Madagascar Travel Guide — Visas, Climate & Attractions

Madagascar Travel GuideThe world's most biodiverse island — separated from Africa 88 million years ago, Madagascar evolved in spectacular isolation to produce over 90% of its wildlife found nowhere else on Earth. Ring-tailed lemurs in the spiny forest, indri calling at dawn in the Andasibe rainforest, the Avenue of the Baobabs at sunset, whale sharks in the Mozambique Channel, the tsingy stone forests of Bemaraha, and an island so different from everything else that naturalists call it the eighth continent.Key Facts

Capital: Antananarivo

Currency: MGA (Malagasy Ariary)

Language: Malagasy, French

Time Zone: UTC+3

Top Places to Visit

Avenue of the Baobabs — A dirt road near Morondava flanked by ancient baobab trees up to 30 metres tall and 800 years old — at sunset, the silhouettes against the orange sky create one of the most extraordinary landscapes in the natural world.

Tsingy de Bemaraha — A UNESCO World Heritage site of extraordinary limestone pinnacles — razor-sharp tsingy needles up to 70 metres tall, carved by erosion into a forest of stone that is almost impossible to walk through and entirely unlike any landscape on Earth.

Andasibe-Mantadia NP — The closest national park to Antananarivo — the indri, Madagascar's largest lemur, fills the Andasibe rainforest with haunting, far-carrying calls at dawn. The park also holds diademed sifaka, black-and-white ruffed lemur, and over 100 bird species.

Isalo National Park — A vast sandstone massif in the central south — eroded canyons, natural swimming pools fed by crystal streams, ring-tailed and Verreaux's sifaka lemurs, and extraordinary panoramic views over the surrounding grassland.

Anja Community Reserve — A small community-managed reserve near Ambalavao — ring-tailed lemurs so habituated they move within arm's reach, basking on granite boulders and leaping between the rocks in groups of 30–50 animals.

Local Food

Romazava — Madagascar's national dish — a clear broth of zebu beef, pork, or chicken with anamamy leaves (a bitter green similar to watercress), eaten over rice. Found at every hotely (local restaurant) from Tana to Toliara.

Ravitoto sy Henakisoa — Pounded cassava leaves slow-cooked with pork and coconut milk — a rich, earthy dish that is Madagascar's most beloved comfort food, served over great mounds of rice at local restaurants throughout the highlands.

Grilled Zebu and Lobster — On the coast — whole grilled crayfish (langouste) and fresh prawns at beach restaurants, extraordinarily cheap and extraordinarily good. In the highlands — zebu steak grilled over charcoal is the equivalent luxury.

Malagasy Vanilla and Coconut Sweets — Madagascar produces over 80% of the world's vanilla — the pods are used in everything from local sweets to the vanilla rum served after dinner. Koba (peanut and banana rice cake) and coconut-based confections from market stalls.

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