1000 Views of Madagascar Safari
Duration: 11 day(s)
Priced from: EUR 1155 / US $ 2175
Enjoy our most popular land based Madagascar tour - the 1000 views of Madagascar, on this 11 day safari adventure with Jenman African Safaris.
On this hotel accommodated tour you have the opportunity to
explore the highlights of the world's 4th largest island - Madagascar. This 11-day safari, starting and ending in Antananarivo, shows you the
incredible sights of Madagascar where you get the chance to experience local
culture as well as the wildlife, much endemic to this country.
Highlights: Antananarivo, Andasibe National Park, Antsirabe, Ambositra, Ranomafana National Park, Ambalavao, Isalo National Park, Ifaty.
Group Size: Maximum 10 people
Type of Safari: Accommodated safari
Accommodation: Mid range 2* hotels
Price:
Tour Fare*
1 Nov 2010 – 31 October 2011
1 pax: EUR 2545 / USD 3820 (no additional single supplement required)
2 pax: EUR 1450 / USD 2175
4 pax: EUR 1155 / USD 1730
6 pax: EUR 1030 / USD 1545
8 pax: EUR 975 / USD 1465
10 pax: EUR 930 / USD 1395
Single Supplement: EUR 255 / USD 380
Supplement for upmarket accommodation:
EUR 360 / USD 540
Single Supplement: EUR 545 / USD 815
International flight from: EUR 205 / USD 245
* Tour fare to be paid in currency applicable to country of origin.
** Please note that internal flights should be booked in
conjunction with international flights and the rates are
subject
to class, availability and change.
Departure Dates 2011: Every day of the week. Please note that there are
special airfares for flights from Johannesburg to Antananarivo 7 days of the
week.
Included in the price: Accommodation based on BED & BREAKFAST basis
in twin sharing room, all transfers and transport mentioned in the program, all
entrance fees, specialist local guides in the national park as per program, all
excursions mentioned in the program, an English-speaking driver (cannot advise
on Flora and Fauna, and therefore will not accompany clients into parks).
Not included in the price: All excursions not mentioned in the program,
bottled water, soft drinks and alcoholic beverages, laundry, international flights,
flight from Tulear to Tana, visas and travel insurance, all lunches, dinners,
personal items. (Flights from/to Johannesburg can be arranged by Jenman African
Safaris).
Please note: If you require a specific language speaking guide to accompany
you on your entire tour, please request this at time of enquiry.
This carries an additional cost.
Additional Information: The trip departs every day on a private basis
for special rates, or clients can choose a scheduled departure where they will
travel in a group of between 4 & 10 pax - contact
our offices for more information
Tailor-Made Travel: This safari runs on scheduled dates
throughout the year. We can tailor-make a private safari to meet your departure
date, time period, group size and budget. Contact the office for further
information.
Day 1: Antananarivo – Andasibe
Arrival in Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. Welcome and assistance at
the airport. After a short briefing, drive to Andasibe through the green and
luxuriant vegetation of the east. This first step brings us to the humid part
of the country with many primary forests and lakes. Along the way we will see
Merina villages in the rocky mountains. Arrive at Andasibe around 18h00.
Check-in hotel. Later this evening at approximately 19h00 we have a night walk
in the area of Andasibe to observe night active lemurs and other nocturnal
animals. Back to hotel where we overnight.
Accommodation: Grace Lodge or Feon’ny Ala (bungalows with en-suite bathrooms,
verandah overlooking the forest)
Day 2: Natural Reserve of Andasibe
A morning visit to the Special Reserve of Andasibe, to see the Indri Indri, the
largest lemurs on the island. This 810 ha reserve is unique with its endemic
fauna and flora. It contains a wide variety of orchids, canopy, and endemic
animals like chameleons, tenrecs, and many birds. After the visit we walk
through the orchid park to admire all the nice flowers. In the afternoon, we
visit Andasibe village, a typical Betsimisaraka (The-Many-inseparable) village,
and the second largest tribe on the island. They cultivate rice and live mainly
off the forest. This small visit helps us to have contact with the local
people, to see how they live and what they eat. Overnight at the same hotel.
[B]
Accommodation: Grace Lodge or Feon’ny Ala (bungalows with en-suite bathrooms,
verandah overlooking the forest)
Day 3: Andasibe – Antsirabe
We drive back to Tana, and head south to Antsirabe, across the highland
landscape with its beautiful rice fields on stage. The spectacular eroded hills
called ‘lavaka’ remind us of the Far East with its rice fields and green
landscape with vegetables and fruit trees. A stop in Ambatolampy for a short
visit of this huge agricultural city, which is also known as a source of
aluminium. Arrival in Antsirabe around 17h00, or ‘the place of salt’, an
elegant city well known as the centre of the beer industry and we can smell the
Star Brewery as we enter the town.
Founded by the Norwegians in 1856, it is the only place which really feels and
looks like a European city. It has a temperate climate and all fruits and
vegetable, which grow in cold climates, are found in Antsirabe. [B]
Accommodation: Chambres
du Voyageur (rooms with e-suite bathrooms)
Day 4: Antsirabe to Ranomafana National Park
After breakfast we drive to Ambositra, the centre of Madagascar's wood carving
industry. We are still in the highland, which is characterized by its
architecture: The houses are made with ornately carved wooden balconies and
shutters with bright colours. Further on we pass the ‘le col de tapia’, a type
of tree, which resists to the bush fires of the area. The landscape is still
dominated by rice fields on stage, pine forests and eucalyptus trees and rocky
mountains. We are taking a turn-off from the main road. Before we reach our
destination for the day: Ranomafana National Park. [B]
Accommodation: Centrest, or similar (rooms with e-suite bathrooms)
Day 5: Ranomafana National Park
Parc National de Ranomafana (approximately 40,000ha), with its rain forested
hills and abundant wildlife, has long been considered one of Madagascar’s
highlights, and is one of the most heavily visited of the country’s national
parks. Its entrance lies about 7km from Ranomafana village. Altitudes in the
park range from 800m to 1200m. In addition to its densely forested hills,
Ranomafana’s terrain is characterised by numerous small streams, which plummet
down to the beautiful Namorona River. Although much of the region has been
logged, the easternmost part of the park retains relatively large areas of
primary forest.
You will go for walks in the National Park for several hours spotting some of
the lemurs, chameleons and other animals. [B]
Accommodation: Centrest, or similar (rooms with e-suite bathrooms)
Day 6: Fianarantsoa – Isalo
We leave Ranomafana using the road that entered on, and pass Fianarantsoa ‘the
city where one learns good things’. It is the gate to the South and the capital
of the Betsileo tribes. This is the centre of the catholic religion and most of
the best schools are found here. Then we head southwards, our first stop is in
Ambalavao to visit a wine industry for wine tasting, as Ambalavao is the centre
of wine industry. The climate is not said to be ideal for grape vines but it is
a tradition left by priests and monks, who lived in the area of Fianarantsoa.
Still in Ambalavao, we visit the ‘Anteimoro Paper Factory’ a vestige of the
Arabian civilisation in the island. We continue to Ihosy the capital of the
Bara tribes, who are the shepherds of Zebu, and pass through the mountain chain
of Andringitra, which serves as a transition between the dry south and green
highlands with its famous ‘3 hillocks’ and its huge ‘archbishop's cape’. Along
the way we will see afar a spectacular huge granite dome with twin rock towers
called: ‘the gate of the south’, which marks the end of the highland and the
beginning of the south. The other imposing one is the ‘Bishop's hat’, which is
a sacred place for the local people, as it is a place where their ancestors
chose a collective suicide rather than to give in to the Merina tribes. We then
pass through the huge ‘Plateaux de Horombe’ where with its very deep red soil,
reminds us of ‘the no man's land’. Arrive in Isalo. [B]
Accommodation: Isalo
Ranch (rooms with e-suite bathrooms, restaurant)
Day 7: Isalo
Visit to Isalo National Park. The park covers an area of 81 540 ha comprising
of the entire stretch of the Isalo massif. This huge mountain is very
spectacular with its eroded sandstone mountain. Today we will walk to the
‘Natural swimming pool’. After a 10-minute drive from Ranohira village we park
our car and walk about 1½ hour to reach the Natural Swimming Pool. Along the
way we will see vegetation like Uapaca bojeri, Pachypodium rosulatum or
‘elephant's foot’, Aloe isaloensis, a native species of aloe and endemic to
Isalo. We walk through the eroded mountains, which are also where Bara placed
their dead before they can bring them into their real tombs. We start our climb
and reach the massif, (after 20 minutes walk) where we will have a spectacular
view of the huge sandstone mountains with its beautiful colours and its strange
and eroded forms giving many different images like ‘the tortoise’, ‘the masks’
and ‘the crocodiles’. We see small streams of water, and rivers which are
marked by lines of brilliant green, generally made up of numerous Pandanus
pulcher and the delicate, slim-stemmed, feathery leaved palm Chrysalidocarpus
isaloensis. Along the way, for lemur lovers, there may be sifakas, brown lemurs
and ringtaild lemurs, as well as fifty-five species of birds, lizards and
snakes. We finally reach the swimming pool, with its crystal clear water, which
is a great reward after a long and very hot walk. [B]
Accommodation: Isalo
Ranch (rooms with e-suite bathrooms, restaurant)
Day 8: Isalo to Ifaty
After breakfast, we continue to Tuléar, the terminal of the National Road N° 7.
This step brings us new scenery, among the dry forests of the west and the
spiny desert of the south. On the way, we admire the different ‘Mahafaly tombs’
and the ‘Antandroy tombs’. After a short visit of Tuléar we drive to Ifaty,
which lies about 27 km from Tuléar. Due to the bad condition of the road, it
will take us about 2½ hours to reach Ifaty, and this step brings us to the
driest part of the country. Situated in the deep south, the landscape is
dominated by the spiny forest like the cactus, different euphorbiacea and
didieracea. We will cross the dry and sandy soil where the local people battle
to find drinking water. Mangrove trees line the coast alternated by Vezo villages,
which earn their living from fishing. We will see many small pirogues and men
who go out fishing twice a day. The children and women wait on the coast to
fetch the fish and take them to Tuléar for sale. [B]
Accommodation: Hotel de la Plage (rooms with e-suite bathrooms)
Day 9: Ifaty
Day at leisure. Ifaty lies in the beach; it is an ideal place for diving and
snorkelling and a popular place for birdwatchers. Here you can also experience
the Vezo Fishermen's life. Many excursions are possible. Visit the ‘Reserve
Domergue’, a communal reserve where one will see two kinds of baobabs, spiny
bush, reptiles like ‘boa madagascariensis’, ‘geckos’ and ‘chameleon parsoni’
(the largest one). Take a boat trip to see the whales. From July to mid
September, whales come to the cool seas off Madagascar to give birth to their
young. It is a spectacular experience, and it is possible to see the whales
very near to the boat. Situated in the largest lagoon of the country, Ifaty is
also protected by a large coral reef, which makes it an ideal place for diving
and snorkelling. In the afternoon we can walk to the village of Mangily where
we can visit a local school and also experience the Vezo Fishermen's way of
life, especially after coming back from fishing. [B]
Accommodation: Hotel d e la Plage (rooms with e-suite bathrooms)
Day 10: Ifaty – Tulear – Tana
Early in the morning around 6h00 we transfer to the airport for the flight back
to Tana. Transfer to the hotel. Afternoon free. Tana also called the ‘City of Thousands’ is the capital of Madagascar. It is the city where the first King started to
unify the different kingdoms of the island. Built in stages: The high city, the
first area occupied during the royal period where the old queen's palace is
situated, the mid-city, where all the chic boutiques of the capital are found
and then the low city, which is the commercial area of the town. Your walk can
start from the high city to see the Rova, the queen's palace, the house of the
first minister during these days, which is now a museum; all built by Frenchman
Jean Laborde during the royal period. The mid-city, or the administration area
ends at the Rainiharo tombs and the lower town is situated in the main avenue
called ‘L'avenue de l'independence’ dominated by the railway station. [B]
Accommodation: Residence Lapasoa, or similar (rooms with en-suite
bathroom, & restaurant
Day 11: Tana
Transfer to the airport for your onward flight. End of Tour. [B]
