Madagascar is one of those countries that has always seemed so mystical, so magical, so unobtainable. In my mind, this was one of those places that people who work for National Geographic get to go to, not girls from crappy Rust Belt cities in Ohio. Travelling through Madagascar was a dream of mine since I was a little kid but for decades, I thought it would stay that one.

That was until I found the Facebook group Every Passport Stamp (EPS) and saw just how many people were going to Madagascar. It suddenly became a place that I didn’t just dream of going but one that I knew I would visit but just wasn’t sure when. 

Flash forward to June 2024. I was travelling through Central Africa with plans to return back to the U.S. in mid-July to visit the guy I was seeing. Unfortunately, within a series of WhatsApp messages and one painful phone call, that was all gone. So I found myself with a ton of time on my hands and no idea where to go. I looked at going to the U.S. to see friends, to Europe to see friends, to Asia to see friends (can you sense a pattern here?) but nothing quite felt right.  Flights were either too expensive, my friends were busy, and there was an overall feeling of “meh” when I thought about travel plans. 

Suddenly, I decided to see how much it would be to travel to Madagascar. Just on a whim. You know, like normal people do. When flights popped up on Skyscanner, I suddenly realized that heading to Madagascar after my stint in Central Africa was fast becoming a real possibility. The prices were a painful $600 (travelling within Africa is insanely expensive) but it was the same price to fly virtually anywhere else. So what better way to ease some heartache than by going to a bucket list destination?

Last-Minute Planning 

Once I saw the flight prices, I quickly began to scour all of the posts on EPS to see what people were saying about it. A few people mentioned a local tour operator so I decided to message them to see how expensive it would be top travel solo through Madagascar.  One company, Madagascar Underground, got back to me right away offering a few different options of guided tours, canoeing trips, and a semi-guided tour which basically just included a driver. This turned out to be the best option as it gave me the chance to see as much of the country as possible while allowing plenty of flexibility in case anything came up work-wise.  And it was only 60 Euro per day plus the cost of petrol. In comparison, similar itineraries offered by G Adventures and Intrepid Travel came in anywhere between $2-3,000. Plus, I would have to travel in a bus with a big group of other people which certainly didn’t sound appealing to me. 

Now that I had a driver booked, I just needed to finalize the itinerary. Luckily, I didn’t have to work too hard on this. The tour operator sent me the “standard” tour itinerary along with an additional side trip up the west coast of Madagascar. This tour would take me southwest from Tana down to the beach town of Ifaty, stopping at many national parks along the way.

Tana

I arrived in Tana around 2 p.m. Immigration was some of the easiest I have seen in Africa and within an hour of landing, I had met my driver, bought a SIM card, and was on my way to the city center of Tana. The first thing I noticed was just how incredibly hilly the city center was yet how “relatively” flat the surrounding area was. 

I spent a few hours wandering around what I was told were the safe parts of Tana and then was back in the hotel by 5:15. Tana reminded me of a strange mixture between the Mid-Level of Hong Kong, downtown Kathmandu, and another random place that I can’t quite put my finger on. Everywhere you looked, there were fantastic views of the surrounding hills covered in colorful houses. As I explored, I stopped to grab snacks as I was already starving and had a long way to go until dinner. This gave me a nice opportunity to interact with locals and I was surprised to see how helpful they were when it came to making sure that I only bought vegetarian food. I was surprised at how cheap food was from street sellers 

 I chatted with a fellow traveller at dinner who told me a few horror stories about having her necklace ripped off her neck while she was walking close to our hotel and another about a guy taking her bag from a bus and acting like he was helping her find her hotel. He instead walked 30 minutes in the wrong direction before she finally had the courage to tell him to stop and to grab her bag back. This didn’t leave me with a huge amount of confidence about what lay ahead of me and I was glad that I had decided to hire a driver for my time in Madagascar.

Andasibe & Analamazoatra National Park

The next morning, my driver Leo came to meet me bright and early to start the drive to Andasibe. According to Google Maps, the drive should take around 3 hours or so. In reality, it took us closer to 4.5. The roads were much better than I expected and it was nice to see the famed Madagascar countryside for the first time. 

We arrived in the early afternoon and I checked into the Lemurs Lodge. This small hotel was set a bit outside of the village center down a narrow road. It was quiet and peaceful and a great introduction to what the next two weeks would be like. I dropped my bags off and set off to town to check out the village.  I walked up and down the main street, admiring the interesting wooden houses before stopping by a dodgy local bar for my first-ever Madagascar beer. I then headed back to the hotel before sunset for dinner, work, and an early bedtime.

The next morning, my driver came to meet me and took me to the Analamazoatra National Park. Famous for being one of the only places in the world to see Indri lemurs, the largest type of lemur, this is one of the most visited parks in Madagascar. I paid the $32 entrance and guide fee and my guide and I set off on a four-hour trek into the forest. Within minutes of walking, we began to spot our first lemurs. As we continued to walk, we continued to see lemurs high up in the trees. Although they were far away, it was fascinating to watch them jump through the trees and see how they interacted with one another. 

The forest was also beautiful and I loved checking out all of the different types of trees and plants. My guide was really helpful and provided a lot of great information about the forest and the animals that lived there. Overall, it was a fantastic introduction to Madagascar!

After visiting the park, we drove over to Lemur Island. Part nature reserve, part tourist attraction, Lemur Island is as fake as the name sounds. The island is set on the grounds of an expensive resort. The attraction is actually divided into two parts – the lemur island and the crocodile farm. Here, they raise crocodiles for research and to release them into different parts of Madagascar. The lemur section had a ton of tourists waiting so my driver Leo took me over to see the crocodiles first. There, I was handed over to a jovial guide who started walking me around the reserve and crocodiles the size of small tanks began to appear in the pond and shoreline down below. These things were enormous and it made me never want to enter a body of water in Madagascar again. It was an interesting tour nonetheless and it made the ticket quite good value for money.

After seeing these dinosaurs in the making, I went back over to the main event – Lemur Island. You take a small canoe across a narrow waterway. I was at first confused what was the point of it until my even more jovial guide informed me that lemurs hate swimming. We got out of the boat and began walking around the island when suddenly we saw our first lemurs. And more lemurs. And more lemurs. It was shocking how close you could get to them. I was at first quite worried that they would have the same aggression streak as monkeys and tried to keep my distance, much to my guide’s amusement. There were hordes of tourists there, many of which were trying to get the lemurs’ attention so they could get pictures. I tried to steer clear of the groups and thanks to my wandering-off-ness, I ended up being one of the last people on the island. As we made our way back to the canoe, we were literally surrounded by lemurs on all sides. It gave me a much better look at how lemurs interact with one another and their environment and it was worth dealing with all the crowds.

Antsirabe

From Antisibe, we began making our way west towards Tana and then south. After a very long drive, we arrived in Antsirabe. This laid-back town looked more like a small town in Europe than a relatively big city in Africa so I dropped my bags off at my hotel and immediately headed out to explore the town. The main streets of the town were interesting with a handful of colonial buildings and a once-attractive main boulevard lined with monuments. 

I only got to explore for about an hour before it started getting dark so I headed out very early the next morning to see anything that I had missed. I ended up finding a cool old historic spa hotel so it was certainly worth the effort! 

Ranomafana & Ranomafana National Park 

Once we left Antsirabe, we started another long drive to Ranomafana. I had booked a hotel just outside of the town center so I decided to relax a bit for the night. It was a good thing in hindsight because the hike the next morning at the national park really kicked my butt! I got up bright and early to head to the park where I met my guide. A friend of mine who had been there a few days earlier told me that I should do the five-hour hike. I took a quick look at the map and kind of listened to the guide explaining the different options to me and off we went.

I probably should have listened a little more closely about what we were about to do but since my guide was wearing jeans and tennis shoes and wasn’t carrying any water, I figured I would be ok! Six hours of constant up and downs later, I could say that I had seen about five lemurs and gotten bitch-slapped by the forest and its many, many branches.  It was an enjoyable hike and under normal circumstances, I would have loved it but I definitely wasn’t prepared for what lay ahead of me that day!

After finishing the hike, my driver took me into the village of Ranomafana so that I could grab some lunch and a very much-needed beer. I also needed to charge my laptop and cell phone as my hotel didn’t have enough power to actually charge any electronics. While happily sipping away at my second enormous beer while waiting for my laptop to get some juice, my driver Leo informed me that there were hot pools in the town fed by nearby hot springs. He asked if I wanted to see them which was obviously a no-brainer. 

So we made our way to the public hot pools which turned out to be a giant swimming pool with some changing rooms nearby. I immediately knew that I wanted to come back after dinner so I arranged for him to take me back to my hotel and then pick me up about an hour and a half later. When I made it back to the pools, I headed straight into the water and felt some much-needed bliss on my aching body. The hot pools turned out to be a fascinating glimpse into the middle-class Malagasy culture with happy families playing in the water, couples canoodling, and teenage girls moving through the water in throngs. It was a very pleasant way to spend the evening and I highly recommend it!

Fianarantsoa 

The next morning, we left Ranomafana and drove to the nearby-ish city of Fianarantsoa. At first glance, it looked like any of the other big cities that we had driven through. But then, Leo took me up to the High City. Perched high up on the hill, this section of town was built in 1830 and it looks like its straight out of France. From the attractive houses to the towering churches, the place oozes charm. I hoped to get lunch there but only found one restaurant open and it was charging a fortune for a plate of vegetables so I decided to just wander around for a while instead.

Knowing that we had another few hours to drive and that I wanted to get to the next town before dark, I jumped back into the car. Leo drove me up to a viewpoint where I dutifully admired the vista while getting harassed by kids trying to sell me souvenir tat so that they could “raise money for school”. I had already encountered this story in the High City so I tried to ignore them as much as possible, knowing how much worse their sob story would get when they knew I wasn’t going to be easily swayed. Soon, I was back in the car heading to my next destination – Ambalavao.

Ambalavao 

Due to my more or less complete lack of research, I had no idea what was in Ambalavao or why we were stopping there. It turns out that the only reason that we did was that it was a far enough drive south to put some major miles under our belts while not going too far as to pass the Anja Community Reserve where we would be heading the next morning.  We pulled into my guest house/restaurant which was right smack dab in the center of town. I quickly checked in, got my room all ready to work in later (i.e. charging my laptop, snagging a desk from another room, etc) and then was out the door to see what Ambalavo had waiting for me.

I started walking around the very crowded streets and felt like everyone was staring at me. Not only that but that they were laughing at me and making fun of me. The more I walked around, the more uncomfortable I felt. I eventually decided to go back to the hotel right after the sunset. I happened to run into Leo while I was at the hotel eating dinner and told him what happened. He informed me that Sunday was market day in Ambalavo and that many of these people were probably from the rural areas and they had never seen a tall white person before. This made me feel slightly better but it really started to color my feelings about Malagasy people. 

Anja Community Reserve

The next morning, we drove the short drive to the Anja Community Reserve. Based on the loose itinerary I had, this was supposed to be the home of the ring-tailed lemurs of Madagascar (the movie) fame. I figured I would see a few of them like I had seen other types of species in other parks. I was introduced to my guide and opted to do the 3-hour tour which would show me the lemurs and some viewpoints. This guide took his job very seriously because, after about four hours, I had probably seen about a hundred lemurs, many of which were incredibly tame and would come within just a few feet of me as they went about their daily lemur business. We watched them drink water from a local pond, bounce from tree to tree, and relax in the sun with their cute little lemur arms spread wide open. 

After this, we started the climb up through the jungle to the exposed rock face of a small mountain. The views were spectacular but what made it even more special was the chance to see lemurs as they climbed down the mountainside and up into the trees. It was like watching a wildlife documentary.  My guide was very excited about everything and always wanted me to give him my camera so he could take pictures of me in various spots throughout the park. This would have been very kind except for the fact that he would zoom in on my face in every photo to the point where you could barely see the actual background. Oh well, it was the thought that counts!

Ranohira & Isalo National Park

After visiting Anja, we set off again. We reached Ranohira in the mid-afternoon, home of Isalo National Park.  I wasn’t able to find much accommodation to choose from here so I ended up booking a guest room adjacent to a pizza restaurant. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the pizza was the best I had had in months. The room had lots of issues but that’s another story which to be honest, has very little impact on my overall experience there. 

The next morning, I ventured over to Isalo National Park for a guided tour. Almost all visitors seem to be on a particular four-hour trail that includes a few swimming holes, a walk along a canyon rim and then through the canyon itself, and finishing with a walk back into another smaller, much more lush canyon. In the first half of the hike, the scenery itself is the highlight with sweeping views in all directions. However, the second half turns into an obstacle course of climbing over rocks, walking along narrow footpaths, and feeling a bit adventurous! Although I had a subpar guide that didn’t really talk to me, it was still a wonderful experience and such a contrast to the parks I had visited previously.

Ifaty

We arrived in Ifaty late in the afternoon. I was able to stay at the lovely Sur la Plage Chez Cecile thanks to my driver, and I highly recommend it. Located right on the beach, this laid-back resort consists of bungalows that each come with their own little army of mouse lemurs that keep you awake late into the night as they prance around the ceiling. You can hear the waves hitting the shore from your bed and it is surprisingly comfortable considering what you are paying for it – it’s all for the low cost of $15 a night! 

I stayed in Ifaty for two nights in the hopes of going whale watching. I attempted to go out the first day but we got about an hour from the shore only to find out that the reef was closed. Turned out that the pirogues that they take out are unable to handle rough waters (unsurprisingly). I ended up going snorkeling instead at a nearby reef which was a small consolation prize as the water was cold, dark, and deep. 

I got back to shore around 11 a.m. so I decided to visit the nearby Spiny Forest. The tour came complete with a short ride in a zebu cart to get to the actual forest and then a walk through baobabs trees, cactuses, and more. It was really interesting to see the diversity of the plants and we even got to see some interesting desert wildlife including a boa, turtles, a scorpion, and so on. I finished off the day watching the sunset on the beach and then trying to catch up on work as I listened to the pitter-patter of tiny lemur feet above my head.

I tried going out whale watching again the next morning and this time, we were successful! The water was much calmer than it had been the day before and we were able to cross over the reef. Unfortunately, this meant that there was very little wind and that the boat guys had to paddle almost the entire way. I felt bad for them (and wanted to get there and back faster) so I tried to help them as much as I could. Although the whale spotting itself wasn’t spectacular, it was really interesting doing it in a man-powered pirogue!  It took about 6 hours in total and after spending 90% of that time sitting on a wooden slab in the hot sun, I was really ready to be finished.

Manjo

From Ifaty, we drove to the town of Manjo, and crossed a river on a very rickety car “ferry” along the way. The drive was long and dusty as we left the cool breezes of the Mozambique Channel behind and headed into the scorching desert. While we were on the ferry, a drunk man offered me, and everyone else onboard, homemade alcohol out of an antifreeze bottle. I respectfully declined his offer for obvious reasons but it was nice that they thought to include me in their festivities!

I had heard horror stories about Manjo. Well, I should say that I had heard horror stories about the one hotel there which is where everyone has to stay that travels north from Ifaty to Morondova.  Based on guest reviews that I found online and my driver’s warning, I was prepared for the worst. Instead, I stayed in a cute, albeit basic, little bungalow tucked behind a restaurant/bar/shop. It was quiet and the bed was decent so I slept like a baby. The town itself is also weirdly charming in its own dusty, frontier-like town and I found the whole overnighting experience there quite enjoyable overall. 

Kirindy

According to the itinerary, we were supposed to spend the following night in Morodova which is about a 4-hour drive from Manjo.  Instead, I decided to push on to Kirindy where I could do a night forest walk. After stopping for lunch in Morondova, we drove the last two hours to Kirindy. I was only able to find one hotel bookable online there (Relais au Kirindy). It was expensive but very nice and felt like it was worth the $65 splurge. After checking into the hotel, I went for a quick swim in the very cold swimming pool and then got ready for the night walk.

We started just after sunset in the Kirindy National Forest and immediately began seeing nocturnal lemurs perched high in the trees. These little guys were just waking up and getting ready to start their day. Our guide (I picked up an older Dutch couple at the ticket entrance who didn’t have enough money with them to pay for the entrance fee and the guide) enthusiastically pointed out many different types of lemurs, chameleons, and geckos. Although we didn’t see a fosa as we were walking around, he also took us on a little side adventure once we got back to the parking lot where he knew a fossa loved to hang out. I was delighted that I finally got to see one of those weird little dog/cut/monkey combos and it officially finished off my checklist of wildlife that I hoped to see there.

Bekopaka & Tsingy National Park

The next morning, we continued on the long drive to Bekopaka, the gateway to Tsingy National Park. This was another six hours of driving on very, very dusty roads that at some points didn’t even seem like they could even be considered roads. It was insanely hot and the river crossings felt like they took ages but we finally made it to Bekopaka. Since we arrived early in the day, we went straight to the National Park ticket office to buy tickets for the next day (and to presumably miss some of the long tourist lines we were inevitably going to find). My driver then dropped me off at my hotel, a lovely little spot located on a hill overlooking rolling hills covered in thick forests. I had booked one of their economy rooms which meant that the mattress was as thin as paper and there was only electricity a few hours a day but it did give me access to their beautiful hilltop swimming pool and their restaurant which is where I spent the rest of my day. 

The next morning, we left bright and early to go to the park. Along the way, we picked up my guide at the park office and then drove another hour to the park entrance. There, the guide explained that we could either do the route as marked on the map or we could switch it up a bit and visit the forested section first which would mean increasing our chances of seeing animals as we would be visiting in the early morning rather than the heat of the afternoon.  

While this would mean having to backtrack a bit and make the hike longer, it was worth it! We saw a handful of lemurs, some from really close up. This was my last animal spotting during my stay in Madagascar and it was a great one!  After we passed through the forest, we began climbing up, down, over, and under a series of caves, rocks, roots, and more. We then climbed up a steep cliff where we had to clip ourselves onto safety wires as we slowly climbed upwards.  It was definitely not what I expected of the hike and had a few panicky moments along the way.  Luckily, I made it through without having a full blown meltdown but it’s definitely not something I would ever want to do again!

The hike ended up taking around 5.5 hours and by the time we were done, my legs felt like rubber. I had spent an entire morning and early afternoon doing things that would normally scare the crap out of me so I was also feeling pretty proud. We drove back to my hotel and I spent the rest of the day lounging around by the pool, watching the sunset, and admiring the many photos that I took throughout the day. 

The next morning, we started the long trip back to Morondova. It ended up taking us around 12 hours from door to door with very little to see along the way. I tried to sleep as much as possible while my driver drove our trusty stead back to civilization.

Morondova

We arrived in Morondova in the early evening and I had just enough time to go for dinner before I had to jump on a work call. As much as it sucked to sit inside all evening after sitting in a car all day, I certainly didn’t miss much as Morondova has very little to offer and feels pretty dodgy at night.

We did get to see the famous Avenue of the Baobabs though. That was pretty cool but I honestly felt a little bit underwhelmed by it, especially after having seen so many things in Madagascar already!

And then the long drive back to Tana….

The next morning, we began the long drive back to Tana. It was going to take us two full days to get there with an overnight stop in Antsirabe. I had originally booked a flight so that I could avoid the long drive. However, once I realized how boring Morondova was and that I would have to spend 2.5 days there, I decided that the car ride was the better option. This also put me in Tana a day early which gave me some more time to explore. 

As it turned out, the drive was beautiful immediately once we left Morondova. The dusty desert gave way to rugged hills covered in lush greenery and dotted with rice terraces. We soon began hitting the adorable highland villages that I fell in love with at the start of the trip and I spent most of the drive staring out the window, trying to soak everything in.

I had to say goodbye to my driver about part way through the trip as he had to pick up some other clients. The driver I met was nice and we drove the rest of the way back to the city with zero issues.  When we finally arrived in Tana, I checked into the hotel and immediately collapsed onto the bed, fully realizing just how tired the past few weeks had made me!  I went for a short walk that evening but was back in the hotel right after sunset.

I’m glad I ended up getting some rest because the next day, I went sightseeing with a vengeance. I visited the Queen’s Palace, the photography museum and its very lovely cafe, and got lost wandering the streets of the old town. I also got to meet up with a friend of a friend who showed me a great spot to watch the sunset and introduced me to some of her friends there. It was a great way to end the trip and I felt like I got to see many different sides of Madagascar.