Story: Nature's Experiment

There are few places in the world that elicit such a magical response as Madagascar. The world’s fourth largest island, located off the Southeast coast of Africa, is home to an incredible array of plants and animals, 75% of which exist nowhere else on Earth. The adoption of national parks is still evolving but through a combination of reserves and parks Madagascar is attempting to preserve it’s biodiversity while sharing it with the world.

Most of the National Parks have strict routes to choose from but do their best to cover everything the typical traveler is interested in seeing. Hiring the required guide is easy at the park entrance, and many parks offer English-speaking guides as well as the standard French. At the more popular parks you might find a guide fluent in Italian, German and Japanese as well.

Most visitors come to Madagascar’s national parks to see lemurs, but interesting plant and insect life abound and guides specializing in different areas can be arranged in most parks. It’s not uncommon to come across exasperated guides searching for insects under dewy leaves or another trying to find a rare orchid for a rabid horticulturist. Each park’s guides vary in quality and quantity, with Andasibe-Mantadia’s being the most knowledgeable and fluent in the most number of languages.

Andasibe-Mantadia National Park
The closest National Park to Antanarivo, the capital, Andisibe is the most popular (and most crowded) National Park in Madagascar. With an early start and hired taxi the park can be visited as a day trip from Antanarivo. My solo backpacker budget didn’t account for hiring a taxi for the six hour round trip so I took a taxi over to the Northern bus station and caught a bus to the nearest town, Moramanga. With a connecting bus to Andasibe the trip takes about five hours, less if you’re lucky to squeeze into the last seat on a full bus as it’s leaving.

Andasibe-Mantadia National Park is actually two parks — Andisibe, the touristy, small park in the South and Mantadia, the larger, rugged park to the North. Mantadia was closed during my visit due to flooding and washed out bridges but it’s higher elevation attracts different plant and lemur species than Andasibe, making a visit worthwhile to someone in good shape who wants to get away from the crowds. Andasibe, on the other hand, is small and features the most well maintained stone paths in Madagascar. Although the park is home to nine lemur species most visitors go to see the Indri Indri, a large monogamous lemur that resembles a poor caricature of an evil panda bear. It is almost guaranteed that you will spot an Indri Indri if you visit the park in the morning when their distinctive territorial call is heard echoing like a police siren up to three kilometers away. A good guide will help you find a spot among the crowds to see the Indri Indri high up in the trees once the calls begin and the mad dash of tourists ensues.

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park
One of only three World Heritage sites in Madagascar, and the only National Park to hold the honor, Tsingy de Bemaraha is worth the effort to reach. Wealthy tourists might opt to hire a private plane to reach the park, but the more adventurous take a slow pirogue (dugout canoe) ride down the Tsiribihina River. Roads in this Western area of Madagascar are rare and in horrible condition so the three day river trip provides a scenic and relaxing alternative to three days in a four wheel drive bus packed with passengers, their luggage and their livestock.

After a day of watching the wildlife pass by, nights are spent eating fresh caught fish and camping on the riverbank. Morning brings fantastic, golden sunrises and a huddle of curious onlookers from the closest village eager to see who emerges from your tent.

After three days on the river you say goodbye to your paddlers, pile your luggage onto a zebu cart and walk for a few hours on an often flooded dirt track to reach a small village for the night. The next day is completed by car and ferry to reach the camping ground near Tsingy de Bemaraha. Although the camping ground is within walking distance to the park entrance, most travelers will want to make the 25 kilometer drive North to the grand tsingy—sharp limestone formations towering up to 50 meters high. The guided walk takes you wandering through the dark floor of the forest, through lush caverns filled with life and to the top of the razor sharp pinnacles for a spectacular view over the top of the otherworldly landscape. Wildlife is not the feature of Tsingy de Bemaraha, although it does feature many distinct plant and animal species including the adorable white Verreaux’s Sifika.

Isialo National Park
Often referred to as “the Colorado of Madagascar,” Isialo’s sandstone canyons feature great opportunities for day hikes and overnight treks for fit travelers, although most travelers will be able to manage the short hike to the piscine naturelle, a pristine watering hole complete with a picturesque waterfall to swim under.

A longer hike will take you from the canyons, used as sacred Bara burial sites, to the pool and continue on across the hot, dry plateau where plenty of strange insects and interesting plants can be spotted. The trail descends into a cool canyon covered in leafy vegetation where you start to get a glimpse of the park’s wildlife. Beyond this is a trail to another waterfall, this one dark and cold plunging from the dark, fern covered cliffs above.

After a long day of hiking the nearby campground is a great spot to relax and observe the large group of ring-tailed lemurs scampering about. These raccoon look-a-likes have become accustomed to hikers and will intently watch over you as you eat lunch, waiting for their opportunity to grab a bite. This is a great opportunity to observe lemurs up close, as even the ring-tails sleeping in the trees don’t seem to mind a zoom lens pointed in their direction.

While not an outwardly “exotic” park for Madagascar, Isialo features some of the strangest plants and insects I’ve ever seen. Fire resistant trees, carnivorous plants, twig-shaped insects and rock-clinging plants that look like miniature balboab trees coated in silver paint. Added to the great hiking, scenic canyons and easy access of the paved national highway, Isialo is worth the two-day trip South of the capital.

Ranomafana National Park
An area of relatively newly protected land, Ranomafana covers an area of thick mid-altitude rainforest one day’s ride Northeast of Isialo, in the direction of the capital. The park’s path are wet and guides are known to suddenly dart through the strong vines and into the forest in search of a family of lemurs. Although leaving the marked trails is frowned upon you may find yourself sliding down a muddy hillside to keep up with your guide who’s just spotted a Milne-Edwards sifika—cute black lemurs with piercing red eyes—swinging through the canopy.

Ranomafana has a large variety of wildlife, including twelve species of lemurs, but the park’s ecology is the main attraction where everything from mushrooms to reptiles co-exist in this damp, dark forest. The area also supports a large number of researchers rotating through the park. Follow a research group into the forest and you’re likely to stumble upon something amazing.

Not enough for you? Below are a few alternate parks that might peak your interest:

Nosy Mangabe Reserve: Try your luck at spotting the elusive nocturnal aye-aye lemur with it’s creepy skeletal middle finger ingeniously adapted for rooting out insects from their hiding places.

Andringitra National Park: Lace up your boots and summit Pic Imarivolanitra (2,658m), Madagascar’s highest mountain. Try to catch a glimpse of the fosa, Madagascar’s largest carnivore, on your way down.