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Discovery · Nature · Family Tour

Vanilla Trails: Secrets of the Scented Forests – Exploration and Immersion in Nature

Follow vanilla from the museum in Sambava to the warehouses of Antalaha, travel down the Bemarivo River by canoe, head inland to Andapa, then admire Green Lake before meeting the rare golden-crowned sifaka of Daraina.

  • 10 days
  • North East (SAVA) & North
  • Quote within 48 h
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See the itinerary

At a glance

Trip highlights

  • Vanilla revealed: the Vanilla Museum in Sambava and an exporter’s warehouses in Antalaha
  • Macolline botanical park and the Vola Maitso association’s plantation
  • A canoe trip down the Bemarivo River, with a picnic lunch on board
  • Crossing the vast Soavoanio coconut plantation on foot and by motorbike
  • Andapa, the Porters’ Monument and a traditional lunch at the Agnatiala Hely site
  • Green Lake near Vohémar and its beautiful scenery
  • The Loky-Manambato forest and the rare golden-crowned sifaka, found only in the Daraina region
  • An extension to Diego Suarez and the Emerald Sea, or to Nosy Be, the island of scents

Your route

  1. Antananarivo
  2. Sambava
  3. Antalaha
  4. Andapa
  5. Vohémar
  6. Daraina
  7. Ambilobe
  8. Diego Suarez
  9. Antananarivo

Flight from Antananarivo to Sambava, then by road to Diego Suarez, with canoe and motorbike for some excursions, and a flight from Diego Suarez to Antananarivo.

Day by day

The itinerary

A 10-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 in Antananarivo

Travellers outside the entrance to Antananarivo international airport, beneath its large wooden porch.
The Queen's Palace standing out at the top of the hill, above the city.

Antananarivo

Day 02

Sambava: the Vanilla Museum and School Garden

Flight Antananarivo – Sambava

Fly to Sambava, where we meet you at the airport and settle you into your hotel. Your discovery begins at the Vanilla Museum, followed by a walk across three lakes to the fish-farming ponds, which we visit.

A short hike up into the hills then rewards you with panoramic views over Sambava. Lunch, a local meal provided by us, is served at School Garden, an environmental site just outside town; after exploring the grounds, we drive back to Sambava.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Sambava

A room in the Vanilla Museum, with an old cart and vintage photographs.
A shop with wooden shelves stocked with vanilla products, around a counter carved from a tree trunk.
Transplanting young rice seedlings in a lush green plot.

Sambava

Day 03

Antalaha: Macolline Park and the vanilla trade

Drive to Antalaha, heading straight to Macolline, a botanical park, for a visit. Lunch is at your own expense.

The afternoon is all about vanilla: we tour the warehouses of an exporter, where the precious pods are stored before being shipped.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Antalaha

A traditional thatched hut set in a lush garden.
Clusters of white flowers in a tropical undergrowth.
Hand-pollinating a vanilla flower, an essential step in growing vanilla.

Antalaha · Vanilla

Day 04

Sambava: Vola Maitso plantation and the Bemarivo River

Transfer straight back to Sambava, then visit the plantation run by the Vola Maitso association in the village of Nosiarina.

Next, we board a metal canoe to travel down the Bemarivo River; lunch, a picnic provided by us, is served on board.

A short walk followed by a leisurely motorbike ride takes you through the vast Soavoanio coconut plantation before returning to Sambava.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Sambava

Close-up of a vanilla flower in a plantation.
Travellers in a canoe on the Bemarivo River, steered with a pole.
A track through the palms of the vast Soavoanio coconut plantation.

Sambava

Day 05

Andapa: the Porters’ Monument and Agnatiala Hely

Leave Sambava for Andapa, with a brief stop at the Porters’ Monument in Andrakata. On arrival, check in at your hotel.

We then head to the Agnatiala Hely site for a visit, where lunch, provided by us, is served the traditional way. Back to the hotel at the end of the day.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Andapa

A street in Andapa in the morning mist, with its colourful tuk-tuks.
Harvesting rice in the Andapa basin, at the foot of the mountains.
The town of Andapa nestled at the foot of green hills.

Andapa

Photos: Harch22, CC BY-SA 4.0 ; Eric Mathieu, CC BY-SA 3.0 ; Blog de l’Association Humanitaire et Caritative, CC BY-SA 4.0

Day 06

Sambava: Marojejy visitor centre and town tour

Return to Sambava by way of Manantenina village and the interpretation centre of Marojejy National Park. On arrival, check in at your hotel and enjoy a lunch provided by us.

The afternoon is devoted to a tour of Sambava town.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Sambava

The Marojejy massif towering over the valley and its river.
A rocky peak rising above the rainforest in Marojejy National Park.
A fisherman hauling his dugout canoe along Antsiraka beach in Sambava, in golden late-afternoon light.

Marojejy · Sambava

Photos: Eric Mathieu, CC BY-SA 3.0 ; Frank Vassen, CC BY 2.0

Day 07

Vohémar: Green Lake

About 3 h 30 by road

Drive to Vohémar; on arrival, check in at your hotel and enjoy a lunch provided by us.

In the afternoon, visit Green Lake, set amid beautiful scenery.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Vohémar

Visitors on the shore of Green Lake, between greenery and the ocean, near Vohémar.
A canoe gliding between mangrove trees under a cloudy sky.
Red earth formations sculpted by erosion in northern Madagascar.

Vohémar

Day 08

Daraina: Plaideau and Tattersall’s sifakas

Visit the village of Plaideau and its splendid views, then drive on to Daraina to discover the Loky-Manambato site and its Tattersall’s sifakas (Propithecus tattersalli).

Lunch is at your own expense at the Lémurien Blanc hotel in Daraina, before continuing by road to Ambilobe.

Dinner and overnight at your hotel in Ambilobe

A Tattersall's sifaka, or golden-crowned sifaka, sitting on a branch.
An aye-aye, a nocturnal lemur, clinging to a branch.
A Madagascar scops owl perched at night.

Daraina

Day 09

Diego Suarez: flight to Antananarivo

Road, then domestic flight

After breakfast, drive to Diego Suarez, then fly to Antananarivo. You are met on arrival and transferred to your hotel.

Fancy extending your trip? Before you head home, an extension can be arranged on request, to either:

  • Diego Suarez, to the north, between the Emerald Sea and the red hills
  • Nosy Be, the island of scents and turquoise waters

Overnight at your hotel in Antananarivo

Zebu grazing in dry scrubland beside the turquoise bay of Diego Suarez, with the Sugar Loaf islet beyond.
Diego Suarez Bay from above, with the Sugar Loaf islet in turquoise water and the town of Antsiranana on the peninsula beyond.

Diego Suarez

Photo: Masindrano, CC BY-SA 3.0

Day 10

Antananarivo: departure

After breakfast, transfer to the airport, with assistance until your flight back. End of our services.

Aerial view of a square and a busy avenue in central Antananarivo.
Aerial view of Antananarivo-Ivato airport: the green and blue-roofed terminal, car park and aircraft on the apron.

Antananarivo

Clear and simple

What the price includes

The price includes

  • What the price includes is set out in your personalised quote

The price does not include

  • Any service not specified in your quote

Before you go

Vanilla Trails: the journey in pictures

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

The Marojejy massif towering over the valley and its river.
A room in the Vanilla Museum, with an old cart and vintage photographs.
A shop with wooden shelves stocked with vanilla products, around a counter carved from a tree trunk.
A traditional thatched hut set in a lush garden.
Clusters of white flowers in a tropical undergrowth.
Close-up of a vanilla flower in a plantation.
A street in Andapa in the morning mist, with its colourful tuk-tuks.
A Tattersall's sifaka, or golden-crowned sifaka, sitting on a branch.
Visitors on the shore of Green Lake, between greenery and the ocean, near Vohémar.
Zebu grazing in dry scrubland beside the turquoise bay of Diego Suarez, with the Sugar Loaf islet beyond.

Photos: Eric Mathieu, CC BY-SA 3.0 ; Harch22, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Vanilla Trails: Secrets of the Scented Forests

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