Why visit Madagascar?

Travel in Madagascar promises to be an interesting experience. Madagascar's wildlife is among the best in the world in terms of diversity, abundance, and approachability and travel to Madagascar for this purpose is most rewarding. Madagascar also offers spectacular landscapes, an unusual history, and a countryside full of generally friendly and wonderful people.

In planning a trip to Madagascar you are probably best off contacting a professional tour operator who has experience working in the country. While some intrepid travelers have had success simply showing up in the country and figuring it out from there, most Western travelers -- especially Americans -- will have a smoother time if they plan things beforehand. I highly recommend picking up the Bradt Travel Guide to Madagascar to help you make travel decisions and learn about the country.

Some things to do in Madagascar:

WILDLIFE
If you're looking to see wildlife the most accessible reserves are:

Berenty	Famous for its tame ring-tailed lemurs and sifakas, Berenty is located in the far south of Madagascar. Though touristy and expensive by Madagascar standards, most visitors enjoy the comforts afforded by the Western facilities. Easy access by road following flight to Fort Dauphin.
Andasibe-Mantadia	Also known as Perinet, Andasibe-Mantadia is known for the Indri, a lemur that sings songs bizarrely similar to those of a whale. Perinet is roughly 4 hours by on a curvey, but paved highway from the capital city of Tana. Western-style lodgings are available and guides are generally excellent.
Ankarana Montagne d'Ambre	These two parks are located in the far north of the country. Both offer opportunities for seeing a wide range of reptiles and amphibians, along with several species of lemurs. Ankarana and Montagne d'Ambre can be reached by paved road from Diego Suarez. Overnight facilities are minimal so you should expect to camp.
Kirindy	Kirindy is an excellent place to see some of the wildlife associated with the dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar including lemurs, the fossa, and the giant jumping rat. Kirindy is accessible on dirt roads from the town on Morondava. Morondava is a brief flight or a long drive from Tana. Facilities are rugged.
Bemaraha	Most people (though not that many) come to Bemaraha for its limestone tsingy rock formations, but there is an abundance of wildlife in the park including sifakas and red-fronted brown lemurs. Bemaraha is a 4-5 hour drive on sometimes rough roads from Morondava. Facilities are rugged and it can get extremely hot.
Ranomafana	Ranomafana is one of Madagascar's better known parks due to the discovery of the golden bamboo lemur in 1986. Ranomafana is rich with mammals -- especially lemurs. Ranomafana is accessible by paved road (6-8 hours) from Tana. Facilities are rugged though more Western-style lodgings are in development.
Masoala	The Masoala peninsula is Madagascar's most biodiverse region. Even if you don't make it past Nosy Mangabe, a delightful island just 30 minutes by boat from Maroantsetra, you'll still expereince the Malagasy rainforest. Since the habitat is rainforest and there has been hunting in the area, lemurs are a bit more difficult to see than in some of the drier parts of the country, though you'll definitely see Uroplatus geckos and colorful Mantella frogs. Facilities are rugged on the peninsula and Nosy Mangabe only has camping. Maroantsetra is reachable by plane from Tana. Due to its remoteness and catering toward eco-tourists, trips to Masoala are more expensive than other parts of Madagascar

HIKING and SCENERY
Virtually all of Madagascar's parks feature great hiking. Below are a couple of the notable parks for outdoor adventures.

Andringitra	Andringitra is one of Madagascar's more accessible mountain parks. Andringitra is characterized by high mountains (peak 2658m), deep valleys, and ridges and sports some of the highest biodiversity in the country.
Ankarana	Ankarana is known for itself limestone rock formations known as "tsingy." Ankarana also features extensive cave systems which were documented in a National Geographic film. Ankarana can be reached by paved road from Diego Suarez. Expect to camp -- there are no hotels in the park.
Isalo	Isalo's landscape is comparable to parts of the Grand Canyon. The park consists of eroded ruiniform sandstone formations dating to the Jurassic period, deep canyons with riparian forests, palm-lined oases, fire-resistant tapia forests, and open grasslands. Isalo is an easy 3 hour drive on paved roads from Tulear. Tulear is best reached by airplane.
Bemaraha	Most people (though not that many) come to Bemaraha for its limestone tsingy rock formations, but there is an abundance of wildlife in the park including sifakas and red-fronted brown lemurs. Bemaraha is a 4-5 hour drive on sometimes rough roads from Morondava. Facilities are rugged and it can get extremely hot.

CULTURAL ATTRACTIONS
Virtually all of Madagascar's parks feature great hiking. Below are a couple of the notable parks for outdoor adventures.

Antananarivo	Antananarivo (also called Tananarive or Tana) is the capital city of Madagascar. Located in the highlands of Madagascar, Tana is quite unlike any city you have ever visited before.
Andasibe

BEACHES
Virtually all of Madagascar's parks feature great hiking. Below are a couple of the notable parks for outdoor adventures.

Nosy Be	Antananarivo (also called Tananarive or Tana) is the capital city of Madagascar. Located in the highlands of Madagascar, Tana is quite unlike any city you have ever visited before.
L'Ile Sainte-Marie	L'Ile Sainte-Marie or Nosy Baraha is an island off the eastern coast of Madagascar. Featuring deserted beaches, Sainte-Marie is especially popular for European tourists
Nosy Be	Nosy Be is Madagascar's most touristy spot. Cheap holiday-goers flock here for the sun and the beaches. Despite its reputation, Nosy Be does feature a small, but diverse area of forest in the Lokobe Reserve.
Ifaty
Masoala	The Masoala peninsula is not only home to rainforest and lemurs; it also sports some of the finest beaches and reefs in Madagascar.

When is the best time to visit Madagascar?

The best time of the year to visit Madagascar is probably September - November after the cool, dry winter but before the hot rainy season. Cyclone season is February to March when the climate is at its rainiest. Many animals are least active during the coldest months (June-August).

Times of special interest:

late January - March: cyclone season, peak herp (reptiles and amphibians) season, best time for flowering orchids
April - May: rains mostly finished leaving the countryside lush and green
July - August: coolest time of the year, peak whale watching season in the Bay of Antongil (July-Sept), many animals inactive or hibernating
September - December: excellent time for birding; the breeding season
October - November: baby lemur season, generally mild weather

Madagascar travel tips

Tour operators in Madagascar
Rainbow Tours
Cortez Travel, Inc.

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Beautifully illustrated with full color photographs throughout, Madagascar Wildlife is a celebration of the unique fauna of a remarkable island and the perfect accompaniment to Bradt's popular general travel guide, Madagascar.

RECENT NEWS
Mining and biodiversity offsets in Madagascar

(08/30/2009) Rio Tinto's ilmenite mine in southeastern Madagascar is among the largest on the planet. At peak capacity, its owners say, it could produce as much as 2 million tons of the stuff—worth roughly $100 a ton—each year, to be shipped off and smelted abroad. What's left of it after refining—some 60 percent of the ore that arrives from Madagascar—will be sold for $2000 a ton as titanium dioxide, a pigment used in everything from white paint and tennis court lines to sunscreen and toothpaste.

Destruction worsens in Madagascar

(08/20/2009) Armed bands are decimating rainforest reserves in northeastern Madagascar, killing lemurs and intimidating conservation workers, despite widespread condemnation by international environmental groups.

Appalling photos reveal lemur carnage in Madagascar

(08/20/2009) New pictures released by Conservation International depict a troubling development in Madagascar: the emergence of a commercial bushmeat market for lemurs. In the aftermath of a March coup that saw Madagascar's president replaced at gunpoint by the capital city's mayor, Madagascar's reserves — especially in the northern part of the country — were ravaged by illegal loggers. Armed bands, financed by foreign timber traders, went into Marojejy and Masoala national parks, harvesting valuable hardwoods including rosewood and ebonies. Without support from the central government — or international agencies that pulled aid following the coup — there was no one to stop the carnage. But now it emerges that timber wasn't the only target.

Saving the tsingy forests in Madagascar

(08/17/2009) After the success of their Sahafina Forest project, Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar is now branching out to the tsingy forest of Beanka, a project set to launch in October this year. Biodiversity Conservation Madagascar (BCM) has been granted a 25-year lease on a 14,000-hectare area of dry hardwood forest, the Beanka tsingy, situated 75 km east of Maintirano in western Madagascar. 'Tsingy' are spectacular razor-sharp limestone pinnacles found on the west and north of the island, formed by acidic rain erosion. The deciduous forests that inhabit them are characterized by high plant and animal endemism. The Malagasy organization plans to apply the same principles here – protection of the forest, socio-economic development and forest restoration – that brought them success with their last project, the 2,500-hectare forest block of Sahafina on Madagascar’s east coast.

Lessons from the crisis in Madagascar, an interview with Erik Patel

(08/11/2009) On March 17th of this year the President of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, resigned his post. This made way for Andry Rajoelina, mayor of Madagascar's capital, to install himself as president with help from the military. The unrest and confusion that usually accompanies such a coup brought disaster on many of Madagascar's biological treasures. Within days of Ravalomanana's resignation, armed gangs, allegedly funded by Chinese traders, entered two of Madagascar's world-renowned national parks, Marojejy and Masoala parks, and began to log rosewood, ebonies, and other valuable hardwoods. The pillaging lasted months but the situation began to calm down over the summer. Now that the crisis in Madagascar has abated—at least for the time being—it's time to take stock. In order to do so, Mongabay spoke to Erik Patel, an expert on the Critically Endangered Silky Sifaka and frequent visitor to Madagascar, to find out what the damage looks like firsthand and to see what lessons might be learned.

Despite violent protests and coup, Daewoo continues to hold cropland in Madagascar

(06/19/2009) Despite violent protests that have left more than 100 dead and led to the ouster of a democratically-elected president, Daewoo Logistics Corp. continues to hold 218,000 hectares of cropland in Madagascar, according to a new campaign by Rainforest Rescue.

Conservation success in Madagascar proves illusory in crisis

(06/12/2009) Despite the popularity he enjoyed abroad, domestic support for ousted president Marc Ravalomanana eroded rather quickly last February when he went head to head with Andry Rajoelina, the rookie mayor of Madagascar's capital. Rajoelina rallied disparate opposition groups to the cause and soon toppled the incumbent to become, at his own proclamation, President of the "High Authority of Transition." For the country as a whole, the results have not been encouraging. The tourism industry has shriveled to a shadow of itself, important donors have suspended non-humanitarian aid, and a power vacuum has set in in remote regions of the island, wreaking havoc on some of its most fragile and prized ecosystems.

Forest Recovery Programs in Madagascar

(06/01/2009) Despite being one of the last habitable land masses on earth to be settled by man, Madagascar has lost more of its forests than most countries; less than 10% of its original forest cover now remains, and much of that is degraded. Political turmoil that erupted earlier this year continues to rumble on and the ensuing lawlessness has created the opportunity for illegal logging syndicates to plunder national parks, most notably Marojejy and Masoala, for valuable hardwoods and wildlife.

Approximately 200 new frogs discovered in Madagascar threatened by political instability

(05/11/2009) Amid the amphibian extinction crisis—where amphibians worldwide are disappearing due to habitat loss, pollution, and a devastating fungal epidemic—the Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC) has announced some good news. In a survey of the island-nation of Madagascar they have identified between 129 and 221 new species of frogs. The discovery of so many new species nearly doubles the island's total number of frogs.

More news

This portable guide offers a full survey of all Madagascar's mammals, both endemic and introduced, including many newly identified species. With vivid color photographs, line illustrations, and maps, Mammals of Madagascar: A Complete Guide is an essential book for any visitor.

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Madagascar Wildlife T-shirt

Dancing lemurs T-shirt

Madagascar Chameleons Calendar

Madagascar wildlife bag