Madagascar Flying Safari | Lemurs & Baobabs

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SUMMARY

LUXURY LEMURS AND BAOBAB 4D TOUR

DURATION   : 4 days
AREA             : East and West of Madagascar
TRIP               : Group per departure ( minimum 4 pax – maximum 6 )
PLACES TO VISIT : Antananarivo – Andasibe – Tsingy de Bemaraha – Morondava
ACCOMODATION TYPE : Comfort (Half board)
TRANSPORT TYPE: Private car / Private charter plane / Helicopter
BACK TO ANTANANARIVO : Private charter plane
ASSISTANCE: Guide / Local Guide

DEPARTURE DATE
1st Group: JULY 26th, 2024 (Most recommended date for Senior Traveler)
2nd Group: SEPTEMBER 9th, 2024

(this tour is also available as a private tour departure, please feel free to reach out for more information)

Madagascar Flying Safary | Lemurs & Baobabs

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DAY 1 - ARRIVAL TIME IN ANTANANARIVO

Arrival at the Ivato International Airport, Antananarivo. You will be welcomed by HT Agency Tours representative. Meet and greet. Once you have passed customs formalities, it is to the Guide to smooth through the rest of the arrivals process – changing money, setting up your phone with a new SIM card, and anything else you need. This will make our contact easier. Check in at the hotel.

LOCATION: ANTANANARIVO
ACCOMMODATION: NOVOTEL
INCLUSION : DINNER AND BREAKFAST
DRIVE: ABOUT 20MN DRIVE

DAY 2 – FLY FROM ANTANANARIVO TO ANDASIBE AND BACK TO THE CAPITAL

After breakfast, around 7:00 AM, transfer directly to Andasibe by helicopter, on the air to reach the east, we enjoy panoramic views of the stepped rice fields, mountains, and then continue through the green and luxuriant vegetation. After 30mn flight, we land on the rainforest renowned Andasibe-Perinet National Park. We’ll visit Analamazaotra National Park.

Wildlife

Meet the Indri-Indri and the Diademed Sifaka in their forest home. The visit takes about 3 hours. Within a mile of the park you can hear the peculiar call of the indri very early in the morning until noon and again in the late afternoon. Indris (called Babakoto in Malagasy) are the largest living lemurs at all reaching up to 1 meter.

Andasibe

Andasibe is the best place to observe the Indris given that there are a couple of families habituated to humans. It lives in small groups and cannot survive in captivity. There are several legends trying to explain its origins since it is considered a sacred animal in the whole Madagascar. Apart from the Indri, another 13 lemur species inhabit these forests, such as woody lemur, grey bamboo lemur, diademed sifaka, brown lemur, red mouse-lemur, red-bellied lemur, black and white ruffed lemur and even aye-aye.  

In the afternoon we visit Andasibe village, known as “the City of Waters”, and stroll through the local market to see some Malagasy craftspeople working. 

Vakôna

Then, you will enjoy an amazing up close and personal experience with lemurs on the private Lemurs Island and then on to view many other species in the Vakona Reserve Zoo, where you will see many crocodiles in the huge river enclosure, native birds, and other wildlife in well-kept surroundings. Toward in the afternoon, you will aboard your helicopter for flight back to Antananarivo.

LOCATION: ANTANANARIVO
ACCOMMODATION: NOVOTEL
INCLUSION : DINNER AND BREAKFAST
DRIVE: ABOUT 1H FLIGHT (ROUND TRIP)

DAY 3 – FLY FROM ANTANANARIVO TO TSINGY DE BEMARAHA AND MORONDAVA

Today, we’ll leave early the hotel, at 6:00 AM to join the West of Madagascar. After breakfast, you will aboard your charter and fly directly up to Bekopaka. Before landing, discover the famous Tsingy of Bemaraha. Your will enjoy a fly over surrounding the scenic landscape of this area.

Tsingy de Bemaraha

The flight will take around 1hour. Then, guided visit the Grand Tsingy. Here nature seems to be in perfect harmony with this wild and sharp limestone mountain. The flora consists of a dry western deciduous forest, plants typical of these dry limestone areas, such as species of Aloe and baobab Andasonia, the red-flowered flamboyant tree, Madagascar’s native banana Musa perrier.

Flora

You can also see typical plants growing in the rocky area such pachypodium, orchids. About the fauna, we can see the stump-tailed chameleon Brookesia perarmata, 53 bird, 7 lemur species including Decken’s sifaka Propithecus verreauxi deckeni. For your lunch, you will have picnic organized by the guide. 

After lunch, aboard your private charter, and then, head towards the Menabe area with landing in the Capital Morondava. It is located in the heart of Sakalava territory and known for its beautifully sculpted royal wooden tombs. On arrival, you will be transferred to your hotel. You’ll enjoy lunch at the hotel before enjoying a tour of the city.

Baobab Avenue

In the afternoon, your guide will drive you to the renowned Avenue of the Baobabs (Allée des Baobabs), a dirt road lined with dozens of ancient Grandidier’s baobab trees, the largest of the seven species of baobab found in Madagascar. You can also discover the Baobab Amoureux. You’ll enjoy the gorgeous sunset over these magnificent trees before heading back to the hotel.

LOCATION: MORONDAVA
ACCOMMODATION: PALISSANDRE
INCLUSION: LUNCH, DINNER AND BREAKFAST
DRIVE: ABOUT 2H30MN FLIGHT

 

DAY 4 – FLY BACK FROM MORONDAVA TO ANTANANARIVO

This day, after breakfast, back to the capital of the island – air transfer to Antananarivo. On arrival, you will be picked up by our driver, then drive to the craft market for shopping and purchase some souvenirs. Then, transfer directly back to the international airport for your external flight.

LOCATION :ANTANANARIVO
DRIVE : 1H30 FLIGHT

END OF OUR SERVICES

INCLUSIONS
EXCLUSIONS
NOTES
HIGHLIGHTS
TRIP INFORMATONS
SAFETY COVID19

All entrance fees and Local guide fees.
All private flight (Helicopter & Private Charter Plane)
Professional English-speaking driver / guide.
All land transportation
All accommodation with meals as specified in the itinerary.
Mineral water per person per day while you’re on tour/safari.
Picnic lunches in Tsingy de Bemaraha NP

International flights.
Visas
Driver guide Tips and staff
Personal Gratuities
Other extras.

    • Your guide will manage all programs’ timing
    • During the trip, the following dietary requirement(s) are served: Regular (typically includes meat, fish, milk, sea food, …). If you have special dietary requirements it’s a good idea to communicate it to us
    • Please note that the feasibility of the tour will depend on the availability of the proposed accommodations
    • We do not take responsibility for any airline schedule changes that may occur after quoting or booking. We will do everything we can to alleviate any disruption of your itinerary or holiday but cannot be held responsible for any loss of funds, bookings, missed connections or other prebooked/paid services.

This tour will take you from Antananarivo to Andasibe, Tsingy de Bemaraha and Morondava :

  • Andasibe – Mantadia National park

Andasibe–Mantadia National Park is about 150 km to the east from Antananarivo, along the RN2, and it can be reached in 3 to 4 hours by car. Comprising two distinct protected areas: Analamazoatra Special Reserve and Mantadia National Park, Andasibe-Mantadia National park is one of the most frequently visited site in the country, and one of the best places to observe lemurs in Madagascar.

Fauna

It is also one of the best primate-watching site in the world. This site is known to be the refuge for a wide variety of lemur species (14 diurnal and nocturnal species), including the famous Indri Indri, the Aye-Aye, the goodman’s mouse lemur, the Crossley’s dwarf lemur, the Eastern woolly lemur sifaka, and sometimes southern black-and-white ruffed lemur. 51 reptile species, 84 amphibian species, 72 mammal species, 117 bird species, and countless insectivorous bats that have been recorded. Mantadia is the one of the best birdwatching site on the Big Island.

Flora

About the flora, with its lush and green vegetation this protected area contains a collection of evergreen vegetation epiphytic plants (plants living on other plants), palm trees, mosses, fern, bamboo, hardwoods, and precious woods, and pandanus. This park is also famous for its orchids with 120 inventoried species, entirely endemic. They bloom between September and January.

  • Tsingy de Bemaraha

Located in the western part of Madagascar, about 200 kilometers from Morondava, the protected area of Bemaraha covers more than 150,000 hectares. It is home to the famous Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, one of the most spectacular landscapes of Madagascar and even of the world. The famous Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park is the first tourist attraction that makes the western destination of Madagascar a popular destination for tourists.

Tsingy

Indeed, the Tsingy are a group of limestone rocks whose formation began several million years ago when the sea still covered the region. Thus, corals and shells have stacked and welded together to form thick layers which have subsequently raised. In the open air, the limestone cracked to give rise to diaclases and canyons. Rainwater that has an acid characteristic has also contributed to erosion by shaping tapered slats and deep tunnels with concretions on the surface.

Limestone

It is a true limestone cathedral characterizing one of the most spectacular natural landscapes of the Great Island and even of the world, hence it’s inscription to the world natural heritage and national cultural heritage of UNESCO. Tsingy de Bemaraha is strongly regarded as a place of endemism because of their richness in plant and animal species where scientists have recorded a high level of endemism of around 80-90%.

Fauna

The protected area of Bemaraha is a true refuge for rare and endemic animal species. There are 17 rare species of reptiles, including the very small chameleon scientifically called the Brookesia perarmata and a species of rodents, Nesomys lambertoni, found only in the park. There are also 11 species of lemurs, six species of birds, and two species of local endemic amphibians.

On the flora side, the park abounds with more than 600 species of plants, but the baobabs, aloes and flamboyants remain the first stars.

  • Baobabs Avenue

About ten trees 30 meters high border this avenue, of the species Adansoniagrandidieri, endemic to Madagascar. Baobabs, over 800 years old, known locally as Renala (in Malagasy for “mother of the forest”), are a heirloom of the dense tropical forests that thrived in Madagascar.

The trees did not grow in isolation in this dry and bushy landscape but were part of a dense forest which has now disappeared (only 10% of primary forests remain in the country).

Over the years, with the increase in the country’s population, forests have been cut down for agriculture, leaving only baobab trees, which locals preserve both out of respect and for their value as a source of food and materials of constructions.

  • CLIMATE

The climate is tropical, but cooler in the highlands (dropping as low as 5°C at night in July/August in Antananarivo and Andasibe). The dry season is March to October continuing into November in most areas. The east coast is best March-May and September-November, January-March is cyclone season.

The south west area is hot, dry and semi-arid. March-April is the best time for flowers and reptiles. November (spring) is generally the best time for wildlife and birds, but lemurs can be viewed all year round. Seasonal weather patterns can be unpredictable.

  • ALTITUDE

    • Antananarivo : 1300m
    • Andasibe : 964m
    • Bekopaka : 334m
    • Morondava : 22m maximum and an average altitude above sea level of 6m
  • EQUIPMENT

HT Agency Tours offers torches for nocturnal wildlife walks, a water bottle. Please bring camera film (and spare batteries), binoculars and a beach towel and swimwear. Rain proof pants are very handy for walks in the rainforest. Walking poles maybe useful in Ranomafana NP and Andasibe NP. Lightweight walking bootshoes and trainers is recommended.

Clothing should be lightweight, but a warm sweater or jacket is advisable as nights at altitude and under desert conditions can be very cold, even in summer and especially in July to September. Rainwear is highly recommended on all tours for the occasional shower. Warmer layers will be required during the winter months.

 

For safe operation

  • Given the fluid nature of local COVID-19 protocols, our itineraries are regularly reviewed and will be modified based on local requirements to ensure a safe experience. If a major change is necessary, we will let you know before departure.
  • Our guide will use their judgment during the trip to modify the itinerary if physical distancing cannot be achieved
  • Our guide will receive in-depth training on COVID-19 protocols and how to conduct our journeys in the “new normal”.
  • Our guide will brief you upon arrival on the use of face masks and physical distancing during the trip, based on local government guidelines.
  • Only restaurants with strict protocols that comply with local food hygiene and physical distancing requirements will be used. We will encourage outdoor dining areas where possible.
  • All of our staff and third party suppliers will be continually informed of new health and safety protocols.

 

Transportation Protocols

  • Our drivers will follow local protocols on the use of face masks and physical distancing required.
  • Our drivers will provide alcohol-based hand sanitizer and tissues in the vehicle and encourage customers to wash their hands when getting into the vehicle.
  • All vehicles will be disinfected (seats, door handles, etc.) regularly throughout the day.

 

Protocols for Hotels

  • We will only offer hotels that have specific COVID-19 protocols in place and comply with local government guidelines.
  • We will ensure that these measures include; improved room cleaning, ventilation, physical distancing, regular cleaning and disinfection of high frequency touch points in public areas, food safety, staff retraining and minimization of contact within properties

 

If You Get Sick

  • All of our leaders are trained to help any guest who becomes ill while traveling.
  • We also have an “action plan” in case of suspected COVID-19 cases within the group and are ready to seek medical support at any time.
  • Our guides are supported by our 24/7 based operations team and local partners across the country

 

Our recommendations

  • We recommend you to bring your own face masks (at least 2 reusable) and an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
  • We recommend you to check with the airline for their individual COVID-19 requirements prior to departure.
  • We recommend you to check your own government travel advice and meet entry requirements including, but not limited to, COVID-19 testing, pre-arrival health questionnaires, and tracking and traceability in the country, etc

 

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