It was the glorious photos of lemurs and baobabs that did it for us initially. Lured in at a travel expo by the possibility of escaping a Canberra winter and going somewhere a bit off the beaten track, we ended up in Madagascar on a two-week adventure that will give us lifelong memories.
Lemurs galore for starters. Who knew there were more than 100 species of lemurs, ranging from the petite mouse lemur to the familiar ring-tailed lemur and sifaka made famous by a certain DreamWorks movie?
Most travellers from Australia arrive in Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo, via Dubai or Johannesburg. A busy city of several million people, Tana (as it’s known colloquially) is not generally high on people’s bucket lists, but it has an interesting history shaped by Madagascan royal rulers and French colonial administrators.
If you only get this far, you can see lemurs at a tourist park about 25 kilometres away. But for the real Madagascan experience, it’s worth the long and fairly arduous drives to the national parks to search out lemurs in their natural habitats.
We visited Mantadia and Ranomafana National Parks, where our guides and their lemur spotters had us clambering up and down muddy paths, through the vines and bushy rainforest undergrowth. It was hard work at times, but the reward was many opportunities to observe at least a dozen different types of lemurs, as well as chameleons, large and small, and many birds native to Madagascar.
Then there are the baobabs, of which six of the nine species are endemic to Madagascar. Unfortunately, deforestation means these icons of Madagascar are rarer sights than lemurs, and as some species grow only in the west of the country, they are less accessible for tourists on a short trip.
For the hardy, with more time on their hands, an uncomfortable 15-hour drive on roads – which can often be little more than a bit of paving around massive potholes – will bring you from Antananarivo to the famed Avenue of Baobabs.
Package tours, like the one we signed up for, include lemurs and baobabs as standard. Many will also throw in a few days in Isalo, an area very similar to Australia’s Purnululu (Bungle Bungles). We loved our stay at the Isalo Rock Lodge with views over impressive sandstone formations, and of course, more lemur sightings.
High in the rocky outcrops, the Bara people of this region bury their dead, returning two to three years later to exhume the bones and move them to another ‘definitive’ tomb. Life on earth is tough for people living in this hot, arid environment, perhaps making the commitment to an afterlife stronger.
A long, bumpy drive from Isalo brought us to Ifaty on the coast, passing through townships and villages with busy markets, families hard at work on the land and herding their zebus (cattle), and an area renowned for being the source of 35% of the world’s sapphires.
We stayed at the aptly named Le Paradisier, a laid-back beachfront resort and the perfect place to relax after 10 days on what passes for roads in Madagascar (or as our guide, Sol, described them: potholes with a road). Whale watching is an option here from June to November, hosted by a not-for-profit organisation, CetaMada, which aims to protect the migratory whale population in Madagascar.
Watching the fishermen in their dugout canoes, chatting with curious impish kids on our beach strolls, admiring glorious sunsets and superb seafood meals in a laidback restaurant overlooking the ocean were a great finale to a long road trip.
Which brings me to food and wine: we had no great expectations that our trip to Madagascar would be a gourmet experience. We were pleasantly surprised in Antananarivo to discover the innovative cuisine on offer at the Café du Musée, while the excellent classic French menu at L’Arrivage enticed us back several times, particularly for its superb seafood and confit duck.
The real surprise, however, was the Domaine de Mahitasoa winery, located at Fianarantsoa on the Route Nationale 7, between Ranomafana and Isalo National Parks. Sol promised us we would enjoy the wine tasting, and we weren’t disappointed.
Winemaker Feno Ranaivoarivelo trained in Toulouse and has created some excellent aperitifs and table wines. Paired with local cheese, sausage and baguette, the standouts were the Route Nationale 7, a light-bodied red; and the Piloboka, a very drinkable sticky made from fermented sugarcane and grapes.
We stocked up on a few bottles and enjoyed sunset drinks overlooking the Isalo rock formations the next evening. We may even have seen an imaginary mouse lemur or two, after having imbibed a few glasses of the Piloboka.
We travelled in Madagascar at our own expense on a tour with Jenman Safaris, marketed in Australia by Inspiring Vacations. Booking directly with Jenman Safaris could be more practical than booking via Inspiring Vacations who were slow in providing tour documentation and not very helpful in the booking process.
Our excellent guide was Solofoniray Razafimahazo (Sol) and we were safely driven by Zo, two very special Madagascans who ensured our trip was an unforgettable experience.
We hope to visit Madagascar again some day, not just for the food and wine, but perhaps also for the lemurs and the baobabs!
If you have six weeks to spare and a commitment to the conservation of whales, CetaMada welcomes volunteers. See: www.cetanet.org
