11-Days Madagascar Family Adventure Safari

You'll have breakfast with your guide, then head east to the stunning Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. Famous for its population of indri lemurs, the largest living species of lemur on Earth, the park consists of two protected areas: the Perinet Special Reserve and the Mantadia National Park.

An excellent introduction to rural life in Madagascar may be had on the drive to Andasibe, where rice paddies, redbrick homes, and roadside shops selling seasonal fruits and vegetables await.

You'll check into Mantadia Lodge in time for lunch (you'll be staying there for two nights, and that includes all meals).

See a private reserve run by a local nonprofit, Mitsinjo, this afternoon. The organization also operates the first amphibian captive-breeding facility in Madagascar, pays for reforestation, and educates and informs the public about the need of conservation. Amazing wildlife may be seen here, and along the restoration route, visitors can help plant native trees and shrubs.

You'll have a picnic lunch and spend the day exploring Mantadia National Park after leaving the hotel in the morning. In this beautiful park, you can spot a variety of lemurs, such as the indri lemur, diademed sifaka, grey bamboo lemur, red-bellied lemur, and white ruffed lemur.

The forest here is taller, wilder, and less populated than in Perinet, but the pathways are more challenging. Rare mammals, reptiles, and birds such as the scaly ground roller, pitta-like ground roller, and breasted coua make this area a veritable treasure trove for naturalists.

Take a break from the hike and have a lunch with the family beside the Rianasoa Waterfall before heading back to the lodge.

This evening, a local guide will take you on a night walk through the woodland that borders the reserve. Nighttime lemur sightings may include the woolly lemur, the fat-tailed dwarf lemur, the white-footed sportive lemur, and the mouse lemur.

After an early breakfast, you and your local guide will set off to explore the 180-hectare Perinet Reserve, home of the elusive indri lemur. One of the few species that cannot thrive in captivity, this lemur has a nearly invisible tail, black and white patterns, and a surprised teddy bear face.

While exploring the rainforest, you may come upon one of the other 11 species of lemur. In addition to the black and white ruffed lemur, the black and white bamboo lemur, the common brown lemur, and the diademed sifaka are also possible sightings.

Among the many indigenous bird species that visitors should keep an eye out for are the velvet asity, blue coua, and Nuthatch vanga. Many types of reptiles and insects, as well as some of Madagascar's orchids, can be found in Perinet Reserve. After eating in Andasibe, you'll head back to Antananarivo and spend the night at Maison Gallieni.

You will be driven from Maison Gallieni to the airport in time for your 3:00 p.m. flight to Morondava in the west.

Morondava is located in western Madagascar on the delta of the eponymous river, close to the Mozambique Channel. The artistically carved wooden royal tombs of Morondava, the former capital of the Sakalava dynasty, are well-known worldwide. Funerary carvings depicting life and fertility are often expertly crafted and used to embellish the walls of these graves.

Your two-night stay at the Palissandre Côte Ouest Hotel includes transfers from the airport and all meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner).

You are free to spend the day as you choose or on a tour of Morondava. Drive roughly 20 kilometers (km) in the evening to the Avenue of the Baobabs for a breathtaking view of the setting sun and a great photo op. The best-known image of Madagascar is this one.

The Kirindy Reserve is located 50 kilometers to the north-east of Morondava, so after breakfast you will be taken there.

The finest site in Madagascar to see the rare fossa is in this privately managed woodland. In addition to Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, which is unique to Kirindy, eight other species of lemur call this forest home as well. The 70 different bird species here are a treat for any birdwatcher, especially the uncommon white-breasted mesite.

Baobab trees rise over the dry deciduous forest that makes up the environment. This area is home to three of the island's seven baobab species.

You will be taken back to your accommodation in Morondava after a relaxed picnic lunch.

To get you to the airport for your journey back to Tana, your guide will pick you up today.

You will be met at the airport by a second guide who will take you to the hotel Maison Gallieni, where you will spend the night with breakfast and dinner included. Spend the afternoon swimming or wandering about town.

You will be picked up from your hotel promptly at 06:00 in order to make your scheduled charter north-west to Anjajavy.

Spend the following three nights in a Seaview Villa at Anjajavy Le Lodge and enjoy full board service. All 25 of the lodge's duplex rosewood villas look out onto the ocean from their individual terraces within the 450-hectare natural reserve on the northwest coast of Madagascar. There are lemurs, chameleons, malachite kingfishers, and hummingbirds in the nearby forest.

Walk through the reserve after dark at 5:30. The sifakas of the reserve's charming coquerels are the reserve's biggest draws.

Grewcock's sportive lemurs can be located by listening for their distinctive shriek in the canopy. You might also see a Commerson's leaf-nosed bat, an endemic tsingy tuft-tailed rat, or Madagascar's greatest predator, the secretive fossa.

Get up early and take a stroll along the 'Chemin des Crabes' to witness stunning baobab trees, exotic birds, and the island's infamous hairy crab.

You can't help but be mesmerized by the kaleidoscope of colors and patterns presented by the ordinary birds of the reserve, even if bird watching isn't your thing. Among these are the colorful red fody and Souimanga sunbird, the unusual paradise flycatcher, and the comical sickle-billed vanga. The majestic Malagasy fish eagle, the retiring Crested Ibis, and the extremely uncommon Madagascar Sacred Ibis can all be seen here.

A small cave with petrified lemur skulls, stalactites, and sharks' teeth awaits you at the trail's finish. You'll have lunch and some free time at the lodge after you get back.

A long stroll down the Giant's Causeway and King's Alley awaits you this morning. Visit Madagascar to see unique lemurs like the Coquerel's sifaka, as well as old baobab trees and the Tsingy Rock Formations.

These fascinating creatures form social groups of up to ten members and, while being ideally suited to a life in the trees, frequently venture down to the ground. The Coquerel's sifaka hops around like a tiny kangaroo rather than dancing sideways like the well-known Verreaux's sifaka of southern Madagascar. Sifakas, together with groups of brown lemurs, are free to explore the gardens and reserve beyond.

You'll have lunch and some free time at the lodge after you get back.

Morning scheduled charter aircraft to Tana departs at 9:30 am, and you will be transferred there.

At Tana Airport, a Wayfairer agent will be waiting to help you with the departure airport check-in process. The amazing Family Wildlife Adventure is over, but the memories will last a lifetime.