Madagascar - Enigmatic Wildlife Tour with Marius Burger

Welcome to Madagascar: on arrival into Antananarivo today, you will be welcomed and transferred to Relais des Plateaux, a comfortable hotel about 15 minutes drive from the airport, to stay overnight.

We transfer to the airport to check in for the late morning flight to Morondava on the central-west coast.

On arrival, we travel in 4-wheel drive vehicles about 90 minutes north to Kirindy Forest, to stay 2 nights in en-suite bungalows at Relais du Kirindy.

Along the way we make a photo stop at the famed Avenue des Baobabs.

We will visit this fascinating forest on an afternoon and night walk, in search of its remarkable wildlife.

We will make a morning and late afternoon/ night walk in Kirindy Forest in search of its wildlife. Trails are flat and the terrain is easy. (Weather will be hot so take very light, comfortable clothing.

After an early breakfast, we visit Kirindy Forest to catch up on species previously missed. Afterwards, we travel back to Morondava to stay overnight in the relaxed and comfortable Palissandre Cote Ouest.

We visit a private forest site near Morondava before we transfer to the airport for the flight to Antananarivo.

On arrival back into the capital, we transfer to Relais des Plateaux for an overnight stay. (Tomorrow morning, we depart early again for the far north coast).

We transfer to Ivato Airport to check in for the flight up to Diego Suarez on the remote north coast. On arrival, we travel in 4-wheel drive vehicles to the nearby Montagne des Francais Reserve where we do the easy Baobab Trail walk.

We then drive about an hour southwards to the rainforest-clad Montagne d'Ambre National Park. Here, we stay for 2 nights at Domain de Fontenay, which has a large private forest reserve.

This is where we make a night walk after dinner - the place is a treasure trove for wildlife enthusiasts.

After breakfast, we'll visit beautiful Montagne d'Ambre National Park, to explore this isolated rainforest which is not part of the eastern rainforest band. As such, there's a high level of faunal endemicity with many new species having been described there during surveys over the last couple of decades.

We make another night walk as the nocturnal wildlife is so prolific here.

We drive along very variable roads to Andrafiamena Andavakoera, where we stay for 2 nights in the much enjoyed Black Lemur Camp, a community-managed property on a forested hillside.

Here we take afternoon and night walks in search of rare wildlife.

After breakfast we walk into the forest starting behind the camp. This excursion should bring us to one of the habituated families of Perrier's black sifaka, a critically endangered lemur of which the viable breeding population may number as few as 150 individuals.

We make another night walk after dark.

We travel along variable roads (with some stretches being potholed) to Ankarana Ouest, where we stay for 2 nights in the uniquely stylish Iharana Bush Camp.

In the late afternoon/early evening we will go up to a viewpoint in the 'tsingy' formations, where we enjoy sundowners. A night walk will take us to the lakeshore near the lodge, where we will look for snakes which congregate to prey on amphibians at night - this is a very unusual experience.

After an early breakfast we drive around the southern side of Ankarana to Mahamasina Gate, near where we take a wildlife walk along an easy trail. We also go to see the 'tsingy rary' formations. After lunch at Ankarana Lodge and another shorter walk, we drive back to Ankarana Ouest to stay overnight in Iharana Bush Camp.

We drive to Ankify jetty after breakfast, where we take a speedboat transfer to Nosy Be port. Here we are met and transferred to Vanila Hotel to stay overnight.

In the late afternoon, we take an excursion for sundowners to Mont Passot, where the sunsets are magical.

This morning we make an excursion by road and boat to Lokobe National Park, which protects the last tract of Sambirano Forest on Nosy Be.

We transfer to Nosy Be airport to check in for the flight back to Antananarivo this afternoon.

On arrival we transfer to Relais des Plateaux, where we overnight.

After breakfast, we head eastwards in 4-wheel drive vehicles to Manambato, where we are met and transferred by motorised boat to the relaxed Le Palmarium, for a two night stay.

Tonight we take a boat excursion to a wooded islet where there is a habituated population of one of the most extraordinary mammals on earth, the Aye aye.

Today will be fairly relaxed as the terrain in this rare tract of East Coast Littoral Forest is flat, and trails broad. We'll be able to see plenty of rare wildlife, notably the Critically Endangered Black & white ruffed lemur, which here is very approachable.

We transfer back to Manambato, from where we travel inland to the country's best-known protected rainforest, Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.

We enjoy an introductory rainforest walk and after dark, a night walk in Mitsinjo Rainforest.

We explore Andasibe-Mantadia National Park, to seek one of the resident groups of Indri, as well as Diademed sifaka and a host of other rainforest-dependent species.

After dark, we'll make another night walk to chalk up more nocturnal animals.

After a final morning walk in Andasibe, we drive back up to Antananarivo, where we have the use of day/evening rooms for those departing on Air France early next morning, or stay overnight.

Farewell dinner at a nearby restaurant, after an extraordinary trip!

You will be transferred to Ivato AIrport to check in for your flight home.