Madagascar in January - help with itinerary, please

Hi,
Majunga was not that interesting (at least in my oppinion), the boat takes about 24 hours and leaves on Mondays if I recall. You might go north to Diego and see parks of Ankarana and Montagne d'Ambre and take a flight/ bus from Diego. Alternatively head asap to Tana (from Majunga or Ambanja (via Ankify - you can catch daily ships from Hell Ville) or stop in Ankarafantsika on the way. From Tana, Perinet park is nice and closeby. You can also see some lumurs on Nosy Be (east). 9 days is not a lot... Are you going to fly/ rent a car?

Whether or not a town is interesting is always subjective. I find Mahajanga a lively place with a good atmosphere and a lot going on, especially in the old part of the town. There's a lot of Indian and Arab influence, which makes it different from most other Madagascar towns. In the evenings what seems like half the population gathers along the bank of the estuary to enjoy the air and eat from the huge number of stall that open up there after dusk. A really great atmosphere.

There are also pleasant excursions from the town, for example to Katsepy across the estuary and the Lac Sacré - both peaceful places to relax.

From Mahajanga it's a couple of hours or so by taxi brousse to Ankarafantsika National Park. Ankarafantsika is not rainforest but dry deciduous forest, a rarity. Its a gem of a park and it's very easy to see sifaka, birds and crocodiles close up. In addition to walks in the forest, you should take the lake trip, and also, for spectacular and colourful rock formations take the trip to the Lavaka d'Ankarokaroka canyon. The Park has accommodation right at the entrance, but it might be an idea to reserve by calling 20 62 780 00.

If you decide to go north from Nosy Be, you get to Ankarana by taxi brousse from Ankify, the mainland ferry port or Ambanja, the nearest town on the main road. Ankarana's main attraction is Tsingy rock formations. To visit Montagne d'Ambre National Park you'd need to go via Diego Suarez, either by air or again by taxi brousse from Ankify or Ambanja. If you decide to go north, try to get a check on accessibility, as in January flooding can restrict access to some areas of the parks.

Andasibe (Perinet) as mentioned by #1 is certainly a good park where you'll definitely see lemurs, especially indri-indri, and I'd advise anyone with time to kill in Tana to visit it. But you'd be missing a lot if you dived straight back to Tana without looking at what the north-west has to offer.

Hi
Thanks for that info.
Transport is not decided yet. Going north towards Diego might be a possibility too.
What about heading to Tana from there by land, given that it's the rainy season? Do we need to back track to Nosy-Be?
Mirko

Hi Mirko,

Back track only in the sense that the road from Diego down to Tana goes through Ambanja, close to Nosy Be, but there'll be no trouble getting through unless the area is hit by a cyclone, which can occasionally happen at that time of year.

To check whether a cyclone is forming over the Indian Ocean and whether its trajectory may take it to the north-west coast, access this website from an internet café on Nosy Be or in Diego: [http://severe.worldweather.wmo.int/tc/swi/]

Hi Mirko.

The road North to Diego is tarred, so it shouln't be too much of a problem even during the rainy season. However, the stretch between Ankify and Ambanja is really bad. The 17km took us 1 1/2 hours on a sunny day and dry road (4x4). Also, when it rained, the tracks in the national parks become very slippery. Even in dry forests like Ankarana it rains. It may not rain all day, but the downpour is tropical and the soils doesn't dry quickly if it stays overcast. And in places like Montagne d'Ambre, all you get to see is leeches. Th rest of the fauna is hiding from the shitty weather just like anyone with common sense should do :-)

If I was you, I would decide on the spot what to do. The rainy season as started early this year, so it may be drier later on. No one knows. If you dive, you could easily stay all the time in Nosy Be or even better, Nosy Komba.
Either way, I strongly suggest to go to Nosy Komba and stay in one of the many cheapies (e.g. chez Juliette for 15'000ar bungalow right at the beach). From there, there are direct connections to Ankify (only in the morning, 20'000ar). It's simply more relaxing there (no cars, not so many hookers, everything is at least half price compared to Nosy Be and there's lots to discover).

have fun
Berit

Hi!

We visited the Morondava-Kerendy-Bemaraha area and liked it a lot; tsingy, baobabs, lemurs, sakalava culture... It took us 3-4 days to visit it, so maybe it's another option you can look at on your way to Tana.

Enjoy your trip!

Carlos

I found Mahajunga the most likeable coastal town in Madagascar, thoiugh would not make it a priority on a short trip.

The best parks to see a variety of lemurs are almost certainly Ranomafana and Andasibe-Mantadia.
Unfortunately, both are a long way from Nosy Be.

Ankarafantsika is indeed pretty good, too, and easily combined with Mahajunga.

Hi,
I think the best what you can do is to stay few days at Nosy Be or better at Nosy Komba. After you can go direction Diego. Near the road you have very nice National Park Ankarana and Montagne dAmbre. Near Ankarana there are also sapphire mines worth to see. Diego is very well placed, with beautiful bays around.
All this road is very good (asfalt) but if cyclon will happen you can have some adventure ;-)
Mahajanga is dirty (in big delta with mangroves), and do not offer any really spectacular places around.
Good luck
Tom