Tips for a Madagascar honeymoon

Hi - me and the wife-to-be are considering Madagascar for our 3 week honeymoon in mid-June. Has anyone got any good tips for a rough itinerary?

Whilst we would like the odd few moments of luxury, I don't think our budget will stretch to 3 weeks of posh hotels, so we're happy to rough it when necessary. How much should we budget for an average hotel/hostel? And has anyone got any good tips of really nice hotels that aren't gated all-inclusive resorts?

How easy is it to travel around independently? We've traveled by bus for 3 months up the east coast of Africa before - can we expect the same kind of thing (over-full minibuses, breakdowns, shambolic organisation, quite good fun)? How much do private cars/drivers cost?

We like to trek and to see some wildlife - which are the must-do natural parks?

Itinerary: should we just stick to the north? I heard that if you get an Air Mad flight into the country, then internal flights are discounted? If we were to then take one internal flight, to where would you suggest? Or is it even necessary?

And finally, general budgeting - aside from hotels, how much should we expect to pay for everything else (food, beer, entrance to parks, travel etc)?

Thanks in advance!

mrmrr

Madagascar is an inexpensive country, once you're there. I was positively surprised by the hotels we stayed at, each one had wifi that functioned to some degree, running water and electricity for at least part of the day. Hotels normally cost in the region of €30-40 per night (I am pretty sure that is per room). Meals normally cost less than €5, a bit more in Tana.

Due to inexperience and lack of time, I travelled with a group, which turned out to be a good choice, both from a social perspective (I was travelling solo), and because of the amount of things we packed into our two weeks. We came across numerous groups of varying sizes that had decided to hire a driver and a 4x4, which would have cost roughly the same if travelling with someone else. I think I would have found that a little boring, considering drivers like everyone else there probably speak very little English (our guide instead had good English, which allowed us to get under the skin of the country a bit, and understand their system of beliefs and traditions which is extremely interesting).

As for travelling independently, it appears to be very difficult as the only means of transportation are taxi brousse, which can be sporadic and only leave when full. The language barrier comes into play here as well. We came across someone that had attempted to travel this way, and she soon had to give up and hire a 4x4. You have to bear in mind that a lot of what is worth seeing there is quite remote and far away from the cities, so even if travelling from one city to the other wasn't a problem, you'd still have to arrange your trip into the natural parks and relative transfers (guides are mandatory to go into natural parks).
I would also add that it's a massive country with extremely poor infrastructure, which makes for relatively long drives as it is, without the extra difficulty of catching taxi brousse and having to organize everything yourself, especially considered that you only have three weeks to spend there.

In terms of itinerary, this is the one we followed: http://bit.ly/1tUGZMi
It roughly follows the Route National 7, which is quite popular and one of the few decent roads in the country by the looks of it.
We left Tana immediately, drove to Ambositra the first day and trekked to a Zafimaniry village the following day; they are extremely capable wood carvers, it was really interesting and at the same time humbling to see the simple way in which they live.
Then we drove to Ranomafana, which has a totally different environment, almost rainy forest-like. There is a natural park there, one of the oldest in Madagascar, which we visited at night and early in the morning. We got to see quite a lot of wildlife, including chameleons, frogs, hawks and several types of lemurs, some extremely close.
The following day we drove to Ambalavao, from where we set off for a four-day trek into Andringitra National Park. I am not sure if you are into trekking, but the park is absolutely stunning. It is extremely remote, mostly empty and has a great primordial feel to it. It was probably the highlight of the trip for me, it really felt like one had escaped from the world.
After one night in Ranohira, we visited Isalo National Park, where we camped for two nights. This park is more mainstream and more visited, but equally stunning, with lunar landscapes and natural swimming pools in the canyons. Interesting wildlife too.
Finally, after a brief stop in Tulear, we drove to Ifaty, where we stayed at the beach for two nights. The road stops at Tulear, it's all sand tracks along the coast. We visited a spiny forest park, where we saw lots of baobabs and other extremely unusual plants. The sea in that area is wonderful, and would definitely recommend a few days of laziness at the beach and perhaps some snorkeling. We stayed at the Hotel La Plage, which I would recommend; it's very reasonable and has bungalows by the beach. The beach is open to locals that use it to get from one village to the next, so while the hotel is gated, it really does not alienate the locals or prevent interaction.
We then flew back to Tana from Tulear. Other hotels I can recommend are Belvedere in Tana, and L'Artisan in Ambositra. Other smaller cities have only a handful of hotels anyway.

Sorry for the long message, Madagascar is a stunning country with even more wonderful people, I am sure you will enjoy it.

Hi,

Madagascar is amazing, so good choice!

I spent a month there in July/August 2013 with the scout association - the first two weeks were static working on projects with local scouts, then the second 2 weeks were spent exploring.

Our itinerary for the 2 weeks exploring was:
Starting from Tana we drove south on the RN7 to Fianarantsoa via a stop off in Antsirabe (we did this whole drive in a day, which took probably around 8 hours - we set off pretty early in the morning and arrived after dark). We then went on to Ambalavao and off road to Andringitra National Park. We stayed at Camp Catta and I can't recommend it enough - simple rooms (which literally just contain a bed) and shared toilet/shower facilities with stunning views (showering whilst also looking out over the spectacular Tsaranoro valley - no one can see you but you can see everything), plus a lovely dining area and plenty of lovely spots around the camp to sit and stare at the stars in the evening - there's no mains electricity so the night sky is the best I've ever seen it, we saw the international space station pass over when we were there, along with multiple meteor showers. The Tsaranoro valley has varying hiking and climbing opportunities through the forests looking for Lemurs (oh, whilst at Camp Catta we actually had a family of Lemurs run past us through the camp) or taking routes around "the chameleon" and the Tsaranoro Massif.

We spent 5 full days in Andringitra, then set off back to Fina(arantsoa) where we spent 2 nights and 1 full day sightseeing, then took the Michelin train part of the way to Manakara. This was something I was really looking forward to but it didn't quite live up to my expectations, although I was ill at the time and ideally just wanted to be in a lovely warm bed, not travelling! We picked our minibus back up at some point and carried on to Manakara where we spent another couple of days, taking canoe trips and having a "simple lunch" of freshly caught lobster and fish on the beach. There was a typhoon some way out to sea at the time so it was pretty windy, sometimes rainy and mostly overcast whilst we were there, but still a nice contrast to the other places we visited. We then took the last leg of our journey to Ranomafana where we again spent a few days doing rainforest treks and lemur searching. I was really glad we'd seen lemurs in Andringitra before we went to Ranomafana, because here it was a lot more touristy and there were a lot of groups of people who were intent on getting a photo - the guides were lovely and offered to take my camera to get a better photo for me, but really I felt like everyone was more concerned with getting pictures than just enjoying the experience.

From Ranomafana we made our way back up the RN7 to Tana, where we had 1 full day before leaving.

With this itinerary I felt like we got to see a lot of different parts of Madagascar in a manageable way. In terms of travelling between places though, it takes ages to be prepared for that. I'd say factor in a day of travelling between most places (although a 4x4 would probably do the journeys quicker than a minibus). We did it in 2 weeks, but you could easilly stretch it to 3 and feel like you had more time to explore. I'd definitely recommend more time in Tana than we had as I felt like I never really got to see the city properly (we did a driving tour but that was about it), and you could then also maybe break up the trip from Tana to Fina with time in Antsirabe, Anbositra/Ivato or similar.

We had a minibus with a driver a guide for the whole 2 weeks booked through a Malagasy travel agency owned by one of the scout leaders we were working with, but annoyingly I can't remember the name.

Sorry this was way longer than it probably needed to be, but once I get talking about Madagascar I find it difficult to stop...

Nicola

Suggest the Bradt guide is a good place to start.

Great, detailed replies from hurluberlu and nicola.davies.9634. I don't know why everyone's apologising for writing too much! I would just add a few places they didn't visit on their trips. I did two trips to Madagascar last year researching a new guidebook and I have to say it's the most fulfilling adventure destination I've ever been to. I was knocked out by the extraordinary landscapes, genuinely unique (such an overused word but unavoidable here) culture and wildlife, the incredible affordability of everything, the super-friendliness of people and the wonderful approachability of the animals that you see everywhere - more than 100 species of lemurs, dozens of varieties of chameleons and other lizards, hundreds of species of frogs, all found nowhere else. I would single out a few places that are relatively accessible:

Masoala National Park and Nosy Mangabe - the best rainforest areas I've ever been to. All you might imagine, with misty, dense forest stretching from the empty beach straight up the mountainside into the clouds, and tumbling, chilly brown streams rushing out into the sea.

Montagne d'Ambre national park. Gorgeous forest, lots of wildlife. Quite easy access.

Ile Ste Marie. Utterly delightful. The best beaches in Madagascar - better than Nosy Be.

Nosy Be. Very touristy but only in one small area. Beautiful mountainous interior full of lakes – plus the unmissable Lokobé reserve in the southeast.

Kirindy Reserve, near the Allée des Boababs outside Morondava. Amazing dry forest wildlife. I never thought I'd see a fossa, but here they were!

Fort Dauphin. Actually competes for great beaches with Ile Ste Marie. If there's one place to splurge on the island, I'd choose Manafiafy Beach and Rainforest Lodge, two hours north of Fort Dauphin. Glorious beaches, creeks, mangroves, forest to explore, whales. Just too much.

Practical things: I found hotels remarkably good value. Most ordinary places are under €30 a room and cheap meals often under €5. Large (660cl) Three Horse beers are always around €1. You do need to rent a vehicle and driver to get to many of the good places. €40/day and then a discussion about who pays for fuel and costs of driver's bed and board. Fuel: under €1/litre. Park entrances, around €3–6 per person per day, but cheaper for multiple days. Obligatory park guides (you hire them at the entrance gates, and enter nearly all parks on foot) cost from €2-10 per circuit (say roughly 2 hours up to a full day depending on the park and the circuit)

Okay, happy planning!

I have been to Camp Catta (mentioned by nicola.davies.9634), and I agree it's a truly remarkable place. I highly recommend it. The scenery around it is breathtaking.

The places suggested by richardtrillo sound equally amazing and I hope to be able to return to Madagascar to visit the northern part of the island. I am no Madagascar expert but I would think that OP will probably have to choose whether to go north or south from Tana, because I don't think both can be done unless one takes a few flights and avoids sitting on the beach for too long (whereas I would recommend spending a few days in Ifaty).

A few other miscellaneous points:
- As regards animals, Madagascar has a lot to offer. However, I found some of my travel companions had unrealistic expectations in this sense: the animals of Madagascar are special because they are largely unique, but they don't have the wow factor of, say, a safari in continental Africa. It's a case of setting one's expectations at the right level (I would recommend watching Attenborough's Madagascar).
- Madagascar has a really interesting history and culture. For instance, up until a few hundred years ago one could have seen giant elephant birds roam around the island, at least twice the size of an ostrich; certain Malagasy tribes have a ritual called "Famadihana", whereby they carry out an exhumation of their ancestors every seven years. My point is that it pays to do some research, and to read a book or two before visiting the country: I have found "The Eighth Continent: Life, Death and Discovery in the Lost World of Madagascar" by Peter Tyson very interesting in this sense.
- Finally, I don't think this thread highlights sufficiently what is in my opinion the best reason to go to Madagascar: I found the Malagasy people to be some of the warmest human beings I have ever encountered.

A reasonable room starts at 50000 Ar, up to 100000 Ar.

Thanks so much for all these helpful responses - I'll print these off and use them for planning. Much appreciated!

Thanks so much. I enjoyed your post. Couls you please tell me who you travelled with. Sounds like what Im looking for.

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