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Flights to Madagascar from South Africa
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1000 Views of Madagascar Safari
This is an island waiting to be explored. Discover the best of Madagascar
in this fascinating eleven day tour with lemurs, colourful tribes, tropical
beaches, bustling markets and ever changing scenery.
On this hotel accommodated tour you have the opportunity to explore the
highlights of the world's 4th largest island - Madagascar.
This 11-day vacation, starting and ending in Tana (Antananarivo), shows
you the incredible sights of Madagascar where you get the chance to experience
the culture as well as the wildlife.
Highlights: Tana, Andasibe, Ansirabe, Ifaty, Isalo National
Park, Fianarantsoa, Tulear.
Group Size: Maximum 10 people
Type of Tour: Accommodated tour
Accommodation: Mid range 2* hotels
Price:
1 pax - EURO 2075/ USD 3215
2 pax - EURO 1445/ USD 2240
4 pax - EURO 1115/ USD 1725
6 pax - EURO 980/ USD 1520
8 pax - EURO 928/ USD 1435
Single Supplement: EURO 240/ USD 365
(Rates valid until 31 December 2008)
Flights: Internal Flight from: US$ 160; Please note
that internal flights should be booked in conjunction with international
flights and the rates are subject to class, availability and change
Includes:
Accommodation based on BED & BREAKFAST basis in twin sharing room,
all transfers and transport mentioned in the program, all entrance fees,
specialist guides in the national park as per program, all excursions
mentioned in the program, an English-speaking guide.
Excludes:
All excursions not mentioned in the program, bottled water, soft drinks
and alcoholic beverages, laundry, international flights, flight from Tulear
to Tana, visas and travel insurance, all lunches, dinners, personal items.
(Flights from/to Johannesburg can be arranged by Madbookings - click
here for Madagascar flight information)
Departure Dates:
Every Day of the week
Please note that there are special airfares for flights from Johannesburg
to Antanarivo 5 days of the week.
Flights from Paris to Antanarivo depart on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays
and Sundays.
Return flights with Air France from Antananrivo to Paris are Mondays,
Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Enquire now bookmadagascar@madbookings.com
Day 1:
Antananarivo – Tana – Andasibe. Arrival in Antananarivo, the
capital of Madagascar. Welcome and assistance at the airport. After a
short briefing, drive to Andasibe through the green and luxuriant vegetation
of the east. This first step brings us to the humid part of the country
with many primary forests and lakes. Along the way we will see Merina
villages in the rocky mountains. Arrive at Andasibe around 18h00. Check-in
hotel. Later this evening at approximately 19h00 we have a night safari
in the Reserve of Andasibe to observe night active lemurs and other nocturnal
animals. Back to hotel where we overnight. [B]
Day 2
Natural Reserve of Andasibe. A morning visit to the Special Reserve of
Andasibe, to see the Indri Indri, the largest lemurs on the island. This
810 ha reserve is unique with its endemic fauna and flora. It contains
a wide variety of orchids, canopy, and endemic animals like chameleons,
tenrecs, and many birds. After the visit we walk through the orchid park
to admire all the nice flowers. In the afternoon, we visit Andasibe village,
a typical Betsimisaraka (The-Many-inseparable) village, and the second
largest tribe on the island. They cultivate rice and live mainly off the
forest. This small visit helps us to have close contact with the local
people, to see how they live and what they eat. Overnight at the same
hotel. [B]
Day 3
Andasibe – Antsirabe. We drive back to Tana, and head south to Antsirabe,
across the highland landscape with its beautiful rice fields on stage.
The spectacular eroded hills called ‘lavaka’ remind us of
the Far East with its rice fields and green landscape with vegetables
and fruit trees. A stop in Ambatolampy for a short visit of this huge
agricultural city, which is also known as a source of aluminium. Arrival
in Antsirabe around 17h00, or ‘the place of salt’, an elegant
city well known as the centre of the beer industry and we can smell the
Star Brewery as we enter the town.
Founded by the Norwegians in 1856, it is the only place which really feels
and looks like a European city. It has a temperate climate and all fruits
and vegetable, which grow in cold climates, are found in Antsirabe. [B]
Day 4
Antsirabe to Ranomafana National Park. After breakfast we drive to Ambositra,
the centre of Madagascar's wood carving industry. We are still in the
highland, which is characterized by its architecture: The houses are made
with ornately carved wooden balconies and shutters with bright colours.
Further on we pass the ‘le col de tapia’, a type of tree,
which resists to the bush fires of the area. The landscape is still dominated
by rice fields on stage, pine forests and eucalyptus trees and rocky mountains.
We are taking a turn-off from the main road. Before we reach our destination
for the day: Ranomafana National Park. [B]
Day 5
Ranomafana National Park. Parc National de Ranomafana (approximately 40,000ha),
with its rain forested hills and abundant wildlife, has long been considered
one of Madagascar’s highlights, and is one of the most heavily visited
of the country’s national parks. Its entrance lies about 7km from
Ranomafana village. Altitudes in the park range from 800m to 1200m. In
addition to its densely forested hills, Ranomafana’s terrain is
characterised by numerous small streams, which plummet down to the beautiful
Namorona River. Although much of the region has been logged, the easternmost
part of the park retains relatively large areas of primary forest.
You will go for walks in the National Park for several hours spotting
some of the lemurs, chameleons and other animals. [B]
Day 6
Fianarantsoa – Isalo. We leave Ranomafana using the gravel road
that we came in on again and pass Fianarantsoa ‘the city where one
learns good things’. It is the gate to the South and the capital
of the Betsileo tribes. This is the centre of the catholic religion and
most of the best schools are found here. Then we head southwards, our
first stop is in Ambalavao to visit a wine industry for wine tasting,
as Ambalavao is the centre of wine industry. The climate is not said to
be ideal for grape vines but it is a tradition left by priests and monks,
who lived in the area of Fianarantsoa. Still in Ambalavao, we visit the
‘Anteimoro Paper Factory’ a vestige of the Arabian civilisation
in the island. We continue to Ihosy the capital of the Bara tribes, who
are the shepherds of Zebu, and pass through the mountain chain of Andringitra,
which serves as a transition between the dry south and green highlands
with its famous ‘3 hillocks’ and its huge ‘archbishop's
cape’. Along the way we will see afar a spectacular huge granite
dome with twin rock towers called: ‘the gate of the south’,
which marks the end of the highland and the beginning of the south. The
other imposing one is the ‘Bishop's hat’, which is a sacred
place for the local people, as it is a place where their ancestors chose
a collective suicide rather than to give in to the Merina tribes. We then
pass through the huge ‘Plateaux de Horombe’ where with its
very deep red soil, reminds us of ‘the no man's land’. Arrive
in Isalo. [B]
Day 7
Isalo. Visit to ISALO National Park. The park covers an area of 81 540
ha comprising of the entire stretch of the Isalo massif. This huge mountain
is very spectacular with its eroded sandstone mountain. Today we will
walk to the ‘Natural swimming pool’. After a 10-minute drive
from Ranohira village we park our car and walk about 1½ hour to
reach the Natural Swimming Pool. Along the way we will see vegetation
like Uapaca bojeri, Pachypodium rosulatum or ‘elephant's foot’,
Aloe isaloensis, a native species of aloe and endemic to Isalo. We walk
through the eroded mountains, which are also where Bara placed their dead
before they can bring them into their real tombs. We start our climb and
reach the massif, (after 20 minutes walk) where we will have a spectacular
view of the huge sandstone mountains with its beautiful colours and its
strange and eroded forms giving many different images like ‘the
tortoise’, ‘the masks’ and ‘the crocodiles’.
We see small streams of water, and rivers which are marked by lines of
brilliant green, generally made up of numerous Pandanus pulcher and the
delicate, slim-stemmed, feathery leaved palm Chrysalidocarpus isaloensis.
Along the way, for lemur lovers, there may be sifakas, brown lemurs and
ringtaild lemurs, as well as fifty-five species of birds, lizards and
snakes. We finally reach the swimming pool, with its crystal clear water,
which is a great reward after a long and very hot walk. [B]
Day 8
Isalo to Ifaty. After breakfast, we continue to Tuléar, the terminal
of the National Road N° 7. This step brings us new scenery, among
the dry forests of the west and the spiny desert of the south. On the
way, we admire the different ‘Mahafaly tombs’ and the ‘Antandroy
tombs’. After a short visit of Tuléar we drive to Ifaty,
which lies about 27 km from Tuléar. Due to the bad condition of
the road, it will take us about 2½ hours to reach Ifaty, and this
step brings us to the driest part of the country. Situated in the deep
south, the landscape is dominated by the spiny forest like the cactus,
different euphorbiacea and didieracea. We will cross the dry and sandy
soil where the local people battle to find drinking water. Mangrove trees
line the coast alternated by Vezo villages, which earn their living from
fishing. We will see many small pirogues and men who go out fishing twice
a day. The children and women wait on the coast to fetch the fish and
take them to Tuléar for sale. [B]
Day 9
Ifaty. Day at leisure. Ifaty lies in the beach; it is an ideal place for
diving and snorkelling and a popular place for birdwatchers. Here you
can also experience the Vezo Fishermen's life. Many excursions are possible.
Visit the ‘Reserve Domergue’, a communal reserve where one
will see two kinds of baobabs, spiny bush, reptiles like ‘boa madagascariensis’,
‘geckos’ and ‘chameleon parsoni’ (the largest
one). Take a boat trip to see the whales. From July to mid September,
whales come to the cool seas off Madagascar to give birth to their young.
It is a spectacular experience, and it is possible to see the whales very
near to the boat. Situated in the largest lagoon of the country, Ifaty
is also protected by a large coral reef, which makes it an ideal place
for diving and snorkelling. In the afternoon we can walk to the village
of Mangily where we can visit a local school and also experience the Vezo
Fishermen's way of life, especially after coming back from fishing. [B]
Day 10
Ifaty – Tulear – Tana. Early in the morning around 6h00 we
transfer to the airport for the flight back to Tana. Transfer to the hotel.
Afternoon free. Tana also called the ‘City of Thousands’ is
the capital of Madagascar. It is the city where the first King started
to unify the different kingdoms of the island. Built in stages: The high
city, the first area occupied during the royal period where the old queen's
palace is situated, the mid-city, where all the chic boutiques of the
capital are found and then the low city, which is the commercial area
of the town. Your walk can start from the high city to see the Rova, the
queen's palace, the house of the first minister during these days, which
is now a museum; all built by Frenchman Jean Laborde during the royal
period. The mid-city, or the administration area ends at the Rainiharo
tombs and the lower town is situated in the main avenue called ‘L'avenue
de l'independence’ dominated by the railway station. [B]
Day 11
Tana. Transfer to the airport for your onward flight. [B]
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