Madagascar Wildlife Adventure

Begin your adventure in the characterful capital of Madagascar, Antananarivo, known as Tana by most. Around 6pm, say salama (that’s hello in Malagasy) to your tour leader and fellow travellers, when we gather as a group for the first time to get to know each other and learn more about the adventures ahead. Your tour leader then ensures a big Madagascan welcome by arranging a group dinner. Want more time in Tana? Secure pre-tour hotel nights through your sales representative.

Bid farewell to Tana, as we take a transfer to the airport for our flight to the west coast town of Morondava. From here, we drive to Kirindy Forest, stopping en route at the Avenue of the Baobabs. This short section of road, a key stop on any trip to Madagascar, is flanked by curiously fat-trunked baobab trees, some thought to be more than 1,000 years old. Having completed our journey, we embark on a night walk in Kirindy Forest. Search this private nature reserve with expert local guides and the Exodus tour leader, keeping an eye out for any of the eight lemur species that live here.

See a different side to Kirindy, enjoying an early morning forest walk. Led by local guides and our tour leader, we venture into the forest in full light, looking for even more lemur species, including the critically endangered Verreaux's sifakas. After, we drive to the town of Belo Tsiribihina, where we catch a ferry across the Tsiribihina River and continue to Bekopaka, a small village at the entrance of Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, which we reach by another, much smaller, ferry.

Dedicate today to exploring Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, home to extraordinary stone forests known tsingy and plenty of wildlife. On our easy walk (3mi/5km), we join eagle-eyed park guides and our tour leader to spot extraordinary creatures, such as Milne-Edwards mouse lemurs, white Decken’s sifakas, Bemaraha woolly lemurs and giant chameleons. Our adventure begins in the morning with a two-hour canoe ride on the Manambolo river. With our canoe steersperson taking us gently along the waters, we explore caves and learn about the traditions and customs of the local Bara ethnic group from our park guide, a Bara member. In the afternoon, we visit the Small Tsingy, an otherworldly collection of needle-like limestone rocks. Often described as a stone forest, the tsingy formations are like nowhere else on earth – plus we have the chance to spot ring-tailed lemurs and other local wildlife. Our exploration, which includes climbing rocks and ladders, is a great warm up for tomorrow, when we tackle the Big Tsingy.

Enjoy an adventure-packed day exploring the Big Tsingy, where the magnificent limestone needles can reach double the size (up to 195ft/60m) of those in the Small Tsingy. It’s a physically challenging day, as you need to crawl in some sections, wear a harness and climb up the tsingy – your efforts are well rewarded, however, with a chance to see a unique landscape formed over millions of years. Bring a packed lunch from the hotel to enjoy your meal with unforgettable views. This is a day you won’t forget!

We leave the tsingys behind and return to Morondava, taking the ferry across the Tsiribihina River again. It’s a long travelling day but we head back via the Avenue of the Baobabs for sunset, the most beautiful time to visit with the dark outlines of the trees backdropped by a sky changing colour.

We’re back in the vehicle today, this time driving (eight hours) through the desertic landscape of western Madagascar to the town of Miandrivazo.