Madagascar The Lost World

Fly overnight from London via Mauritius to Antananarivo, locally known as ‘Tana’.

Arrive in Madagascar’s capital and largest city, and transfer to the Palissandre Hotel & Spa for an overnight stay. This evening, enjoy a Welcome reception and briefing with your local guide, before dinner at the hotel. (D)

Travel (4 hours) to the island’s eastern mountains, with photo stops for bird-spotting and for lunch in the historic city of Moramanga, enroute to Andasibe National Park. Hosting exceptional biodiversity, the park encompasses primary rainforest which comes alive after dark. With your guide and a torch, take a walk through the forest to find chameleons and nocturnal creatures, such as dwarf and mouse lemurs in the trees. Three nights at Mantadia Lodge.
(B, L, D)

Visit Voi Forest, within Analamazaotra National Park. A community reserve, it is managed by the local people, with cleared paths giving visitors the best chance to view the animals. Continue to Maromizaha, ‘the forest of dragon trees’, to explore the evergreen woodland on foot. Spread over the slopes and narrow valleys of the Malagasy hills, it is home to 12 lemur species, 14 Afrosoricida types, varying from otter-like to hedgehog-spiked, ‘soricomorpha’ shrew-moles, and arboreal and terrestrial rodents unique to Malagasy. A picnic lunch is taken in the forest.
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Visit Analamazaotra Special Reserve, the forest home of the largest living lemurs, the Indri Indri, living in small family groups, and known for their inquisitive black and white faces, and for their song, a haunting howl which can be heard for miles. Venture further into the forest for spectacular flora and fauna, from orchids, birds, and unique reptile species to lemurs including the common brown, grey bamboo, and eastern woolly. Enjoy a lunch of local cuisine at the Feon’nyAla Hotel, on the edge of Andasibe National Park; and continue to Vakona Reserve, set on Lemur Island, to watch the lemurs play across open ground and leap from tree to tree.
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Drive back to Antananarivo to join the national road southward to the spa town of Antsirabe, travelling through mountains, hills and rice fields, where herons and egrets can be seen. Along the way, learn about daily life in the highlands, and meet the locals in villages, markets, or schools. Lunch enroute and overnight at Chambres du Voyageur.
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Leave Antsirabe and soak-up the splendid scenery on the journey toward Ranomafana, with lunch in Ambositra, the hub of Malagasy crafts and Madagascar’s woodcarving industry. Continue through Ambohimahasoa, exchanging the highland hills for tropical rainforest landscapes. Lunch enroute. Arrive late evening at the Thermal Hotel, Ranomafana, for a three-night stay.
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Established in 1991, Ranomafana National Park is a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site. A huge area, cloaked in forest, covering various altitudes, and sprinkled with thermal springs, its name translates as ‘Hot Water’, and its lemurs include the very rare golden bamboo, eerie aye-ayes, and large Milne-Edwards sifakas, black-bodied with a pale ‘saddle’ back marking. Enjoy the first of two safari days here.
(B, L, D)

Wildlife-watching in the park could see you spotting chameleons, reed frogs, climbing frogs, or Barons Mantella black frogs with high-vis bright green jackets; or some of the thirty bird species seen only in this area, from Henst goshawk to crested ibis and Rufous-headed ground roller. Many of the lemurs sing a dawn chorus, and the best time for bird sightings is the early morning.
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Drive back to the national road to retrace your tracks on the journey, via Antsirabe. Lunch enroute and overnight at the Les Chambres du Voyageur.
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Continue to Antananarivo with lunch en-route. Overnight at Pallissandre Hotel & Spa. 
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Transfer to the airport for an early morning (2-hour) flight to Fort Dauphin, and continue by road (4 hours) to Ifotaka for a three-night stay at Mandrare River Camp. A luxury tented camp on the bank of its namesake river, it boasts an avenue of baobabs and a serenely remote setting, creating an immersive experience of the region’s culture and wildlife. An afternoon walk takes you into the Sacred Ifotaka community forest, encircling the ancestral tombs of the local Antandroy tribe with the amazing flora and fauna of the spiny forest. Enjoy an evening aperitif on the terrace before dinner.
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Visit one of the nearby markets to witness the rich tapestry of valley life, as people who have travelled for hours or days come here to buy and sell their local wares. Return to the camp for lunch before heading off to the privately owned Forest of Zenavo, where your guide leads a ‘day-into-night’ walk. Look out for lemurs including the sifaka and white-foot sportive; and, when the sun goes down, track for the two mouse lemur species, sleeping birds, and alert night owls.
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Drive south of the camp to the tamarind trees of the Sacred Gallery forests, where abundant wildlife includes large group ‘conspiracies’ of ring-tailed lemurs. Later, relax with a sundowner as you watch the sun set and moon rise, with views across the baobabs to the mountains beyond; and this evening enjoy a show of traditional dancing, music, and singing, performed by local villagers of the Antandroy tribe. 
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Early return by road to Fort Dauphin. Transfer to the airport for the flight back to Antananarivo. Meet with your tour manager, and check-in for overnight at the Pallissandre Hotel & Spa. Enjoy an afternoon of independent discovery, and a farewell dinner at the hotel this evening.
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Day at leisure until transfer to the airport for your overnight return flight to London. 
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Morning arrival in London.