Category: Madagascar

Madagascar is safe for most visitors who travel sensibly, though several governments currently advise a high degree of caution. The realistic risks are petty theft in Antananarivo, road travel and health rather than anything involving wildlife. A transitional government has…

Ambatoloaka is the social centre of Nosy Be, a strip of beach bars, restaurants and dive centres on the southwest coast where most of the island's nightlife happens. Madirokely next door is quieter, more family-oriented, and gets the most celebrated…

Madagascar holds six of the world's eight baobab species and all six grow here and nowhere else. The largest is Adansonia grandidieri, the species lining the famous Avenue of the Baobabs near Morondava, reaching thirty metres with a trunk three…

Eastern Madagascar is where the rainforest is, and where the indri lives. Andasibe-Mantadia sits three to four hours from the capital on the best road in the country and delivers the most reliable lemur viewing in Madagascar. Beyond it lie…

Isalo National Park is Madagascar's leading hiking destination, built around a Jurassic sandstone massif cut by deep canyons, spring-fed pools and palm-shaded gorges. Walks range from a two-hour canyon route to multi-day treks across the plateau, all of them guided.…

Amber Mountain National Park is Madagascar's oldest, created in 1958 around an extinct volcano whose slopes carry one of the wettest rainforests on the island. Guided walks run from an hour to a full day across a trail network of…

Belo sur Mer is a Vezo boatbuilding village south of Morondava where wooden dhows are still constructed on the beach by hand, using timber from the forest inland. It sits beside Kirindy Mite National Park, which puts dry forest, mangrove,…

The Emerald Sea, or Mer d'Émeraude, is a shallow lagoon at the mouth of Diego Suarez bay whose white sand bottom turns the water a colour visible from space. Day trips run by sailing boat from Ramena beach, taking in…

The islands off Madagascar are reached almost entirely by boat, and the strongest cluster sits around Nosy Be in the northwest: Tanikely for snorkelling, Komba for lemurs and crafts, Iranja for the sandbar, Sakatia for quiet. The eastern option pairs…

Ambositra sits on the RN7 between Antsirabe and Fianarantsoa and is the centre of Zafimaniry woodcarving, a tradition recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Geometric patterns cut into furniture, panels and house frames define the style, and the villages…