7-Day Madagascar Wildlife Tour with Baobabs, Lemurs and Andasibe

You will be met on arrival at Ivato International Airport in the early afternoon and transferred to the Radisson Serviced Apartments in central Antananarivo, with time to settle in after the flight. The first evening is kept easy, with a walk through the upper-town colonial streets followed by a welcome dinner at a local highland restaurant. Overnight at Radisson Serviced Apartments Antananarivo City Centre.

An early departure at 7:30 a.m. takes you to Lemurs' Park, an hour outside the capital. This private 5-hectare botanical reserve is home to nine species of lemur living in semi-freedom, and you will spend roughly two hours among ring-tailed, brown, bamboo, and Coquerel's sifaka lemurs at close range.

Afterward, return to Antananarivo for a city tour, including the Queen's Palace (Rova) overlooking the city, the artisan and antique markets in the old town, and views from the upper terraces. Overnight at Radisson Serviced Apartments.

A pre-dawn transfer brings you to the airport for the 8 a.m. flight from Antananarivo to Morondava on the west coast, arriving at around 9 a.m. From there, drive 2.5 hours inland to the Kirindy Forest Reserve, one of the last remaining tracts of dry-deciduous forest in Madagascar.

After dinner, head out on a guided night walk to look for the giant jumping rat, brown lemurs, mouse lemurs, fork-marked lemurs, and the fossa, the island's apex predator. Overnight at Relais de Kirindy.

A 7:30 a.m. start takes you to the Marofandilia community reserve, home to several lemur species and dry-forest birdlife. After lunch, continue to the Sacred Baobab, roughly 800 years old and venerated by the local Sakalava, as well as the so-called "Lovers' Baobab," formed by two intertwined trees.

Around 4 p.m., arrive at the Avenue of the Baobabs to wait for sunset, when the Grandidier's baobabs cast hundred-metre shadows across the laterite. After dark, drive back into Morondava. Overnight at Baobab Café.

An 8 a.m. departure takes you to Zazamalala, a private 4x4-only dry-forest reserve and reforestation project 35 km from Morondava, where Dutch biologist Maarten Hofman has been replanting endemic species for two decades.

Continue in the afternoon to the Kimony Lemur Reserve for more close encounters with lemurs. Return to Morondava at around 5 p.m. Overnight at Baobab Café.

Transfer in the morning to Morondava Airport for the 10 a.m. flight back to Antananarivo, arriving at around 11 a.m. From there, continue by 4x4 east toward the Andasibe rainforest corridor, stopping en route at the Peyrieras Reserve, known for its remarkable concentration of chameleons, geckos, crocodiles, and butterflies, before continuing to Andasibe.

After dinner, take a guided night walk into the National Park to look for mouse lemurs, sportive lemurs, and chameleons. Overnight at Mantadia Lodge.

This morning offers a choice of visits: Analamazaotra Special Reserve for the indri, whose dawn chorus is the moment of the trip, the Andasibe community village park, or the Vakôna private forest.

After lunch, drive 140 km back to Antananarivo, a journey of roughly 3 hours, and continue on to Ivato International Airport for the late-evening, around 9 p.m., international flight home. Seven days that will rearrange what you thought a continent could hold.