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Adventure · Family Tour

The Authentic East: Between Forests and Shores

From the forests of Andasibe, where the indri can be seen all year round, to the shores of the Pangalanes Canal and Île Sainte-Marie: eleven days discovering an authentic Madagascar of wild nature, ancestral traditions and local know-how.

  • 11 days
  • East & Sainte-Marie
  • Quote within 48 h
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See the itinerary

At a glance

Trip highlights

  • Nature and biodiversity
  • Culture and ancestral traditions
  • Local crafts and know-how
  • Genuine encounters and immersion
  • Adventure and spectacular landscapes

Your route

  1. Antananarivo
  2. Andasibe
  3. Pangalanes Canal
  4. Sainte-Marie
  5. Antananarivo

By 4×4 with a driver-guide and by boat on the Pangalanes Canal, then return flights between Antananarivo and Sainte-Marie (not included).

Day by day

The itinerary

A 11-day itinerary that can be fully tailored: every stage can be adapted to your pace and wishes.

Day 01

Arrival in Antananarivo

Welcome to Madagascar! You are met on arrival at Antananarivo airport and transferred to your hotel.

Overnight at your hotel

Travellers outside the entrance to Antananarivo international airport, beneath its large wooden porch.
Colourful hillside houses and a church tower in Antananarivo's upper town.

Antananarivo

Day 02

Antananarivo – Andasibe

150 km of tarmac road, about 3.5 to 4.5 hours including stops

After breakfast, your guide meets you for a briefing on the trip, then you head east on the RN2. Along the way, the landscape is dotted with ravinala (traveller’s trees), bamboo and grasses known locally as bozaka.

The first stop is Mandraka Park, a private reserve better known as Madagascar Exotic: a centre where butterflies and other animal species are bred. Allow about an hour for the visit.

The road continues to Moramanga, where you visit the Gendarmerie Museum. Founded in the 1950s and a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), it traces, through its collections, the events that shaped Madagascar’s history, particularly in the military sphere.

After lunch along the way (at your own expense), you continue to Andasibe National Park, arriving in the late afternoon to settle into your hotel.

Overnight at your hotel, half board

Black-and-white indri with yellow eyes perched among the branches of the Andasibe forest.
Close-up of a grey bamboo lemur clinging to a tree trunk in the Andasibe rainforest.
A grey-brown lemur making its way along a branch in Andasibe.

Andasibe

Day 03

Andasibe National Park

A day exploring the park, a realm of lianas and epiphytes such as orchids, mosses and ferns: more than a hundred orchid species have been recorded here. The forest is just as rich in wildlife, with 14 species of lemur, 51 species of reptile, including the famous manditra boa, and 84 species of amphibian. As for the indri (Indri indri), it can be seen all year round.

You can also visit the private Vakona Reserve for a few walks and dugout canoe trips with the centre’s local guide. Lunch is at your own expense.

Within the park, several trails are on offer to suit your fitness level, from the easiest to the most demanding.

  • Rianasoa trail
  • Sacred Waterfall trail
  • Tsakoka trail
  • Belakato trail

Overnight at your hotel, half board

Treetops of the Andasibe rainforest lit by sunshine beneath a sky heavy with grey cloud.
A brown lemur sitting on a branch in the Andasibe forest.

Andasibe

Day 04

Andasibe – Manambato – Pangalanes Canal

After breakfast, you set off again with your guide for the banks of the Pangalanes Canal, by way of Manambato, our boarding point. This network of waterways stretches for several hundred kilometres.

The day includes a stroll through a fishing village down to the river mouth, with the option of a swim and a taste of local specialities. Lunch is at your own expense.

Next, you explore the private Palmarium Reserve, at a place called Ankanin’ny Nofy, the “nest of dreams”. It covers 50 hectares between Lake Ampitabe and the Indian Ocean, along the canal. Some ten lemur species roam freely here, including the indri, sifakas, the crowned lemur (Eulemur coronatus) and the black-and-white ruffed lemur (Varecia variegata).

Rare and endemic wildlife, both ground-dwelling and arboreal, lives alongside magnificent flora: orchids, carnivorous plants, ebony and mahogany trees, and traveller’s trees.

Overnight at your hotel, half board

Bow of a boat flying the Malagasy flag on the Pangalanes Canal, lined with greenery, a steel bridge beyond.
A young herder guides zebu cattle swimming across the Pangalanes Canal, with reed beds in the background.

Pangalanes Canal

Day 05

Manambato – Antananarivo

After a hearty breakfast, you enjoy the canal banks one last time before heading back to Antananarivo, the “City of the Thousand”. Arrival late in the day.

Overnight at your hotel, half board

Lake Anosy and its monument on a small island, below the hillside upper town of Antananarivo.

Antananarivo

Day 06

Antananarivo – Sainte-Marie

A very early start and transfer to the airport for your flight to Île Sainte-Marie, known in Malagasy as Nosy Boraha. On arrival, you are met by your hotel and transferred to your seaside accommodation. Lunch is at your own expense.

Overnight at your hotel, half board

Two young men in a dugout canoe on the turquoise lagoon of Sainte-Marie, near a wooden jetty and bungalows.

Île Sainte-Marie

Days 07 – 09

Sainte-Marie

Three free days to enjoy the island as you please. A range of activities is available locally: excursions on foot, by bike or by quad bike, boat trips, diving and snorkelling, among others.

Nights at your hotel, half board

Coconut palm fronds above a white-sand beach and a small boat on Île aux Nattes, Sainte-Marie.

Île Sainte-Marie

Day 10

Sainte-Marie – Antananarivo

A final morning by the sea, then transfer to the airport and flight to Antananarivo, where you are met and transferred to your hotel.

Overnight at your hotel in Antananarivo

Aerial view of a valley of rice paddies, a village with tin roofs and cloud-capped hills in Madagascar.

Domestic flight

Day 11

Antananarivo – Departure

Depending on your flight time, free time for some last-minute souvenir shopping, a stroll around the city or one last activity. Transfer to the airport, with assistance until your flight back. End of our services.

Antananarivo's city hall, with its white façade and flags.
Airliners parked in front of the green-roofed terminal of Antananarivo-Ivato airport.

Antananarivo

Clear and simple

What the price includes

The price includes

  • 4×4 vehicle
  • Fuel
  • Driver-guide
  • Driver-guide’s allowances
  • Driver-guide’s accommodation
  • Boat trips on the Pangalanes Canal
  • Transfers
  • Visits listed in the programme
  • Meals listed in the programme: breakfasts and dinners
  • Entrance fees to parks and reserves
  • Local guides in parks and reserves
  • Empty return journey of the vehicle

The price does not include

  • Activities described as possible or optional
  • Lunches
  • Activities not listed in the programme
  • Tips
  • Personal expenses
  • Domestic and international flights
  • Insurance

Before you go

The Authentic East: the journey in pictures

Landscapes, encounters and highlights: a foretaste of the stages that await you. Tap any photo to enlarge it.

Black-and-white indri with yellow eyes perched among the branches of the Andasibe forest.
Close-up of a grey bamboo lemur clinging to a tree trunk in the Andasibe rainforest.
A grey-brown lemur making its way along a branch in Andasibe.
A brown lemur sitting on a branch in the Andasibe forest.
Bow of a boat flying the Malagasy flag on the Pangalanes Canal, lined with greenery, a steel bridge beyond.
A young herder guides zebu cattle swimming across the Pangalanes Canal, with reed beds in the background.
Lake Anosy and its monument on a small island, below the hillside upper town of Antananarivo.
Treetops of the Andasibe rainforest lit by sunshine beneath a sky heavy with grey cloud.
Two young men in a dugout canoe on the turquoise lagoon of Sainte-Marie, near a wooden jetty and bungalows.
Coconut palm fronds above a white-sand beach and a small boat on Île aux Nattes, Sainte-Marie.

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The Authentic East: Between Forests and Shores

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