Why Madagascar should be top of your travel bucket list for 2025. Photo / Getty Images
Many of us think we know Madagascar from the hit animated movie, but what’s it like to visit in real life? Travel writer Julia Hammond hopped on a plane to find out.
They have a saying in Madagascar: “mora mora”. It means slowly slowly, or take it easy. When visiting the world’s fourth largest island, it’s a mantra that travellers should embrace, whether relaxing beside the Indian Ocean or braving the lamentable state of the country’s roads as they tour its mountainous interior.
I eased myself in gently to this captivating African nation with a stay on Nosy Be island, where the tourist infrastructure is well developed. At first, there seemed little point in straying far from my beachfront guesthouse in Madirokely – if you sat for long enough, everyone and everything passed by. In the early mornings, a zebu cart came for the rubbish. Fishermen bailed out weathered lakanas, the local name for outrigger canoes, and unfurled their shabby sails. Grinning kids chased footballs into the surf. Women clad in colourful sarongs strolled past to buy fruit to fill the wicker baskets they effortlessly balanced on their heads. At sunset, the sky brightened to an intense shade of tangerine and then faded to inky black in the time it took to drink a bottle of Three Horses Beer.
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I was finally persuaded to swap this paradisiacal view by the promise of a boat trip to a nearby island. Known for its extraordinary beauty, the first thing that struck me about Nosy Iranja were the colours: under a cloudless cerulean sky, our catamaran beached in the shallow turquoise water that lapped a narrow, dazzling white sandbar. It linked two small forested islets whose mango trees and coconut palms shaded a pretty hiking trail that led uphill to a scenic overlook. It took the promise of spicy crab stew to tempt me back down to sea level.
A few days later, I touched down in Morondava, a scruffy beach town on the country’s west coast.
Soon, I was bouncing along a rutted dirt track to visit the iconic Avenue of the Baobabs. Known for its dense concentration of mature Grandidier’s baobabs, I’d been told it was a must-see for visitors. It didn’t disappoint. My driver expertly navigated the deep ruts and hollows of a sandy track to deliver me to the Baobabs Amoureux, whose two fat trunks intertwined in an arboreal embrace. Retracing our route to the main highway, I joined a small crowd that had gathered in a clearing. The oldest of the trees we faced were as much as 800 years old. Their bulbous trunks and spindly branches had given them an enviable ability to weather severe droughts and other extreme conditions over the centuries. The sky turned blood orange as these majestic trees became silhouettes against a fiery background and disappeared into the night.
After the warmth of the coast, the chill of Antsirabe came as quite a shock as I set out on an early morning walking tour. Farmland surrounds this laidback mountain town, and we picked our way across vegetable patches and rice paddies behind our guide. Two men wrestled a pink pig uphill in the direction of the market to loud squeals of disapproval. We followed, passing brightly painted pousse pousses – hand-pulled rickshaws are still popular in Antsirabe – hopeful of a fare. The place is also famous for its handicrafts. We called into small workshops where silk looms clattered and artisans fashioned beautifully polished spoons from roughly cut strips of zebu horn. There was no hard sell; the high-quality workmanship was reason enough to buy.
You don’t leave Madagascar without seeing its most famous inhabitant: the lemur. These delightful primates are pro-simians (literally the term means “before monkeys”). Many millions of years ago, as monkeys became the dominant species on the African mainland, lemurs took refuge in Madagascar and thanks to the absence of predators, thrived here. Today, there are more than 100 species and sub-species, though around a third of them are critically endangered because of habitat loss. With luck on your side, both diurnal and nocturnal species can be spotted in national parks such as Andasibe Mantadia, Ankarafantsika and Ranomafana.
However, it’s easier – and cheaper – to see them at Lemurs’ Park, located on the bank of the Katsaoka River near the capital, Antananarivo. Visitors are invited on a guided walk through this private reserve where close encounters are commonplace. It wasn’t long before our group came across a female black lemur. White tufts of fur sticking out from her ears coupled with saucer-like amber eyes gave her a startled appearance. Nevertheless, she was calm in our company, hanging around long enough for us to admire her bushy tail and dense orange-brown fur (the name better describes the males’ colouring). Not long afterwards, we caught a fleeting glimpse of a skittish bamboo lemur as it hid in dense foliage. Nearby, a group of cute black and white ruffed lemurs lounged around in a clearing, unfazed by our arrival.
Continuing along the trail, we came across a pair of Coquerel’s sifakas. Contrasted against their dark faces and bellies, the white fur on their heads brought to mind an old lady’s tightly rolled shampoo and set. Uncoiling their tails, they leapt to the ground where they appeared even more comical, bouncing around and standing upright on their long back legs. Rounding off our walk, we found ourselves surrounded by ring-tailed lemurs, easily recognised by the bands of black and white on their tails. Just like Sacha Baron Cohen’s King Julien in the movie, they stole the show, strutting around with their tails held high and settling down to groom each other as we snapped countless photos.
Madagascar had been every bit as delightful as I’d hoped and without exception, I’d received a warm welcome. Despite its vast size, the place had at times felt like a village – as I disembarked minibuses, waited in airport lounges and checked into hotels, the same familiar faces popped up everywhere. The concentrated nature of tourism means that it’s almost inevitable that you’ll run into each other. But as visitor numbers increase, that’s likely to change. In my book, that’s reason enough to get here ahead of the pack.
Flying to Madagascar just got more enticing. In September 2024, Emirates commenced service from Dubai to Antananarivo (capital of Madagascar) via Seychelles, cutting journey times from New Zealand hubs such as Auckland and making a twin-centre holiday to the Indian Ocean island neighbours much more appealing. Meanwhile, barefoot luxury should soon be coming to Madagascar. Voaara, an eagerly anticipated boutique resort, is expected to open soon on Ile Sainte Marie.
Since April 2023, Kiwis planning to stay in Madagascar for 15 days or less have been able to pay a €10 admin fee (Euros are widely accepted in Madagascar) on arrival; an e-visa service covering tourists planning to stay up to 60 days is similarly straightforward. You can still beat the crowd: just 150,217 tourists came to Madagascar in the first eight months of 2024 but in October, the Malagasy Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts announced an ambitious goal of attracting a million visitors a year by 2028.
Group tour packages are an affordable way to see the country if you can find an itinerary to suit your dates. For example, G Adventures and Explore operate similar two-week trips that highlight the country’s most scenic national parks. Tours typically begin and end in Antananarivo; they average about $4000-5000 but don’t include the international airfare.
Independent travel combining domestic flights and scheduled minibuses works out cheaper. Fly from Tana to Nosy Be or Morondava from about $290-320; a five-hour minibus journey Antsirabe costs $7. Expect to pay about $100 for an ensuite room in a comfortable guesthouse. Touring the country in this way is a little challenging (plan for delays) but will suit adventure seekers.
GETTING THERE
Fly from Auckland to Ivato International Airport with Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines with two stopovers. This will likely involve flying one leg on a different carrier (on a Star Alliance Codeshare basis).
Emirates fly from Dubai via Seychelles.
DETAILS
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