Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

3 weeks in madagascar from 4th october, help!

Country forums / Africa / Madagascar

Hi,
I'm flying to mada in 3 weeks time & have finally pinned down the places I most want to see but, as yet, have struggled to turn it in any sort of itinery that doesnt involve a lot of flights or car & driver hire. Most of my plans focus around the (apparently troublesome!) East coast but also taking in a few places further south and, if at all possible in the time frame & on a total budget of about £1000, the tsingys, kirindy and the allee des baobabs. Realistically, I dont think I can fit it all in but would be grateful for any ideas of how I can make this work.
This is the plan as it stands:

Week 1:

Fly to maroantsetra
Head to either parc national de masoala or nosy mangabe, dont think I have time for both
Aye aye island
By road / boat to ile sainte marie for a few days chilling (although need advice as apparently I need a 4wd to get there)

Week 2

Ferry to tamatave
Make way back towards tana
spend 3 or 4 days at andasibe area parks
Ialatsara lemur forest camp
Parc national de ranomafana
Ambalavao
Reserve d'anja
Parc national d'andringitra

Week 3

This is where I start to struggle!
Ideally I want to see the following:
Reserve forestiere de kirindy
Allee des baobabs
Tsingy de Bemaraha

Looking at the map, it seems best to head back north from Andringitra up to antsirabe then cut across to Morondava (as opposed to going all the way down to Tulear, then up again). Is this the best option?
Will allow a couple of days at the end to see tana / make sure im back in time.

Sorry this is so long winded! Thanks to those who've stuck with it!
Finally, does this all seem a feasible plan for 3 weeks or will I be cutting it a bit fine? Also, is my budget gonna hold up ok?
Any tips, alternative ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Any other solo travellers arriving at a similar time & looking to do a similar itinery (& cut costs where possible!) Should feel free to drop me a line.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

Scott

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Thanks Franck. I had a look but I usually avoid organised tours as they're usually overpriced. I did ask for prices but the site doesn't seem to be working. Looked at other tours too and, with prices startjng from £1200 for 2 weeks, its way out of my price range

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Hi,

We are arriving (2person) on 4th of October and will stay for 3 weeks and hired a 7seats 4x4 Toyota Land Cruiser, there is still 4 seats available if you are interested and want to share the cost for a part of the journey.

We have still fexible plan but want to visit the parks around RN7, look around Toliara and to the east of Tana.
For Tsingy I think we wont have time.
If you are interested contact me.
Cheers,
Miklos

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