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Wildlife Holidays in Madagascar
The island of Madagascar has been isolated from mainland Africa for 165 million years, allowing evolution here to follow its own unique course. About 80% of its plants, 40% of its birds and virtually all of the mammals, reptiles and amphibians occur nowhere else in the world. There are six endemic, or near-endemic, bird families, a wonderful variety of endemic chameleons and a plethora of cryptically-camouflaged geckos. For many, however, it is the mammals that are the crowning glory of this island’s unique menagerie. This eclectic set of lemurs, insectivores, carnivores, rodents and bats is thought to have descended from a band of hardy pioneers that arrived by sea and air from mainland Africa over the last 100 million years.
Madagascar enjoys an extensive network of protected areas, most of which are open to visitors. Even now, new species continue to be discovered, and its exceptional biodiversity make Madagascar a world conservation priority. The park fees incurred on a tour in Madagascar go towards maintaining the island’s important reserves, and some of these fees provide added economic benefits to local communities (above and beyond the wages of those employed directly in tourist activities), ensuring that Madagascar’s tourist industry provides a real incentive to conserve its valuable ecology.
Speak with our Madagascar specialist
Featured Tours to Madagascar
Our Specialist Recommends
Our ‘Madagascar’s Lemurs’ holiday is our most popular tour, and goes in search of the vast array of lemurs, birds and the other unique wildlife inhabiting the rainforests, dry forests, and spiny desert of this incredible island"
Operations Manager - Barney JonesNaturetrek Tours to Madagascar
Naturetrek offers a range of wildlife holidays to Madagascar. These include a two week ‘Madagascar’s Lemurs’ tour and a comprehensive 24-day ‘Best of Madagascar’ tour, plus specialist mammal, birding and botany departures.
What’s special about its wildlife?
- Around 40% of Madagascar’s birds are endemic, including 6 endemic or ‘near-endemic’ families – the mesites, ground-rollers, cuckoo-rollers, asities, vangas and Madagascan warblers
- Over 100 species of endearing lemurs, including iconic Ring-tailed Lemurs, 9 species of sifaka, tiny mouse lemurs, nocturnal sportive lemurs and the enigmatic Indri
- 34 species of chameleon, plus brightly-coloured day geckos, cryptically-camouflaged leaf-tailed geckos and untold numbers of insects
- Fascinating botany and spectacular landscapes including the famous Malagasy Spiny Desert
Our tours to Madagascar visit:
- Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, where we will listen for the spine-tingling calls of the Indri and enjoy the park’s superb wildlife
- The lush highland rainforests of Ranomafana National Park, where we may glimpse the rare Golden Bamboo Lemur plus Greater Bamboo Lemur and Milne-Edward’s Sifaka
- The friendly Ring-tailed Lemurs and ‘dancing’ Verreaux’s Sifakas of Berenty Private Reserve
- Our Madagascar’s Mammals tour visits Kirindy Reserve where there is a high chance of seeing Fosa, and the Palmarium for the chance to see the elusive and much-maligned Aye-aye
- The fascinating spiny desert at Ifaty, where Long-tailed Ground-roller, Sub-desert Mesite, Sickle-billed Vanga and many more birds are all possible
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Having lived and worked in Madagascar before joining Naturetrek, it made perfect sense for Operations Manager Kerrie Porteous to take over our portfolio of holidays to this unique island when she joined the company in 2012.
