Category: Madagascar

Packing for Madagascar means preparing for three climates in one trip: humid rainforest where it rains in every month, highlands that drop near freezing at night, and arid southwest heat. The items that matter most are a waterproof jacket, boots…

Morondava is a laid-back coastal town on Madagascar's west coast and the gateway to the Avenue of the Baobabs, Kirindy Forest and Tsingy de Bemaraha. Most visitors use it as a base for the western circuit and spend a day…

Sambava is the gateway to Marojejy National Park and the centre of the SAVA region, where most of Madagascar's vanilla grows. The name comes from the four towns of Sambava, Antalaha, Vohemar and Andapa. Visitors come for the silky sifaka…

Beyond snorkelling and diving, Madagascar's coasts offer kitesurfing at Sakalava Bay, sea kayaking at Masoala and around the northern islands, deep-sea fishing from four separate coasts, and pirogue trips with Vezo crews who have sailed these waters for generations. Most…

Photographing Madagascar means dealing with dark rainforest, animals forty metres up and light that lasts an hour. The subjects that reward most are lemurs at close range in the southern parks, chameleons on night walks, and the Avenue of the…

Half of Madagascar's lemur species are nocturnal, along with most of the reptile and amphibian interest, which makes night walks a necessity rather than an optional extra on any wildlife trip. The complication is that they cannot happen inside national…

Solo female travel in Madagascar is common and works, with the same precautions that apply widely rather than anything peculiar to the country. Guides are compulsory in every national park, which means women rarely walk alone in remote forest, and…

Western Madagascar holds the country's most dramatic scenery and its hardest travel: the Avenue of the Baobabs, the fossa at Kirindy Forest, and the limestone pinnacles of Tsingy de Bemaraha at the end of a road that takes six to…

The practical details that shape a Madagascar trip: park fees are cash in Ariary with no card facility anywhere, tipping is expected and not included in quoted rates, phone coverage disappears at the remote parks, and plastic bags were banned…

Northern Madagascar packs more variety into short distances than anywhere else on the island: montane rainforest at Amber Mountain, limestone tsingy and caves at Ankarana, red laterite spires at the Tsingy Rouge, and the lagoon and reefs around Diego Suarez…