Ethiopian Experiences
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"Madagascar is undoubtedly one of Africa's most fascinating countries, and certainly one of the continent's most unique. "
TripSavvy.com
Ethiopian Experiences in Madagascar
Madagascan Odyssey
Marvellous - Memorable
prepared for Ben and Pilar's private group visit
An amazing tour in an amazing country
What an extraordinary country!
Wonderful sights, fascinating cultures, beautiful and desirable handicrafts, staggering landscapes, and a justly famous endemic wildlife that will enthral and charm you. Come with us and experience this unique land.
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This fourteen-day tour has alluring and wonderful experiences
in comfortable hotels and with such excellent food
£2975
plus flights and visa.
Everything else is included - clean and comfortable accommodation, truly delicious food, amazing scenery, glorious wildlife, all tourist costs, guide fees,
and all land transportation.
Here are the dates for your tour
Departure on an evening flight
Friday, 5th September
Return on a daytime flight
Saturday 20th September
The itinerary
🇪🇹 Day 0:
Evening flight
Heathrow to Antananarivo
Antananarivo
🇲🇬 Day 0: You will arrive in the capital, Antananarivo (see our November 2021 newsletter) in the afternoon and have plenty of time to get installed in your rooms prior to an excellent tour group dinner and a detailed talk through the plans.
🇲🇬 Day 1: Our Sunday sees us immediately driving out of the city to get our first (and up-close) experiences of Madagascan wildlife. Lemurs Park is home to six or seven varieties of lemur at freedom in their family groups - you will be enchanted! Then after a relaxed lunch, we set off in a different direction to visit the area's premier historic site, Ambohimanga (The Blue Hill), the attractive traditional fortified settlement of Madagascar's kings and queens and an excellent place to start our understanding of the history and culture of this extraordinary country.
🇲🇬 Day 2: Monday is our day to get to know this characterful capital city, with time spent in the rambling market before walking up into the Haute-Ville with a knowledgeable local guide to show us some of the notable features - the palace, the historic frieze, the cathedral. A fine French-influenced dinner is welcome.
" Every day brought something new, giving us an informative and fascinating insight into Madagascar's people, its flora and fauna, its history and its many landscapes."
Antsirabe
🇲🇬 Day 3: Our road trip begins, in a comfortable tourist vehicle. We are on our way towards the south, stopping first at Antsirabe, a town famous for its varied handicrafts. After a lunch in town, we do a short drive out to Andraikibah Lake and stroll along the attractive lakeside to survey the numerous tiny shops selling ammonites, fossils, gemstones and other fascinating things. After that we'll get into the centre of town for a look around - the imposing main square, a railway station with fine architecture, an unexpected cathedral with good stained glass and a few intriguing shops. After coffee in the gardens of a somewhat grand hotel, we might even catch a local boules/pétanque tournament.
Antsirabe to Ranomafana
🇲🇬 Day 4: A substantial day of driving today will ensure that we have good time at the end of the tour for some real excitement at the coast. So we shall start after an early breakfast, do a four-hour stint of travelling (with coffee breaks as required, of course) and then, after a relaxing and unhurried lunch, continue our travel for a second four-hour period that should easily bring us to the wonderful rainforest village of Ranomafana. We are now in one of the most famous protected areas of Madagascar, and we have a two-night stay in this relaxed and attractive country village (see our March 2021 newsletter). We shall almost certainly be there in time for what they call a 'night safari', with a knowledgeable local guide using torchlight to show us pygmy lemurs, beautiful tree frogs and more than one variety of Madagascan chameleons, followed by a thoroughly relaxed and enjoyable evening of dinner and drinks.
Ranomafana
🇲🇬 Day 5: The rainforest is a magical and amazing place and there are a number of different guided treks that can be done, just depending on how much energy one wishes to expend! It's full on and fun, but quite damp and muddy at times. We don't all have to engage in the same activities here, and we can make our decisions once we are at the main entrance. But whichever level of trek you choose, you will have a great time in your hunt for lemurs and other wildlife. You not only have a main guide, but also a number of experienced 'spotters' whose job it is to find the lemurs and inform the group.
One should just be warned that some of the forest paths are quite steep and are not perhaps for the faint-hearted or weary-limbed, but we are here for a whole day in this very peaceful village which also offers a flat stroll to a beautifully laid-out and extensive arboretum on the edge of the village where we can appreciatively wander at will, probably spotting some giant chameleons at the same time. There is also a very decent area of hot springs in the village centre where some pleasant bathing may be had. The village itself is attractive and well-worth a wander between periods of relaxation.
Sahambavy
🇲🇬 Day 6: We are now on our way to the town of Ambalavao. But first we are going to strike out to the east of the RN7 to get to the main tea-plantation in Madagascar, called Sahambavy. There is a first-rate lakeside hotel here where we shall enjoy a special lunch and look round its extensive and beautiful garden that is a combination of garden centre and a small zoo. After that we shall have a short guided tour of the plantation itself and be shown the tea-producing process before we resume our drive to Ambalavao for our overnight stop.
Anja Park
🇲🇬 Day 7: One of the most dramatic of the national parks is our destination today - Isalo. But first we are heading to a smaller, privately-owned park called Anja Park (see our December 2022 newsletter) where a local guide will show us the maki, the ring-tailed lemur, ubiquitous and easily seen, along with possible further sightings of chameleons and suchlike. We then continue in a south-westerly direction, reaching the small town of Ranohira for dinner and sleep.
Isalo
🇲🇬 Day 8: Isalo (see our November 2022 newsletter) is the Grand Canyon of Madagascar offering impressive trekking opportunities at all levels of fitness. We are proposing an expertly guided,
two-hour leisurely and not too challenging trek that we can all enjoy, a sunny and perhaps tiring experience but one that will provide special memories. At the end of that we shall take a major break at a surprisingly fertile and deeply shaded oasis called the Piscine Naturelle (natural swimming pool) which you will welcome for a rest and a possible bathe. Quite close to here will be our lunch spot, and we are employing our own private cooks to be there in advance and prepare us a freshly barbecued lunch. After that, you have a clear choice. Either turn round and walk back again, back to our hotel and some well-earned downtime, or continue with your guide along a more extended route that may well add another two or three hours to your total experience.
" Thank you so very much for a wonderful and very memorable trip, with many highlights."
Tulear and Anakao
🇲🇬 Day 9: We are just a few hours from the sea-coast in south-west Madagascar now and our final drive, passing a famous group of immense baobab trees on the way, will see us having a good lunch before getting comfortably settled in the Chez Alain hotel, just on the edge of this town of Toliara (Tuléar) (see our June 2021 newsletter). The rooms themselves are simple and unpretentious bungalows but the hotel is an oasis of peace and birdsong (quite a rarity in this part of Madagascar) with a small, inviting swimming pool and a fine varied menu of food. We can use any time we have to explore the town.
🇲🇬 Day 10: At this point in our group tour, we are going to take a major diversion from the 'Madagascan Odyssey' tour that you may already have read about on our 'Ethiopian Experiences' website. Our bold plan is to take a powerful speedboat from Tulear across to an idyllic place called Anakao - no roads, no traffic, just beaches, seashells, birdlife and beauty. We are going to sleep here for two nights. On this day 10 of our tour, we are going to be very active. We are going to take a motorized local wooden boat called a 'pirogue', captained by a local fisherman, who will (fingers crossed!) take us out to see huge humpbacked whales who are in the region to enjoy the mating season. If everything goes according to plan, you will be just a few feet away from these giants of the sea as they play and frolic in beautiful waters.​
And after that we have still more for you because we shall go to a deserted and wonderful island where we can see rare seabirds such as the red-tailed tropic bird (thank you, Ben, for the identification!) and have another local fisherman cook our lunch of fresh fish there on the sandy shore. And after that? Swim, sunbathe, relax. Accommodation will be fairly simple in this area, but still comfortable and decent.
🇲🇬 Day 11: We have decided to give you this second day in beautiful Anakao, and a menu of individual choices. You might like to choose something a bit ambitious such as snorkelling, scuba-diving, wind-surfing or kite-surfing (there would be some extra cost implications for those choosing any of these) or slightly less energetic and costly activities such as going out with local fishermen to fish from their simple local boats, or staying around the beach to swim, to sunbathe, to relax and to read. We might even be able to organise some fish-cookery classes for you in the morning run by local people. All these latter choices can be included in the basic tour cost.
Tulear and Tana
🇲🇬 Day 12: We take our speedboat once again in the fairly early morning to get back to Tulear, and check back into Chez Alain for another night. After that, we are going for a final celebratory day here in the south of Madagascar. We shall drive along the beautiful coast and see the famous spiny forest with its unique and world-famous level of biodiversity, before returning a short distance to Ifaty where we can have excellent food in a stylish beachside restaurant and generally chill out in whatever way we wish.
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🇲🇬 Day 13: We must get back to the capital city today ready for our international return flights on the morrow! According to the rather changeable schedules, we shall be able to explore Tulear a bit more and visit its various shops and cafes before we fly. On the way into Tana for our final night, we shall visit the Art Malagasy Mall, really a long road of more than 150 shops selling everything imagineable from this extraordinary country, including fossils and beautiful stones such as you may never have seen.
🇲🇬 Day 14: Our Madagascan Odyssey comes to an end after a group brunch and we go to take our afternoon return flight, taking with us a full memory bank of experiences to last for some time to come.
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We can never be sure of flight costs in advance but based on our past experience and some recent increases in international flight prices, the complete package of two international flights and one domestic flight may well come to something around £1200 per person.
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The cost of the tourist visa at the present time is about £30.
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For other general information, see Our tours > All the tours information