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Madagascar - Tour Destination
Click here for Trip Reports of previous tours
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tour name & date for 2010 |
Highlights I: 1 - 15 Oct (15 Days) ONLY 2 SPACES REMAINING
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tour cost 2010 |
Highlights I & II: US$ 5,750 pp; US$ 600 ss
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top birds |
Sub-desert Mesite, Cuckoo Roller, Long-tailed & Scaly Ground Roller, Blue Coua, Schlegel’s & Velvet Asity, Helmet, Nuthatch & Sickle-billed Vanga |
We at Rockjumper, have an unbeatable reputation in Madagascar, having run more than 50 tours over the past ten years to the world’s fourth-largest island. Our experience level is unprecedented and our comprehensive 3-week tours are top sellers, allowing our participants to observe an incredible proportion of Madagascar’s endemic birds and mammals.
Madagascar is often referred to as the “Eighth Continent” and its exceptional fauna and flora have evolved over millions of years of isolation. This legendary uniqueness is nowhere better reflected than in its birds. Of the two hundred species regularly recorded on the island, no fewer than one hundred and forty are endemic or near endemic! Furthermore, these include six entire families of birds endemic to the island (the ground rollers, cuckoo roller, asities, mesites, Madagascar warblers and vangas)! But the wonder of Madagascar extends well beyond its avifauna and we do not neglect the amazing lemurs, colorful chameleons and fascinating flora of this appropriately named “laboratory of evolution”. Virtually every plant and animal on the island is endemic, but sadly most are threatened by continued deforestation, thus making Madagascar one of those “must-visit-soon” destinations.
Our three-week Comprehensive Madagascar tours kick off in the little-known deciduous woodlands of the northwest. Here we will search for such specials as White-breasted Mesite, the stunning Schlegel’s Asity and Van Dam’s Vanga. Endangered waterbirds we may encounter include Madagascar Fish-Eagle, Bernier’s Teal and Madagascar Sacred Ibis. We continue our tour through the bird-rich sites of Perinet and Mantadia National Park in the eastern rainforest zone, searching for exotic birds including Madagascar Ibis, Madagascar Wood Rail, Red-breasted Coua, Velvet Asity, Nuthatch Vanga and Brown Emutail. We usually succeed in obtaining scope views of all four forest ground rollers, sometimes achieved during one glorious day! The unforgettable song of the Indri drifts through these forests, and we will take time out to find a family group of these, the largest extant lemur species. Our coverage of the eastern rainforests of Madagascar also includes Ranomafana NP, where we stand a chance for Golden and Greater Bamboo Lemur, Yellow-bellied Sunbird-Asity and Brown Mesite.
We later travel south via the Tolkenesque Isalo NP (for Benson’s Rock Thrush) and Zombitse Forest (for Appert’s Tetraka), to the astonishing Spiny Desert around Ifaty. Nowhere in the world looks anything like this region of bulbous baobabs and weird spiny pinnacles, with its plethora of peculiar endemics. Whilst here, we will also visit the specialized coral rag scrub of the southwest, home to the recently discovered Red-shouldered Vanga. Other targets include Long-tailed Ground Roller, Sub-desert Mesite, Madagascar Plover, Thamnornis and Sickle-billed Vanga. Our final days on this incredible island will be spent enjoying the natural riches of Berenty, most famous of Madagascar’s lemur reserves, before we reluctantly return to a more normal world!
Besides the birds we experience up to 27 lemurs (including the world-famous dancing sifakas), other mammals from civets to strange tenrecs (the planet’s most primitive mammals), dozens of species of chameleons, cryptic leaf-tailed geckos and other bizarre reptiles and amphibians and even some of the world’s most outlandish insects (including the celebrated Giraffe-necked Weevil)!
Join us for our wonderfully comprehensive tours of this otherworldly land.
Our Madagascar Highlights tour provides a more relaxed paced and less arduous Madagascar experience. We have cherry-picked the very best of Madagascar and offered it in a shorter package. Sites covered include Perinet and Mantadia for the rainforest experience, Ifaty and Tulear for spiny deserts and coastal habitats, and of course Berenty could not be left out! The Highlights tour still produces all six endemic Malagasy bird families and good numbers of lemurs and other representative wildlife, and is ideal for travelers with limited time or less interest in targeting every single endemic bird.
For those flying via Johannesburg, our Kruger National Park Extension offers a completely different but complementary experience to Madagascar. We stand an excellent chance during these action-packed four days of finding the fabled “Big Five”, over 200 bird species and a wealth of other wildlife.
Please contact us for the detailed itineraries for these tours.
| tour name & dates for 2011 |
Highlights I: 1 - 15 Oct (15 days) 6 SPACES REMAINING
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| tour costs for 2011 |
Highlights I & II: US$ 5,800 pp; US$ 780 ss
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| max group size | 8 & 1 Rockjumper leader |
| tour leaders 2010 | Glen Valentine (Highlights I & II) |
| tour leaders 2011 | Markus Lilje (Highlights I & II)
Rainer Summers (Comp I) Glen Valentine (Comp II) |
| habitats covered | rainforest, riparian forest, deciduous woodland, spiny desert, mudflats, wetlands |
| climate | warm to very hot, cooler evenings in highlands, some rainfall possible |
| tour pace & walking | moderate to brisk (Comp & Masoala); slow to moderate (Highlights & Kruger) |
| accommodation | basic but comfortable hotels and lodges |
| ease of birding | mostly unchallenging but several difficult rainforest skulkers |
| no. of species expected | Comprehensive: 190 to 200; Highlights: 140 to 150, Masoala: 70 - 80, Off the Beaten Track: 150 |
| top mammals | Indri, Ring-tailed & Red Ruffed Lemur, Diademed & Verreaux’s Sifaka, Golden Bamboo Lemur, Lowland Streaked Tenrec, Fosa |
| other attractions | Spiny Desert, Berenty, weird herps & insects, coral reefs, shopping, culture |
| photographic opportunities | incredible |
