Madagascar Travel: 25 Top Experiences and What to Know Before You Go - Uncornered Market
Travelers of Madagascar, Antananarivo: Travelers of Madagascar Booking unavailable on TripAdvisor. Travelers of Madagascar is a specialised licensed local Antananarivo based Tour Operator in creating custom made Madagascar Tours. We can create to your own specs from a single day trip to an exceptional multiday trip in the land of the lemurs.
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Is this a must-do if you are traveling with a big group greater than 5? Are the prices for this place or activity budget-friendly? Would you tell a friend to buy a ticket in advance because this place may sell out? Share another experience before you go. Show reviews that mention. All reviews his team day tour roberto wildlife driver madagascar. Reviewed yesterday via mobile Exceptional!
Reviewed 2 weeks ago 3 day tour Madagascar. Reviewed September 8, 4X4 cars - insist on good condition cars the first day. Reviewed July 13, The best way to discover this great country! Reviewed May 9, via mobile Rondreis door Madagascar. Reviewed May 4, Dream Trip. Review collected in partnership with this attraction This business uses tools provided by TripAdvisor or one of its official Review Collection Partners to encourage and collect guest reviews, including this one.
Thank you very much John, very kind review. Reviewed September 25, via mobile Excellent Day Trip. Reviewed February 13, Great job organizing a day tour on short notice! I am a group of 5 people or maybe 7. We are flying into Antananarivo and will be there for 4 day tours. Highest priority is seeing all the different lemurs. We also like hiking and countryside. Response from FriedaV59 Reviewed this property. I can recommend a local travel agency called Travelers of Madagascar. They are reliable and can organise a wonderful trip for you.
Owner is called Roberto and he speaks fluently English. You can find their The name Madagascar always held mystery, something of National Geographic documentaries. When our guide asked what we wished from our time in Madagascar, Dan joked: Wildlife, people, landscape, geology, spirituality, culture, and history — it all came together. Our journey mesmerized just as it demystified.
All of this snaps into place with the Gondwana supercontinent: Madagascar lost contact with Africa million years ago , then with Antarctica, Australia and finally India million years ago. Although Madagascar is physically closer to the African continent, its first permanent human settlers are said to have arrived nearly 2, years ago from Austronesia near Malaysia-Indonesia. Layers of migration and cultural evolution followed: The national language — Malagasy — most resembles those of Malaysian Borneo. And also understanding how tourism there can have a positive impact and support conservation and community development.
If you travel Madagascar independently, use this guide as inspiration to piece together experiences and destinations for your own itinerary of eastern and southern Madagascar. Within minutes of setting out on the rainforest trail with Leva, our local guide at V. Community Park , a family of brown lemurs appeared in the tree branches above us. As we quieted down, they approached us, almost to eye level. Then, they were up and off again, leaping amongst the high branches.
A note on V. A and Community Parks in Madagascar: The goal of the local community: About half the money generated through tourism activities goes to fund medical care, clean water and other life improvement initiatives for villagers in the area. A network of community parks, operating outside the national park system, exists throughout Madagascar.
Madagascar rainforests: at home with the lemurs
These local parks serve as an excellent example of how community-based conservation and care can work when paired with the power of increased income generation and life improvement initiatives funded by tourism activities. This not only engages local people as part of the conservation process, but it also provides them with an income source alternative to hunting, poaching, and wood harvesting. Meanwhile, pressure on the environment and local wildlife is slowly reduced. Look at the nose, the tail, the eyes, the color. For some contrast, narrow your eyes and squint if you must, and take a look at the mm long Madagascar dwarf chameleon, Brookesia minima.
Note that it was recently usurped by the slightly smaller Brookesia micra. How local guides are able to zero in on these tiny creatures in midst of the lush forest amazes. The indri also known locally as babakoto , found only in this region of Madagascar, are the largest of all lemurs, and are considered the freedom fighters of the species. When placed in captivity, the indri essentially go on a hunger strike, starving themselves until they are released back into the wild.
While admirable, this indri behavior makes it difficult for scientists to conduct research and all but impossible to increase indri populations through captive breeding. The unique appearance of the indri is only outdone by their call. The rainforest canopy echoes with an eerie, dolphin-like sound the indri use to communicate with other members of their family typically between 2 and 6 members and with other families to mark territory and signal danger.
Between the ambient sounds of the rainforest and the calls of the indri, we felt as though we were in our very own episode of Wild Kingdom. A beautiful, long moment to enjoy. Numbering in the thousands, the indri are still considered a critically endangered species sadly, as are most lemur species. However, our guide explained that indri populations have increased in recent years.
Due to tourism, conservation and educational efforts, the local practice of hunting them for their meat has abated. The results of reforestation efforts also continue to provide them with additional range to expand their habitat. The challenge is ongoing. Though we encountered multiple diademed sifaka families usually strong , one family in particular rewarded our group for being patient, silent and still. They entertained us high in the branches, putting on an elaborate grooming show, and paying a visit to us near ground level. I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that it really wasn't a party, but rather a conspiracy, of lemurs.
This is now one of my favorite collective nouns. When in Madagascar, eat as the Malagasy eat. Zebu, the meat of the local variety of cow is everywhere, and is generally quite good. If you find it, try zebu filet or steak served with mustard sauce or zebu au poivre pepper sauce , both of which are quite tasty. Or try romazava , the over-the-top national dish of varied meats turned in a sauce of tomato, garlic, ginger and stewed greens.
Another local favorite is ravitoto , mashed cassava leaves. This is often turned with coconut and spices for vegetarians. Meat-eaters, try the ravitoto with pork, which offers a little bit of richness and balance. The town of Andasibe, just outside the nearby national and community parks bearing its name, is a walk through everyday Madagascar. You'll find stalls selling a random assortment of vegetables and foodstuffs, mothers drawing water from the pump, two-story homes with colorful balconies, a football pitch filled with boys playing a game of pick-up soccer, rice and agricultural fields in all stages of cultivation, and non-proverbial chickens crossing the road.
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Find the young boy who fashioned a foosball table from scrap pieces of wood. So cool, and it actually works surprisingly well. Weekly markets are a main event, no exception in Madagascar. Many local schools even take that day off so children can join their parents on market day. The weekly market is not only about buying and selling food and goods. It performs an important social function, too. Weekly markets are about catching up on local news and seeing friends and family from nearby villages. And if gambling is your vice, try your hand at cards or at the hand-carved roulette wheels. When we consider recycling, our minds run to putting recyclable trash into a bin for someone to carry it away, for it never to be seen again.
In Madagascar, recycling means taking the used, broken, and out-of-date and finding a way to make something new from it all. In the town of Antsirabe, a group of artisans and craftspeople collect metal from around the country, melt it down, and create the standard cooking pot that most in Madagascar seem to use. Another of our favorite artisans in town is an engineer turned bicycle enthusiast who found ways to recycle old bits, including fashioning fishing wire from old nets and re-purposing the metal and plastic from expired medical supplies into very cool hand-crafted model bicycles.
We paid a visit to one on the morning of our village homestay experience. After a climb up a wooden ladder staircase to the village consultation room, we learned about traditional and natural medicines and how they are used to treat different ailments, both physical and emotional. Services include mending a broken heart, whether it be from unrequited love or a relationship forced to split because of parents.
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The forests of Madagascar are flush with endemic trees and plants used over the centuries for medicinal purposes. This knowledge has been passed on from one generation of shaman to the next, usually within the family. As it was explained to us: One of the big surprises for us in Madagascar: After seeing terraced rice fields along our ride across the highlands of eastern Madagascar, it was worthwhile to see them up close during our 1. After a home-cooked and delicious lunch many considered it the best meal in the country , our local guide also took us on a walk to the village, through and along the edges of the fields.
There, we witnessed daily life: After which, we returned for citronella tea and pumpkin beignets fritters with a beautiful view of the terraced fields below. Our host, Arc-en-Ciel Rainbow Community Association uses the money earned from tour fees for an overnight visit, including meals to help provide job opportunities, sponsor school fees in primary and secondary schools, improve infrastructure, and fund environmental education and activities. It also helps to feel some connection along with a welcome from local people who are involved in the project and know that the money from the experience is being used for the improvement of their community and education of their children.
A few local musicians showed up, kids gathered and dance-jumped around, a bonfire burned brightly. Before long, more people from the village appeared to see what was going on. Staff from the homestay kitchen came out during their breaks, and the beats grew faster and louder. Yes, there was dancing, laughter and fun. None of it was forced, it all felt natural. Nobody put on a show, except maybe for themselves.
Watch a World Cup game on a generator-powered TV If your visit happens to coincide with the World Cup or another football tournament, ask your host if anyone in the village is showing the game. Since the village has no electricity, televisions are powered by generators. For us, we climbed up through several terraced rice fields to watch the World Cup Semi-final game between England and Croatia in the back courtyard of a local home.
Sure, the generator ran out of diesel fuel before the end of the game. That just added to the experience and built suspense to know the result the following day. When it comes to tracking lemurs and other wildlife in the rainforest, prepare to get dirty, particularly when the skies open up at Ranomafana National Park. Yes, you feel a bit like a crazed biologist pulling yourself up the hills through brush and vines, craning your head up to catch a glimpse of the golden bamboo lemurs above.
Then, after the frenzy of finding one comes the silence and stillness of observing and admiring these rare, tiny creatures above you. Less than of them remain. Turns out ring-tail lemurs really are as playful and fun as the movie lets on. Especially so at Anja Community Park. Within just ten or fifteen minutes of our group entering the forest area of the park, we were surrounded by a ring-tail lemur family.
Just five minutes away, another. They jumped around on the ground, hung out on rocks, groomed themselves on branches, chased each other across the trees, and just seemed to enjoy themselves. Turns out that when Anja Community Park began in there were only 20 lemurs living in this patch of small forest. In less than 20 years, the community-led conservation efforts have expanded the size of the forest through yearly tree-planting campaigns and continued education of local people in the benefits of conservation and the economic potential of sustainable tourism.
Lemur hunting has been eliminated. Their population in the park has grown to over as their habitat has grown and the imminent threat to their existence has abated. Around local people are involved in the community park and earn additional income from its various tourism activities. Profits from park tour fees are now being used to construct a secondary school and local hospital.
As tourism grows, so too do the other ways the community can direct its own investment and improvement. It does happen from time to time, though. As our group exited our van for a stretch, the local people sitting nearby wondered, not knowing what to make of all the foreigners descending on their little papaya stand. We began by buying one. Then we bought another, passing around some more slices. Finally, we bought a couple more to take with us on the bus. Not only were these the sweetest papayas of our trip, but everyone — travelers and locals alike — got a good laugh from the scene.
Because of the setting and circumstances, and perhaps the turn of opportunity from temporary misfortune, everyone came away from our unplanned stop pleased with the unexpected yet authentic turn of events. It was memorable for sure, and as real an experience as one might imagine on the roads of Madagascar. Our local guide, Hery, pointed out medicinal trees, elephant foot plants, wild silk worms, and fabulously camouflaged chameleons and stick bugs.
We admit to having a conflicted relationship with waterfalls, their often being oversold. The lush green surroundings also provide a nice break from the sun and heat. At the end of our day at Isalo National Park, our tour leader told us we were in for a surprise. We walked up onto a nearby hill where we met with Delana, cofounder of Soa Zara Association, a local NGO working on environmental protection and reforestation in the area.
Over the last year, each G Adventures group ends their day at Isalo by planting trees on a plot of land with a sprawling view to a table plateau and the sunset west. Then, we walked to an overlook and enjoyed a celebratory drink watching the sunset over the Isalo mountains. Although the baobab trees of Baobab Avenue in western Madagascar get the most attention, the south also features its fair share of baobab caches.