To discover THE BEST Madagascar landscapes :
The famous Baobabs Avenue and the Tsingy formation

The Tsingy of Bemaraha National Park ( NP ) :

The Tsingy of Bemaraha :
is a UNESCO World Heritage. It's at 70 Km from the West coast of Madagascar. It has an altitude between 150 m & 750 m. With its 152 000 ha ( more than 100 Km of length and 5 to 15 Km of wide ) the Tsingy of Bemaraha is the biggest National Park in Madagascar. The average temperature is about 28° C.

Splendid landscapes with numerous cracks in rock formation, crevices, vast forest of eroded karst pinnacles. This rock formation has begun 200 millions years ago. The sea has covered all this area. Then this vast part of corals & shells has growed upon the sea. After that, the sun, the wind & the rain have sculpted this calcareous deposits during 5 millions years.

You can go there by canoe ( see the canoeing-down along the Manambolo river below ), by 4 WD vehicle, or by very little airplane ( less than 8 places ). But you can go there only in dry season ( from April to November ) because it's impossible to walk through the Tsingy in rainy season because of streams. And because most of the roads are not available in rainy season, to paddle down along rivers too are dangerous : crocodiles & very strong streams in rainy season.

This trip ends up in Morondava, a town in the West part of Madagascar where you can relax in front of the sea & where you can finally sleep at comfortable hotels.

Let's talk more about the Tsingy NP :

Limestones erosion with very deep cliffs and numerous grottoes, the Tsingy is a sanctuary for wildlife where many small animals and reptiles and insects have found refuge ( such as mouse lemurs, sportive lemurs, sifaka lemurs, bats, tenrecs, mongooses - lizards, chameleons, brookesia, snakes - endemic birds, spiders, moth, frogs, scorpions ). Microbats ( the small ones ) live at grottoes where snakes are hunting them, and fruit-bats ( the big ones ) live at forests inside the canyons.

The Tsingy of Bemaraha National Park too is a sanctuary of flora :

With Xerophilous and Xerophyte succulent plants. Xerophilous plants are plants adapted to growing and living in a very dry environment AND Xerophyte plants are plants which naturally grows in harsh and dry regions. Most of them are Euphorbia species ( cactus-like plants with red bright or yellow flowers ), or kalanchoe which try to survive in the shadow at the bottom part of the Tsingy canyons ; a lot of humus and some trees with very long roots ( to try to find water at the bottom part of the Tsingy where there is small dirty and muddy puddles ).

No rain during more than 8 months there with a temperature around 60° C at the top of the Tsingy. The average rainfall is from 1000 mm per year to 1200 mm per year. In rainy season ( usually from December till March ) a lot of green vegetations and a lot of insects appear from nowhere.

A long time ago Vazimba people ( like pygmy people ) have lived there ; they can survive at that time with wild honey and underground bulbs. Nowadays these Vazimba people became legends.

Professionnal Tour Guide in my country Madagascar since a long time ago ( since ... 1993 ), I invite you with great pleasure to visit this unique amazing landscape in the world where endemism in fauna & flora are very high ( about 80 % ). For that and for more details thank you to click the pictures on the right >

Canoeing-down along the Manambolo river :

The Manambolo river, for nature lovers :
An exciting canoeing-down-trip in a fairly unknown area during a « 5 days - 4 nights » or more by canoes. You ave to paddle 6 hours per day, 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon : an excellent sport exercise under the sun, with fresh non-polluted air and through splendid and desert landscapes.

Before that, we do 2 days on 4WD vehicle(s) through a « no man's land » between Bongolava massif and Bemaraha massif. On the Manambolo red river you can see : rare villages, wild ducks ( such as White-faced whistling ducks, Knob-billed ducks, Meller's ducks, Red-billed teals ), and other birds ( such as Cattle egrets, Dimorphic egrets, Great egrets, Madagascar kestrels, Yellow-billed kites, Helmeted guineafowls, Gray-headed lovebirds, Malagasy kingfishers, Crested drongos, Pied crows, Common mynas & Madagascar red fody ). You can sometimes observe these Madagascar birds & wild ducks on sandy banks in the middle of the Manambolo river and near pools.

Pictures are taken by me during my trips through these areas, trips since ... 2000 till nowadays. Of course in this kind of « adventurous trip », many hotels are basic-class hotel except at the end of the trip in Morondava town ; and the « 5 days - 4 nights » or more are on bivouac under tents with toilets in the sand bank and shower in nature ( in the Manambolo red river or sometimes at beautiful pools ).

Cruise along the Tsiribihina river :

The Tsiribihina river with fairly loud typical motor-boat :
A fairly adventurous trip but not so nature than the canoeing-down on the Manambolo red river above. An easy trip where kids too are welcome because we use western typical Malagasy motor-boat.

This cruise lasts 3 days and 2 nights always on bivouac under tents on beautiful sandbanks. And always with toilets in the sand bank and shower in nature ( in the Tsiribihina red river or sometimes at beautiful pools ). The advantage if you compare it with the adventurous trip above is that here you can visit big and fairly big western typical Sakalava villages through baobabs forests and through typical-western-Madagascar-plain-landscapes.

Both ( this trip & the trip above ) have natural swimming-pools and wonderful waterfalls. And with these both trips, don't forget your flashlight with its batteries, warm clothes ( especially for the nights on bivouac ), swimsuits, camera, sun protection lotion or cream, mosquitos repellent, hat or cap, your own medical supplies and binoculars.