Welcome to Madagascar! Today is dedicated to your arrival in Antananarivo. You’ll be met by a FROST representative and transferred to your accommodation for the night. Over dinner, you’ll have the chance to discuss your exciting upcoming FROST Madagascar photography tour before settling in for some well-deserved rest.

By far the easiest way to reach the best locations for wildlife and cover vast habitats in Madagascar is by air, and this morning we will take a shuttle to the airport for our short domestic flight to Morondava.

On Madagascar’s west coast, Morondava is baobab country and the hottest region. Today a prosperous rice-growing area and a seaside resort with a laid-back atmosphere, the Morondava area was once the stopover for sailors trading with chiefs of the Sakalava Kingdom, whose royal tombs can be visited. One of the country’s most famous views, The Avenue of Baobabs is a cluster of towering Grandidier’s Baobab trees. We will pass them on our way to Kirindy, a privately managed deciduous forest, one of Madagascar’s most threatened ecosystems.

Among wildlife fans, Kirindy is renowned for being one of the best sites in Madagascar for observing the fossa and nocturnal wildlife.

Spend a full day immersed in the rich biodiversity found in Kirindy Nature Reserve. Home to the giant jumping rat, seven species of lemur and a number of endemic reptiles but it’s the fossa that draws us to this region, madagascar’s largest native carnivore. Not dissimilar to a small puma but also related to the mongoose family, fossa are formidable, wily and strong, yet so elusive that scientists know very little about them.

Kirindy’s thriving habituated population of fossa aside, the forest’s other claims to fame is that this is the only home of man’s tiniest relative, the critically endangered Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur. Around the time of the pandemic, some primatologists feared that this diminutive fur-ball had quietly slipped into extinction but there have been some recent sightings.

Bird species unique to what remains of the West Malagasy tropical dry deciduous forests include the eccentric white-breasted mesite, the flamboyant couas with their bright blue face masks and long tails and the giant coua.

Today we will depart Kirindy after a morning focused on wildlife. On our way back to Morondova, we will scout The Avenue of Baobabs (also known as Baobab Alley) where we will return for sunset. This is the best place to photograph Baobabs in Madagascar!

Baobab trees, known locally as “renala” (meaning “mother of the forest” in Malagasy), are common throughout Madagascar. Of the Earth’s eight species, six are endemic to the country. Some of the baobabs in the country are as much as 2,800 years old, with trunks rising to 150 feet. However, in the Manabe region, these trees line a dirt road between Belon’i Tsiribihina and Morondava, creating the impressive “Avenue of the Baobabs. In the past, these Baobabs, whose roots seem to grow into the sky, were part of a dense forest. Nowadays these ‘upside down trees’ are a legacy of the dense tropical forests that once thrived in Madagascar. We will photograph from sunset into the night, experimenting with astrophotography under the starry night sky - a wonderful highlight of your Madagascar photography tour.

Next on your Madagascar photography tour, we will take a private charter flight to Berenty Nature Reserve in the south of the country, a private wildlife reserve renowned for its diverse lemur populations and stunning spiny forests. Located along the Mandrare River, this 250-hectare reserve is home to ring-tailed lemurs, Verreaux’s sifakas, and red-fronted brown lemurs, offering incredible opportunities for close wildlife encounters.

Spend two full days exploring Berenty Nature Reserve, home to large numbers of Ring tailed lemurs, the iconic symbols of Madagascar and a treat for wildlife photography. This is one of the best places for lemur photography. Their expressive faces and playful behaviour make them perfect subjects. As a diurnal species, ring-tailed lemurs are active during the day, and when they sunbathe, they adopt a yoga-like pose, sitting on their haunches with outstretched legs to soak up the warmth. 

Even more interesting is the Sifaka, one of the 107 species of lemurs on the island known for their unique vertical clinging and leaping locomotion, and distinctive calls. Local Malagasy people named them for the unique call they send echoing through Madagascar’s forests, which sounds like shif-auk. We will also photograph the largest bats, known as flying foxes with a wingspan of up to 5 feet, hedghogs and pythons. 

Berenty Reserve’s claim to fame is its protected section of spiny forest, one of the world’s most unique habitats of strange tentacle-like trees punctuated by fat baobabs which lemurs jump through. It is considered a globally distinct ecoregion owing to its high rate of endemism; 95% of its plant species are unique to this area with many showing extreme and usual adaptations to the harsh, semi-arid environment.

Today we depart the South and take a domestic flight back to the capital before exploring the Eastern side of Madagascar the next day.

Depart early for our drive to Andasibe National Park situated in the foothills of the eastern escarpment of Madagascar. Andasibe is one of our favourite wildlife photography hotspots on this Magadascar photography tour and we'll spend the afternoon photographing the lush rainforest paradise teeming with rare and endemic wildlife.

We will spend two full days in Andasibe. The park is best known for the indri, Madagascar’s largest living lemur, whose haunting calls echo through the misty forest. Visitors can also spot diademed sifakas, bamboo lemurs, chameleons, and a rich variety of bird species. The park’s network of trails leads through dense rainforest, waterfalls, and moss-covered trees, offering breathtaking scenery and up-close encounters. Keep an eye out for families of diademed sifakas as they dart through the canopy, springing from branch to branch. Special bird species include the gorgeous Red-breasted Coua, Scaly, Rufous-headed and Short-legged Ground Roller and the secretive Madagascan Ibis. Apart from incredible bird and mammal sightings, the park also boasts 50 species of reptiles, among them the biggest chameleon in the world (Parson’s Chameleon), the Malagasy Tree Boa, Henkel’s Leaf-tailed Gecko and more than 80 amphibians, such as the spectacular Madagascar Golden Frog. The area claims a world record for the number of frog species. 

Today we will venture to Palmarium along the scenic Canal des Pangalanes of Lake Ampitabe which is accessible only by boat, the ideal place to wind down and remenice our tour. It's secluded location adds to its charm, providing visitors with a peaceful retreat away from the noise and distractions of Eastern Madagadscar. The main highlight here is the one of the world’s most unusual primates, the aye-aye. Its large eyes, long, thin fingers, rodent-like incisors and eerie appearance make it a striking yet challenging nocturnal subject. At about 40 cm in length, excluding its bushy tail, the aye-aye is both fascinating and elusive.

Today we depart Palmarium by boat and drive to Toamasina Ambalamanasy Airport for your private charter flight to Antananarivo. This has been specially organized to omit a long bumpy road journey back to the capital. This is where your Madagascar photography tour concludes.