Madagascar: Andasibe, the RN7, Isalo and Ifaty

1. Day 1: Arrive in Antananarivo

   Ivato International Airport to your hotel in central Antananarivo

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Antananarivo
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Ivato International Airport (TNR), about 15 km north of the centre of Antananarivo, which everyone calls Tana. A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive into the city, which can take up to an hour in traffic past rice paddies, brick kilns and the first steep streets. Tana is built over a ring of hills at about 1,280 m, with the old royal compound, the Rova, on the highest ridge and Lake Anosy below it. If you land early, rest, change money or walk down to the lake. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the two weeks ahead: what the RN7 is like, what to wear on the night walks, and how the long road days are broken up. Then we sit down together to a welcome dinner of Malagasy dishes such as romazava, the national beef and greens stew, at a local restaurant.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Ivato International Airport (TNR)
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Optional experiences

   • If you land early, ask us about a guided visit to the Rova, the royal compound on the city's highest hill (price confirmed at booking)

   Free time: Free until the evening briefing

   Activity: Plan to land by mid-afternoon to make the briefing; later arrivals are met and the guide catches up with you at breakfast.

2. Day 2: East to the rainforest at Andasibe

   Antananarivo on the RN2 to Marozevo, then Andasibe

   • Drive about 4 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Andasibe
   Day 2 details

   We leave Tana at 8 am, ahead of the worst of the traffic, and head east on the RN2, the road to the port of Toamasina. The highland plateau of rice terraces and red earth gives way to the forested escarpment of the Mandraka, and the air turns damp and green. At Marozevo we stop at the Peyrieras reserve for a first close look at chameleons, leaf-tailed geckos and colourful frogs, which helps you know what to look for in the forest later. Lunch is a sit-down meal on the road, at Moramanga or near Andasibe, and we reach our lodge by mid-afternoon, about four hours of driving in all. Rest and settle in. At dusk we walk into the Mitsinjo community reserve with a local guide and head torches: mouse lemurs, sleeping chameleons on the branch tips, tree frogs and, with luck, a woolly lemur. Dinner is at the lodge.

   Included

   • Peyrieras reserve at Marozevo with a local guide
   • Sit-down lunch on the way
   • Night walk in the Mitsinjo community reserve with a local guide
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Easier option: Skip the night walk and watch for frogs in the lodge grounds instead.

   Free time: Late afternoon free at the lodge

   Activity: The night walk is about 1.5 hours on forest paths that can be muddy. Bring a head torch and a light rain jacket.

3. Day 3: The indri of Analamazaotra

   A day in and around Andasibe

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Andasibe
   Day 3 details

   The indri, the largest living lemur, sings most in the early morning, and its wailing call carries for kilometres across the valley. So we are at the gate of Analamazaotra, the indri reserve of Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, when it opens, and walk in with a park guide while the families are calling. Indri live in small family groups high in the canopy; your guide knows their territories, and most mornings we find at least one group close enough to watch. The same forest holds diademed sifakas, common brown lemurs, the bamboo lemur and the blue coua, plus orchids that flower in October and November. We are back at the lodge for lunch, and the afternoon is yours: sleep, read on the veranda or walk to the village of Andasibe and its old railway station. At dusk we take a second night walk, this time with the V.O.I.M.M.A. community association, in a different patch of forest.

   Included

   • Guided walk in the Analamazaotra reserve of Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, park entry and local guide included
   • Lunch and dinner at the lodge
   • Night walk with the V.O.I.M.M.A. community association

   Optional experiences

   • Half-day in Mantadia, the wilder northern part of the park, about 20 km up a rough track (not in the trip price; quoted at booking)

   Easier option: Take the short circuit in Analamazaotra, about 2 hours on the flatter trails near the indri groups closest to the gate.

   More active option: Spend the free afternoon in Mantadia, on steeper trails, looking for diademed sifakas and black-and-white ruffed lemurs.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: The morning walk is 3 to 4 hours on uneven, sometimes steep and slippery trails. Leech socks or long trousers tucked into socks help after rain.

   

4. Day 4: The long road to Antsirabe

   Andasibe back through Antananarivo, then south on the RN7 via Ambatolampy to Antsirabe

   • Drive about 7 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Antsirabe
   Day 4 details

   Today is the longest drive of the trip, about 315 km and 7 hours, and there is no way round it: the only road south from Andasibe runs back through the capital. We leave at 8 am, cross the edge of Tana before the afternoon traffic and join the RN7, the national road that will carry us south for the next week. At Ambatolampy, about 70 km on, we stop for a sit-down lunch and a visit to one of the foundries where families cast cooking pots from recycled aluminium in sand moulds, by hand, over open fires. The afternoon road climbs across the highlands past Antanifotsy, with rice terraces, red-brick farmhouses and the tombs of Merina families beside the fields. We reach Antsirabe, a spa town of the colonial era at about 1,500 m, in the late afternoon. The evening is free: try a ride in one of the town's brightly painted pousse-pousses.

   Included

   • Sit-down lunch in Ambatolampy
   • Visit to an aluminium pot foundry in Ambatolampy

   Optional experiences

   • Pousse-pousse ride around Antsirabe in the evening (paid locally)

   Free time: Evening free in Antsirabe

   Activity: About 7 hours of driving with a long lunch and comfort stops; we arrive around 5 pm. Highland nights are cold from June to August.

   

5. Day 5: Ambositra's woodcarvers, then down into the rainforest

   Antsirabe to Ambositra, then the RN7 to Alakamisy Ambohimaha and the RN45 east to Ranomafana

   • Drive about 7 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ranomafana
   Day 5 details

   A second long day, about 250 km and 7 hours of driving, because the rainforest lies well south of Antsirabe and off the RN7; we break it in the middle. We leave Antsirabe at 7:30 am and drive two hours south to Ambositra, the woodcarving town of the Betsileo highlands, where balconied brick houses line the main street. A local craftsman shows us his workshop: marquetry of coloured woods cut with a hand-powered fretsaw, and carved panels in the geometric style of the Zafimaniry, the forest people of the hills to the east, whose woodcraft is on the UNESCO intangible heritage list. Lunch is a sit-down meal in town. In the afternoon we continue south on the RN7 through pine plantations and terraced valleys to Alakamisy Ambohimaha, then turn east onto the RN45, the better of the two roads to the park, and drop off the plateau into the rainforest of the Namorona valley. We reach Ranomafana, a small village named for its hot springs, at about 5 pm, in time for a shower before dinner at the lodge.

   Included

   • Woodcarving and marquetry workshop visit in Ambositra
   • Sit-down lunch in Ambositra
   • Dinner at the lodge in Ranomafana

   Free time: Time to browse the Ambositra craft shops

   Activity: About 7 hours of driving with a 2-hour stop in Ambositra; we leave at 7:30 am and arrive around 5 pm. Day 6 has no driving.

   

6. Day 6: Ranomafana National Park

   A day in Ranomafana National Park and the village

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Breakfast and dinner
   • Stay in Ranomafana
   Day 6 details

   No driving today beyond the few minutes to the park gate. Ranomafana National Park protects steep, misty rainforest along the Namorona river and is part of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was created after scientists found the golden bamboo lemur here, and it is one of the few places to see it. We walk in with a park guide at about 7:30 am, when the lemurs are feeding: golden and greater bamboo lemurs in the bamboo stands, Milne-Edwards's sifakas, red-bellied lemurs, and, on the forest floor, giraffe-necked weevils and tiny chameleons. Expect 4 to 5 hours with a stop at a waterfall viewpoint. Lunch is yours in the village, and the afternoon is free: soak in the village's thermal pool, fed by the hot springs, or rest at the lodge. At dusk we walk the road along the park edge with a guide for mouse lemurs, frogs and leaf-tailed geckos.

   Included

   • Guided walk in Ranomafana National Park, park entry and local guide included
   • Entry to the thermal pool in Ranomafana village
   • Night walk along the park edge with a local guide
   • Dinner at the lodge

   Optional experiences

   • Visit to Centre ValBio, the research station at the park edge, when it can host visitors (price confirmed at booking)

   Easier option: Take the shorter morning circuit, about 2.5 hours, and return to the village for lunch.

   More active option: Extend the walk deeper into the park towards the Vohiparara sector for more bamboo lemur territory, about 6 hours with a packed lunch.

   Free time: Afternoon free

   Activity: Trails are steep, with stone and earth steps that are slippery after rain. Good walking shoes are essential.

   

7. Day 7: Fianarantsoa's old town and Ambalavao paper

   Ranomafana to Fianarantsoa, then the RN7 south to Ambalavao

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Ambalavao
   Day 7 details

   A shorter day on the road, about 115 km and 3 hours in two halves. We climb back out of the rainforest after breakfast and reach Fianarantsoa, the main town of the southern highlands, by mid-morning. Your guide walks you up through the old upper town, the Haute-Ville, with its cobbled lanes, 19th-century churches and wooden balconies, for the view over the lake and the lower town. Lunch is a sit-down meal in Fianarantsoa. In the afternoon we drive an hour south through vineyards and granite hills to Ambalavao, a market town with steep tiled roofs. Here we visit a workshop making Antemoro paper, a craft brought to Madagascar by Arab traders centuries ago: pulp from the bark of the avoha tree is spread on cloth frames and pressed with fresh flowers, then dried in the sun. The rest of the afternoon and the evening are free in Ambalavao.

   Included

   • Walk through the Haute-Ville of Fianarantsoa with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Fianarantsoa
   • Antemoro paper workshop in Ambalavao

   Optional experiences

   • Silk weaving workshop in Ambalavao (paid locally)

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Ambalavao

   Activity: The Haute-Ville walk is about 1.5 hours on steep cobbled lanes.

8. Day 8: Ring-tailed lemurs at Anja, then across the Horombe to Isalo

   Ambalavao to the Anja Community Reserve, then the RN7 via Ihosy to Ranohira

   • Drive about 4.5 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Ranohira
   Day 8 details

   If your departure falls on market day, we start with a look at the big zebu cattle market at the edge of Ambalavao, where herders walk animals in from the south. By about 8:30 am we are at the Anja Community Reserve, 13 km on, run by the villagers who guide you. Families of ring-tailed lemurs sun themselves on the granite boulders and feed in the trees, often within a few metres, and the walk passes Betsileo family tombs set in the cliffs. The reserve shows what a community forest can earn and protect. We leave by late morning, about 230 km and 4.5 hours of driving in all today, and cross the Horombe Plateau, a vast empty grassland where the highlands give way to the south. Lunch is a sit-down stop in Ihosy, which breaks the drive before the last 80 km or so. We reach Ranohira, at the foot of the Isalo massif, by mid-afternoon, in time to rest before dinner.

   Included

   • Guided walk in the Anja Community Reserve, entry and village guide included
   • Sit-down lunch in Ihosy
   • Dinner at the hotel in Ranohira

   Easier option: Stay on the lower trail at Anja, about 1 hour on the flat among the lemurs.

   More active option: Climb the boulder trail at Anja to the viewpoint above the reserve, about 2 hours in all.

   Free time: Late afternoon free in Ranohira

   Activity: About 4.5 hours of driving, split by a long lunch in Ihosy, after a 1 to 2 hour walk at Anja.

9. Day 9: The canyons of Isalo

   A day in Isalo National Park from Ranohira, with sunset at La Fenetre

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Ranohira
   Day 9 details

   Isalo National Park protects a massif of Jurassic sandstone carved by wind and water into ridges, gorges and towers, with palm-lined canyons and grassland on top. We start at about 7:30 am to walk in the cool. With a park guide we climb onto the massif past the pandanus palms and Isalo's endemic elephant-foot plants to the Piscine Naturelle, a clear pool under a small waterfall where you can swim, about 3 to 4 hours and 7 to 9 km in all. Back in Ranohira for a sit-down lunch, we rest through the heat of the middle of the day. In the late afternoon we take a short shaded walk in the Namaza valley, where ring-tailed lemurs, Verreaux's sifakas and brown lemurs gather near the stream. To end the day we drive south to La Fenetre de l'Isalo, a natural window in the rock, where the sun sets through the gap. The evening is free.

   Included

   • Guided walk to the Piscine Naturelle in Isalo National Park, park entry and local guide included
   • Sit-down lunch in Ranohira
   • Namaza valley walk in the late afternoon
   • Sunset at La Fenetre de l'Isalo

   Easier option: Skip the morning climb, rest at the hotel and join the group for the Namaza valley walk and the sunset.

   More active option: Continue from the Piscine Naturelle to the Canyon des Makis and the Canyon des Rats with a park guide, a full day with a packed lunch.

   Free time: Midday and evening free

   Activity: The morning walk climbs about 200 m on rock steps and sandy paths with little shade. Bring at least 2 litres of water, a hat and swimwear.

10. Day 10: Zombitse forest and down to the Mozambique Channel

    Ranohira via Ilakaka, Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park and Sakaraha to Toliara, then north to Ifaty

    • Drive about 5.5 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Ifaty
    Day 10 details

    The last long drive, about 270 km and 5.5 to 6 hours: the RN7 is the only road from the canyons to the coast, so we split it with a forest walk and lunch. We leave at 8 am and pass through Ilakaka, a sapphire-rush town of tin-roofed gem dealers that grew from almost nothing in the late 1990s. About an hour and a half from Ranohira we stop at Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park, a dry deciduous forest and an island of trees in the grassland, for a 1.5 hour walk with a park guide: Verreaux's sifakas, Hubbard's sportive lemurs asleep in tree holes, and Appert's tetraka, a bird found nowhere else. Lunch is a sit-down stop at Sakaraha. The afternoon road runs past baobabs and the painted, zebu-horned tombs of the southwest down to Toliara on the coast, then 25 km north to Ifaty, a string of fishing villages on a lagoon sheltered by a barrier reef. We arrive in the late afternoon; dinner is at the hotel.

    Included

    • Guided walk in Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park, park entry and local guide included
    • Sit-down lunch at Sakaraha
    • Dinner at the hotel in Ifaty

    Easier option: Take the short loop at Zombitse, about 45 minutes on flat sandy paths.

    Free time: Evening free at Ifaty after we arrive, around 5 pm

    Activity: About 5.5 to 6 hours of driving, broken by the Zombitse walk and lunch; we arrive around 5 pm. Toliara is hot and dry most of the year.

11. Day 11: Spiny forest at dawn, then the lagoon

    Ifaty, the Reniala reserve and the beach

    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Ifaty
    Day 11 details

    Birds in the spiny forest are most active in the first hours after sunrise, so after an early breakfast we walk into the Reniala reserve at about 7 am, a few minutes from the beach. This is the strange dry forest of the southwest: octopus trees and other spiny plants found only in Madagascar, and old baobabs, some many centuries old, with bottle-shaped and twisted trunks. A local guide leads the botanical trail and looks for the long-tailed ground roller, the subdesert mesite and the running coua, all southwestern specialities. We are back at the hotel by late morning, and the rest of the day is yours. Swim in the lagoon, walk the beach to watch the Vezo fishermen sail their outrigger pirogues in through the gap in the reef, or join an optional snorkelling trip on the reef. Lunch and dinner are yours, at the hotel or in Mangily village.

    Included

    • Guided early-morning walk in the Reniala spiny forest reserve, entry included

    Optional experiences

    • Snorkelling on the Ifaty reef by pirogue or boat (paid locally)
    • Whale watching, roughly July to September (paid locally)

    Free time: Afternoon and evening free

    Activity: We start at about 7 am, the only early start apart from the indri walk, because the birds are most active then. The Reniala walk is about 2 hours on flat sand; bring a hat and water. The afternoon and evening are free.

12. Day 12: Fly from Toliara to Antananarivo

    Ifaty to Toliara airport, then a domestic flight to Antananarivo

    • Drive about 45 min
    • Breakfast
    • Stay in Antananarivo
    Day 12 details

    A morning on the beach or a last swim, depending on the flight time, which the national carrier sets and often changes; departure dates are set around the current timetable, and your guide confirms the time the day before. We drive about 45 minutes south to Toliara airport for the flight of under two hours back to Antananarivo, over the dry southwest and the central highlands you crossed by road. From Ivato it is a short transfer to our hotel in the centre of Tana, and the rest of the day is free. If you have energy, walk down to Lake Anosy, where the jacarandas flower purple in October and November, or browse the Digue craft market near the airport road for raffia, embroidery and carved wood. Dinner is yours tonight. If the flight slips by a day, Ambohimanga is shortened or dropped and the farewell dinner is held on the evening we reach Antananarivo.

    Included

    • Transfer to Toliara airport
    • Domestic flight from Toliara to Antananarivo
    • Transfer from Ivato airport to the hotel

    Free time: Morning or afternoon free, depending on the flight time

    Activity: Drive figures are for the 25 km to Toliara airport; the transfer from Ivato into the city is about 15 km more. The domestic flight takes under two hours and has a checked-bag limit that we confirm at booking.

13. Day 13: Ambohimanga and a last evening in Tana

    Antananarivo to the Royal Hill of Ambohimanga and back

    • Drive about 2 h
    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Antananarivo
    Day 13 details

    This morning we drive about an hour north of the city to Ambohimanga, the royal hill from which the Merina king Andrianampoinimerina began uniting the highlands in the late 18th century. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and still a sacred place for many Malagasy. A local guide takes us through the old stone gateways, one with a great stone disc that was rolled across it each night, into the royal compound: the king's wooden house, simple and dark, the later summer palace of the queens with its European furniture, and the sacred trees and tombs. From the top you look back over rice paddies and villages to Tana on its hills. Lunch is a sit-down meal near the hill. The afternoon is free in the city to rest or shop, and in the evening the group gathers for a farewell dinner. If the flight slips by a day, Ambohimanga is shortened or dropped and the farewell dinner is held on the evening we reach Antananarivo.

    Included

    • Royal Hill of Ambohimanga with a local guide, entry included
    • Sit-down lunch near Ambohimanga
    • Farewell dinner in Antananarivo

    Free time: Afternoon free in Antananarivo

    Activity: About 1.5 hours on foot at Ambohimanga, with a steady climb on stone paths.

14. Day 14: Depart from Antananarivo

    Your hotel to Ivato International Airport

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 14 details

    The trip ends after breakfast. Your guide checks your flight times the evening before and books the airport transfer to Ivato, about 15 km north of the centre, which can take up to an hour in traffic, so we leave at least three and a half hours before an international departure. If your flight is in the evening, the hotel holds your bags and you have the day for a last walk in the Haute-Ville, up to the Rova for the view, or a coffee and pastry in one of the cafes of Analakely. Many international flights leave Tana in the afternoon or late evening, so there is no need to fly home the moment the trip ends. If you would like to stay longer, ask us about extra nights in Antananarivo, and we will quote them with your booking.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Ivato International Airport (TNR)

    Free time: Free until your airport transfer

    Activity: Book a flight leaving any time today; allow about an hour to reach the airport.

Wildlife and weather: April to November is the dry season in the highlands and the south. June to August brings cool days and nights close to freezing around Antsirabe; the rainforests of Andasibe and Ranomafana can be wet in any month. Lemurs are active all year; chameleons and frogs are easier to find in the warmer months from September, when lemur babies appear and the jacarandas flower in Antananarivo. October and November are hot in Isalo and Ifaty, and humpback whales pass the southwest coast roughly from July to September.

• Antananarivo1 night
• Andasibe2 nights
• Antsirabe1 night
• Ranomafana2 nights
• Ambalavao1 night
• Ranohira2 nights
• Ifaty2 nights
• Antananarivo2 nights