Wild Madagascar

• Accommodation: 13 Classic nights (hotels)
• Travel by private bus, boat and internal flight
• Group normally 4 to 12, plus leader. Minimum age: 16

Madagascar has a tropical climate with two seasons: rainy and dry. The driest season extends from April to October. It can be cold on the central plateau (including Antananarivo) in the evenings, and in the rainforest areas, so bring warm clothes (fleece and waterproof). There is considerable regional variation, but coastal areas are normally very hot and dry. Expect daytime temperatures in the shade up to 38C (100F) from October to December and up to 30C (86F) during the trips running from April to June and September.

This trip is rated Activity Level 4 (Moderate & Challenging) with a Wildlife Rating of Three. For more information on our trip gradings, visit the Activity Level Guidelines page or our Wildlife Holidays page for more on our Wildlife Ratings. If you have any queries about the difficulty of the trip, please contact us.

Madagascar is a rewarding destination with a wealth of flora and fauna; however, before you decide to travel, we would like to highlight the following considerations:

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world and the infrastructure reflects this.

Travelling by vehicle in Madagascar can be uncomfortable as road conditions are far worse than in Europe and North America. Expect many narrow, winding and uneven sections of road. Roads away from the population hubs and main routes are generally unpaved dirt roads, which can be very bumpy.

We do have some longer drives but the diverse scenery more than makes up for time spent on the bus. We break up our road journeys with stops at villages to take photos and stretch our legs.

There are a lot of very early starts and long days on this itinerary.

For the best wildlife viewing opportunities, there are some early starts and tracking the wildlife can involve walking through difficult terrain at a quick pace.

Parts of Madagascar are mountainous. You need to be prepared to walk in hills for up to four hours. The trails are fairly gentle in Andasibe but steeper in all the other national parks.

The tourist infrastructure in Madagascar is new and some services are limited. It is not unusual for there to be changes to accommodation or internal flights and for this reason the order of the itinerary (but not the content) may sometimes change. However, what tourism does exist is of a good standard and you may be impressed by the level of service in some of the places we stay.

This itinerary includes the use of pontoon ferries, which do not (typically) offer emergency safety equipment, such as flotation devices. We have risk assessed these crossings and find them to be low risk. However, if you are concerned about this aspect, please consider an alternative trip as we are unable to facilitate the provision of Western safety equipment.