through the central highland, a hilly region with redland villages and patchwork of rice fields. Then you will stop at Madagascar Exotic Park to get a glimpse of Madagascar unique wildlife. As you penetrate into a lush and luxuriant eastern forest, you will reach Andasibe National Park, the nearest park to the capital city. After getting settled in to your hotel, you will get acquainted with the sights, smells and sounds of the rainforest. In the evening you will have a night walk where you may meet the smallest lemur and other nocturnal species like Avahy, another nocturnal lemur, bird, and chameleon.
Overnight in Andasibe
* Vakona forest Lodge
* Andasibe hotel
* Feon’ny ala
* Grace Lodge
Day 03: Andasibe National Park
The wailing sound of the biggest lemur called "Indri Indri" echoed throughout the forest and its vicinity will wake you up early morning. Lemur is one of the highlights of Madagascar in the world and Indri indri is the highlight of this park. After breakfast, you set out for a full day of adventure in the rainforest. To start you will have a hike to learn about the plants, animals and people of Bezanozano, one ethnic group who lives in this rainforest. You will discover medicinal uses for the rainforest’s many plant species, seek for small species of frog and keep your eyes open for primates high in the forest canopy. This park spreads over..... and homes a rich and vibrant wildlife unique in the world. Later on you will visit Vakona reserve with the Lemurs Island and crocodile park.
Overnight in Andasibe
* Vakona forest Lodge
* Andasibe hotel
* Feon’ny ala
* Grace Lodge
Day 04: Andasibe - Mahanoro
After an early breakfast, you will depart for Mahanoro. As you slope down to the east coast, You will learn about the local’s architecture, see their farming activities, their lifestyle, discover plants in the rainforest that are used for building material, craft and medicine. Then you will drive through Brickaville known for its sugar cane plantation then turn off the main road and head for Mahanoro. This is a quiet, safe town known for its lush and aromatic vegetation.
Overnight in Mahanoro
Days 05 - 06 - 07: Mahanoro - Mananjary: a cruise of 3 days and 2 nights on bivouac
This river trip journeys along the Pangalnes canal starting from Mahanoro to Mananjary. The pangalanes canal was constructed during the French colonization. It is an extensive chain of brackish-water, lagoons, man-made lakes and rivers running parallel to the East Malagasy coast from Foulpoint in the north to Faragangana in the south-east. It aimed to evacuate all the spices crops along Madagascar East Coast to be exported to France. Nowadays, it is still used by local people to transport their daily commodities leeches, pepper, cloves and vanilla to join Tamatave, where is the first trading port in Madagascar. This journey takes you to immerse in the daily life of local people living along the canal, to watch birds and taste tropical fresh water fish and tropical fruits onsite. You will discover a lush green landscape and luxuriant vegetation on peaceful pace along the cruise of three days and two nights on bivouac. The last day of cruise you will reach Mananjary, a small town of fishermen and capital city of Antambahoaka ethnic group.
Overnight on Bivouac for Day 05-06,
Day 07 at Jardin de la Mer or similar
Day 08: Mananjary - Ranomafana
After having your fill of wildlife watching and getting first-hand insight into local life along the panganales canal, you will set off for Ranomafana, a tropical rainforest national park. Drive up along a twisting road till Ranomafana, a small village well known for its hot water spring and its international research center for tropical biodiversity. Around noon , you end up in Ranomafana national park. You may visit the village with its vibrant market. In the evening you will hve aa night walk to watch the endemic nocturnal species of this park such as microcebe, the smallest lemur, chameleons, tropical insects.
Overnight in Ranomafana
* Setam lodge
* Thermal hotel
* Le Grenat
* Ihary hotel
Day 09: Morning excursion in Ranomafana National Park - Ambositra
A Morning devoted to visit Ranomafana national park, a world heritage of Unesco. Birds and Lemurs are early actives for foraging and they are among the highlights of this spot. you will have more chance to watch them leaping from tree to tree if you wake up early. This park is a wildlife rich rainforest, including twelve lemur species, which thrive in the tropical forests. Look out for the red bellied lemur, eastern grey bamboo lemur, red-fronted brown lemur, greater bamboo lemur, black and white ruffed lemur, eastern woolly lemur, small-toothed sportive lemur, Milne-Edward’s sifaka, the greater dwarf lemur, brown mouse lemur and elusive aye-aye. Flora is a stunning one with its tropical orchids and tropical hardwood, ferns. The park is a sacred place for local people as their burial sites are in. Ranomafana National Park was created in 1991, after the golden bamboo lemur was discovered there in 1986. It is a mid altitude tropical rainforest and spans an impressive 415 km². The landscape of the park consists of thick swathes of verdant rainforest and cloudforest with powerful white water rivers cascading through. In the afternoon drive for Ambositra, a capital city for handy craft in Madagascar. This town is located in the central highland and well known for its wooden crafts like sculpture, marquestry.
Overnight in Ambositra
* Artisan hotel
Day 10: Ambositra - Antananarivo
After breakfast, you will visit a workshop of woodcarving. Woodcarving know how is inherited from Zafimaniry people, a sub group of Betsileo ethnic group. This knowledge has been identified as Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2003. Then you are heading to Antsirabe through terraced paddy fields and redbrick's villages. Antsirabe is a major city in Madagascar, famous for being a summer city for Europeans in the XIX and XX centuries with its hot spring health centre and the hotel des thermes, a city architectural heritage. Nowadays it`s a crossroad between the Southern and Western parts of Madagascar. After a city tour, you will visit handicrafts workplaces where zebu horn, tin are recycled into decoration items and traditional paper mill where anteimoro paper is made from bark of native tree from the eastern coast of Madagascar. This unique kind of paper is a vestige of the Arabian civilisation in the island. After Antsirabe sightseeing, you will set out for your last drive to Antananarivo.
Overnight in Antananarivo
* Palissandre hotel
* Sakamanga
* Les Trois Metis
END OF RED ISLAND ADVENTURES MADAGASCAR SERVICES!
1. All our tours are fully customizable - please ask us about any changes you would like to make to this itinerary.
2. This private tour can be customised according to your style. Any element can be tailored – activities, length, hotels and destinations