Madagascar is a fantastic country. Full of beauty, friendly people and amazing nature.
17 amazing facts about Madagascar
In October 2019 we were lucky enough to visit Madagascar for the third time. On this trip our family of three, my husband, our 12 year old daughter and me, was joint by my mother who just turned 70. She had never been to Africa but had always dreamed of traveling to Madagascar. We travelled from Copenhagen, Denmark via Paris to Reunion Island and then flew to Tomasina in Madagascar. We had booked 12 days of holiday, for the most part in the jungle. I love to take photos - and Madagascar is every photographers dream vacation.
Tomasina and the Pangalanes
After a nice stay at Hotel Joffre in Tomasina, our journey into the jungle of Madagascar could begin. We got picked up by the same driver that collected us from the airport and got to see some of the hustle and bustle of everyday life in Tomasina. It’s a smaller city than Tana, the capital, but it felt like a big city with banks, shops and trafic. There are lots of cars in Madagascar but not a single traffic light! (and only 11% of the roads are paved). So be prepared to do as the malagasy and take it “Mora Mora” (slow slow). The driver drove us to the harbor where our boat was waiting. Tomasina, or Tamatarve as the local calls it, has lots of water access. It’s a beach town with connections to some of the most beautiful tropicals island - but it also has access to the Pangalanes, an artificial river that runs next to the ocean and is used for easy transport down the coast.
Palmarium resort
Our first stop was the Palmarium resort, situated in the jungle right by the river and known for its friendly lemurs. I had been looking forward to get some great shots of lemurs and other wildlife and it did not disappoint. The place was surrounded by the river on one side and the jungle on the other - and a great flock of different lemurs lived on the resort grounds. We got to meet the Indri Indri, crown lemurs, black lemurs and the common brown lemur, too name a few. They even had a hybrid lemur only found in this resort.
If you got up early (as I did) you got to see the lemurs making their morning rounds jumping from hut to hut and throwing them self from tree to tree while the sun slowly rose in the background. I miss Madagascar so much writing this :-)
One evening we took their special night tour to see the Aye-Aye, a very unique lemur. It’s nocturnal and almost impossible to see in the wild. As part of a conservation program the Palmarium have a family of Aye-Aye living on an isolated island in the Pangalanes river. During the night tour you get to meet these fantastic creatures for a short while and it was amazing - it’s hard to say if the Aye-Aye are incredible cute or really scary, but they are very interesting (and I think I’ll go with cute).
After some wonderful days at Palmarium resort we were getting ready to the next leg of our trip. We truly had enjoyed our stay with great food, friendly staff and so many (friendly) close encounters with lemurs, lizards, turtles, butterflies and all kind of interesting plant life. Have you ever seen a real vanilla plant? - I hadn’t. We even got to hear about the long and labour heavy process behind the vanilla spice. (See a movie about vanilla)
The journey to the rainforest
We started the day by boat and sailed on the Pangalanes river till we reached Manambato, a sleepy little vacation town mostly for local tourists. On one of our first days in Palmarium we met a Malagasy family on vacation. I have picked up some words and phrases in Malagasy, just to get by, and try to use them as often as possible. So when I met the family I greeted them with a “Salama - inona vaovao?” loosely translated to “Hello, how are you doing?” and apparently I was so convincing, that they thought I spoke the language. I managed the rest of the conversation with smiles, small frases and friendliness and it was a really nice experience. When we got to Manambato the Malagasy family was now staying here. When they saw us get off the boat we were greeted like old friends returning home. What can I say - a little malagasy gets you a long way.We had a taxi waiting for us in Manambato that drove us to the main road - it was an unpaved and bumpy road and we left big dust clouds behinds us. At the main road our trusted driver, Nomena, was waiting for us.
The first time we visited Madagascar back in 2011, we had hired a french speaking driver. Not all drivers speaks a foreign language but those who does most often speaks french, the main language in Madagascar. The driver drove very fast and we had a hard time communicating with him. We felt that we missed a great opportunity to get to know the country and its people while driving through the changing landscape.
On our journey we made a stop for lunch in a very local restaurant. After a lovely meal we looked around at the small local stalls with excotic fruits, homemade baskets and wood carvings. It didn’t take long before my husband and daughter joined in on a football game on a nearby field. While they were playing my mum and I met the cutest kids and once more did the malagasy words that I had been practising, come into good use (I don’t know the word for smile but I do know the word for thumb - as you can see on the picture below).
Andasibe and Mantadia Lodge
Andasibe-Mantadia National Park is the most visited national park in Madagascar. It is situated in driving distance from Tana which makes it manageable as a shorter holiday destination for most tourists and it does not lack in amazing nature experiences and wow factor. We had three whole days in this wildlife paradis and had pre booked the Mantadia Lodge.
The thing about Madagascar. A lot of the hotels are french owned. It’s often the more luxurious accommodations and they are (relative) easy to book via the internet before you go. But being in Madagascar you discover other great hotels, which are owned by malagasy people and where the money you spend goes to the local people. These places do not necessary have websites, instead the uses contacts with travel agencies or word of mouth. We normally make all of our own booking reserevations and planning when travelling. But in Madagascar it does make sense to use a travelling agency that can arrange for local accommodations. Next time we are going depend on Nomena (who is also a tour guide and travel planner) to make the hotel bookings.
That being said, the Mantadia Lodge was so beautiful and serene. In the morning you could hear the Indri Indris call while you looked down onto the rainforest from the top of the mountain (it was not an easy access to the Mantadia Lodge, so again Nomena did at great job). The staff was friendly and accomodating - and the pool was made for Instagram.
We had two day-walks, one in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and one in Park Mitsinjo, a community project managed by a local guides association. We got to see - and hear - the Indri Indri in their natural habitat and met a brown lemur with babies. We also encountered two different kinds of bee eaters, chameleons and the black and white ruffled lemur.
As amazing as the rainforest is during the day it pales in comparison to the rainforest at night. We had a private guide just for our family and it was like being a explorer in a never before seen country. You could see the stars and the moon between the treetops as the wind moved the foliages. And hear the frogs calling and small animals moving about forest floor.
Our guide spotted the tiniest chameleon, the most amazing frogs - and the nights highlight: two different kinds of nocturnal lemurs, the dwarf lemur and the mouse lemur. I never get tired of tracking the wildlife through a pit black jungle, hoping for a glimpse of a cute furball. It’s like being a kid on adventure all over again.
In Park Mitsinjo they have a “plant a tree” project where you get to plant your own rainforest trees. For a small donation you get to select two plants from the parks nursery - and a short walk away you get to plant the trees. We did this on our daughters birthday. The trees will take up to 30 years to be fully grown, but you got too start somewhere. And it is nice to think about the tree you have growing in the malagasy rainforest.
You can drive from Andasibe to Tana on a day but need to time it to avoid the rush hour traffic. So we got an early start, said goodbye to the sounds of the Indri Indri and made us comfortable in the car. The drive is very lush and green with rice fields, rural towns and zebus (the malagasy ox) enjoying the sun.
Antananarivo - or Tana for short
Tana is a lively city, a melting pot of different people, rich and poor, of simple huts and impressing french colonial architecture. In October the jacaranda trees blossom and color the city purple. I really like the city but I’m sure you can tire of its chaotic nature it if you stay to long.
One of the places I insist on visiting while in Tana is the bakery at the Colbert Hotel. They have the best and most delicious cakes and the finest chocolade. Nothing beats a hot cup of tea and an almond croissant while looking out on the streets of Tana.
This time we visited the Musée De La Photographie De Madagascar for the first time. It’s on top of the city not far from the Queen's palace, the Rova, and is like a safe haven with is green courtyard and magnificent view over the city. It houses a museum with several small theaters showing interesting movies of different aspects of malagasy life and historie. There are also a restaurant on the grounds with french culinary specialties which are both inexpensive and wonderful.
The last thing you do on a tour of Madagascar is almost always a stop at the Digmarche Artisinal. It’s an unpaved street on the way to the airport with stalls as long as you care to walk. Here you can get all the souvenirs you ever dreamed of and cheap enough to get something for the whole family and your friends as well.
Final thoughts
For the third time we had an absolutely perfect holiday in Madagascar and I can not recommend it enough. If you take everything “mora mora” and go with the flow you have every chance of having the best and most unique vacation in this amazing land.What to pack for a travel adventure in Madagascar
As for all places hot and humid you need lose clothing, long sleeves and long trousers. It can get cold especially high up in the mountains. Tana is almost 1.300m over sea level and it’s wise to bring a warm sweater and a light raincoat. The same goes for the rainforest where it can get cold and where it by definition is wet.You need good walking shoes and don’t bring any of your favorite pieces - the red dirt of Madagascar is almost impossible to wash of. The good thing is that you can donate your close before you leave = more space for souvenirs in the suitcase.
I would also recommend bringing a good flashlight, mosquito spray, small first aid kit and medicine (Malaria medicine is strongly recommended). I use packing cubes for everything, you get more space in your suitcase and it easy to find what you looking for, even during a power cut.
What to buy - souvenirs
There are so many beautiful things to bring back for Madagascar. I use several of the colorful baskets I bought on our travels every day. I also enjoy my many wood carvings and small animal figurines very much. Pepper, vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and other species are all easy to get by and last long in you household all the while reminding you of your trip. You should grab a couple of the traditional lambdas as well, these big colorful scarves can be used as blankets or a decorative feature in your house - as well as a beautiful scarve.Where have we been - and where would we like to go next
Some of the places we have visited on previous travels to Madagascar:- Amphy
- Nosy Be
- Isalo National Park
- Ranomafana National Park
- Mandrava Forest
- Mahajanga
Places we would love to visit:
- Avenue de Baobab
- Fort Dauphine
- Masoala National Park
Recommendations
- Our driver, Nomena. You can find more info on his website www.nomstour.com.
- Palmarium Resort
- Mantadia Lodge
- Musée De La Photographie De Madagascar
- Hotel Colbert
- The Mitsinjo Reserve - Plant a tree
Facts about Madagascar:
- Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world.
- Madagascar is classed as one of the world’s 17 megadiverse countries that are considered to be home to the majority of the world's biodiversity. Over 70% of the 250,000 wildlife species found in Madagascar are found nowhere else in the world. While 90% of the estimated 14,000 plants native to Madagascar are also found nowhere else.
- The lemur is only found in the wild in Madagascar. As of 2012, there were 103 living species of lemur in Madagascar, including sub-species. The majority of these are classified as rare or endangered. Several species of lemur such as the giant lemur have become extinct in the past, mainly due to extensive deforestation.
- The unique ecology of Madagascar has led some scientists to refer to the country as the "eighth continent" of the world.
- Madagascar has the 3rd largest coral reef system in the world, the Toliara coral reef, off the south-western coast.
