Day 1
Antananarivo – Andasibe, ‘into the country of the Betsimisaraka’
This morning we start our 140 km drive eastward through the highlands to Andasibe. On the way we will stop off at a Exotic Reptile Park. Here you can see some of the endemic chameleons, snakes, insects and reptiles of Madagascar. Andasibe, a former logging village, is the base for exploring the Andasibe-Mantadia NP, also known by its pre-colonial French name, Perinet Special Reserve. After lunch, we drive past villages belonging to the Betsimisaraka ethnic group. This group, unified from rival groups into a single entity by the son of an English pirate and a Malagasy princess, was once the most powerful group on the east coast of Madagascar with a name meaning ‘the many inseparable ethnic groups’. Tonight we take a night walk to look for night active lemurs and other night active animals.