10days western tour from Tana

Adventure tour in Antananarivo, Miandrivazo

Tour Price : $1766 Duration : 10 days Languages: english, french

Embark on your exploration of the west of Madagascar, commencing in Miandrivazo and culminating in Morondava.
Spend your first night in Antsirabe.
The following day, continue your journey towards Masiakampy, where you’ll board a boat by lunchtime, initiating a two-day river excursion along the Tsiribihina.
All meals will be provided onboard by the skilled boat crew, with nights spent in tents pitched on the riverbank.
Subsequently, embark on a 4WD adventure to Bemaraha National Park, where you’ll marvel at the awe-inspiring Great Tsingy, one of the region’s most remarkable attractions.
Conclude your journey in Morondava, traversing the famed Baobab Avenue to capture memorable photographs before bidding farewell to this enchanting region.

Highlights:
•    Two days river trip by boat
•    Evening parties at the river banks
•    Experience the atmosphere of Tsiribihina and Manambolo Rivers
•    hike on the tsingy and observe the wildlife fauna and flore
View the beauty of Baobabs Avenue
•    Visit the lagoon, the mangrove and the ballet of dugouts in Morondava

ITINERARY:

Day 1: Antananarivo (Tana)
    
Arrival in Antananarivo from your international flight. Me and driver meet you at the exit and transfer to the city center to join your hotel.

Day 2: Tana-Antsirabe-Miandrivazo

169 KMS asphalt to Antsirabe | 238 KMS Patched asphalt to Miandrivazo

Breakfast at the hotel. Early departure. Hit the road towards the west of Madagascar along the famous National Route 7 until we reach Betafo.
Crossing the small town of Ambatolampy, the third highest point of the island in the soaring Ankaratra hills, stop in Antsirabe, Lunch. Leave behind Route 7 to take Route 34 and enter a morphing, evolving change in the landscape up to the city of Miandrivazo, the granite massif giving way to sedimentary rocks. Cornered between the chain of Bongolava in the East and the plateau of Bemaraha on the West, this situation assures the status of the hottest city of Madagascar, with an annual average of 28°C. Thriving in this is a unique ecology different than anywhere else on the island.
Night Miandrivazo hotel

Day 3: Descent into Tsiribihina

Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer by car to the pier of Masiakampy, situated in the northern side of Miandrivazo.

Beginning of the cruise down the Tsiribihina river by dhow. During the descent, we pass through many villages, farmers, and ranchers of zebu and there are opportunities to visit some villages. The stunning and varied scenery is waiting for you all along the cruise. It’s an opportunity to observe diverse endemic plants of Madagascar as pachypodium, aloes, kalanchoes, baobabs, as well as several species of birds, lemurs, crocodiles. Dinner and overnight on bivouac.

Day 4: Descent of Tsiribihina - River Voyage

Navigation through the amazing scenery of western Madagascar

Day 5: Tsimafana-Bekopaka

100 km 04 Track
Last day of navigation.
Lunch. Here in the village of Tsimafana is where we leave the dhow. Your driver-guide and the off-road vehicle will be waiting.

Drive to Belo-Sur-Tsiribihina after crossing the Tsiribihina on a ferry boat before continuing until Bekopaka.
The rest of the day will be devoted to this long journey on track towards the Tsingy, hidden in the bush. Arrival late in the afternoon.
Accommodation on bed & breakfast

Day 6: Bekopaka
Small Tsingy and big tsingy
In the morning, accompanied by a local guide, start the exploration of the Tsingy world.
3h to 6h of trekking according to your physical condition.

The trek into the tsingy presents some technical peculiarities. Alternating passages on the roofs of Tsingy, descent in canyons, passage in geological galleries, and possibly visits of caves.

All the tours in Tsingy are fitted out via ferrata ; scale, suspension bridge…

To enjoy you tour, don’t forget :
- Walking shoes
- Sun protections
- Anti-mosquito repellent
You may see some different lemur species such as the Sifaka or the Gidro and if you’re lucky, you might see the famous Aye-Aye.
You can also observe the characteristic xerophyte flora of this area, including pachypodiums and arofys.
Tsingy de Bemaraha Nature Reserve covers an area of over 250 square miles (666 square km) and only a portion of this great park can be accessed by visitors. Today we travel by car to the start of our walking tour of the great massif. The park offers a range of tours with various levels of difficulty, all requiring a guide, with the 4 to 5-hour Andamozavaky tour being the most difficult.

Whilst exploring the Tsingys on foot, you can look for Decken's Sifaka, red-fronted brown lemurs and the critically endangered Madagascar fish eagle, amongst others.

Day 8: Bekopaka-Morondava

212 KMS 7h Path
Breakfast at the hotel. Early departure. Crossing the western shrubbery which characterizes the savanna. Long day of driving to join Morondava.
Lunch on the way. In the late afternoon we arrive at Baobabs Alley in time to watch the sunset framed by these strange gigantic "upside down" trees. We then check into our hotel.

Morondava:
The capital of the Sakalava tribe.
A pleasant city with wide boulevards; a multicolored daily market, with its picturesque harbor of schooners and mangrove swamps, establishing a very particular and perfect ecosystem: The encounter of the sea and the river.

Day 9: Morondava

morning relax - afetr noon city tour

Day 10: Morondava –Tana

Flight to Tana not included

Includs: pick up airport - vehicle transfert ana to miandrivazo -
descent tsiribihina river bivouac-vehicle to tsingy - entry park and visit tsingy - baobab avenue - guided tour

Additional information