MADAGASCAR East and North 

Meeting at Ivato international airport and transfer to the city. Night at the hotel.

After breakfast, drive east by car, through a landscape characterized by its nested rice fields and wooded hills. In Marozevo visit the Exotic Park (also called Peyrieras Park after its founder), where you can see many chameleons from close up, as well as butterflies, frogs and other amphibians. Then on to Andasibe, the place looks more like a poor wooden shack village, it is the starting point for the visit of the national park, the realm of the legendary Indris. Once the only hotel in Andasibe was in the mighty train station building with a few bungalows opposite on the hillside.  But in the course of the years, thanks to the visitors from all over the world, numerous new hotel complexes were opened, in which a lot of jobs were created. Possibility to walk with a local guide along the road near the National Park Perinet-Analamazaotra in search of nocturnal animals before dinner. With a little luck you will see wool and mouse makis, chameleons etc. Overnight stay at the hotel.

After breakfast, an early morning visit to the 810 hectare reserve of Analamazaotra (930 to 1000 meters altitude), the realm of the mysterious Indri lemurs with their distinctive calls heard for miles around, and 13 other species of lemurs. You can also find various species of birds, chameleons etc. This hike on the Trail "Indri II" takes about three hours and leads on paths first in an upward gradient, and is then mostly flat. Afterwards you drive on the national road 2 about 113 km into the sugar cane and fruit growing area around Brickaville. After a few kilometres, the road turns right onto a 7 km long dirt road to the formerly busy holiday resort of Manambato. There we board a covered motorboat and transfer on the Pangalanes Canal (about 20 km) to the hotel in the middle of beautiful nature in Akanin'ny Nofy at Lake Ampitabe.  Overnight stay there.

By the way, the Pangalanes Canal is considered to be the second longest canal in the world. It is a continuous waterway of about 645 km in length, which leads from Tamatave, the northernmost end point, to the village of Farafangana in the south, running parallel to the Indian Ocean. The distance to the sea is sometimes only a few meters, at some points it also touches the sea, and therefore the water is slightly salty. During the colonial period, eight years of construction work created artificial connections between the naturally formed lakes and river courses, which are fed with water from wooded elevations. Artificially constructed branch canals were used to create connections to the nearest standing or flowing water sources.

A whole day to discover the surroundings of the hotel on the shores of Lake Ampitabe. Among other things, you can visit the private Palmarium Park with a great variety of lemurs during a hike lasting several hours, or you can explore the area by canoe or on foot. A nocturnal excursion is planned, partly by boat, in search of the rare and endangered Aye Aye lemurs (Daubentonia madagascariensis) with their unusual appearance. These strange lemurs have been settled on the island and are guarded around the clock. In the evening during the Aye Aye stalking, coconuts are clamped between two tree trunks, and one can watch how they are opened by this creatures with the beaver-like teeth and spooned out with the long middle finger. Overnight stay at the hotel.

After breakfast transfer by motor boat along the Pangalanes canal until Manambato and drive back to Antananarivo. Overnight at the hotel.

Transfer to the airport and flight to Diego Suarez, a cosmopolitan, lively city which is called Antsiranana in the local language, with the "sugar loaf" in the bay towards Ramena,. The first European discoverers of this paradise spot on earth were the Portuguese sailors Diego Diaz and Fernando Suarez around 1500, after whom the city was then named by the French. Cyclones ended their planned sea voyage to India here on the coral reefs off the northern tip of Madagascar. In 1885, France built a military base with 100 legionnaires in Diego-Suarez near today's city centre. Reception and transfer to the hotel, afterwards time at your own disposal. Overnight stay at the hotel.

Drive to the small town of Joffreville southwest of Diego-Suarez, which was founded by the French Foreign Legion in 1950 and developed into a resort for exhausted Foreign Legionnaires in cool mountain air. Since the mid-1990s, the little town has been filled with life: It serves as a starting point for a visit to the 18,200 hectare Montagne d`Ambre National Park with seven species of lemurs, over 70 species of birds and 24 amphibians. The park also includes several waterfalls up to 80 metres high, several river courses and crater lakes. Picnic lunch. Overnight at the hotel in Joffreville.

Breakfast, then departure to the south. On the way visit the Tsingy rouge, weather conditions permitting (red laterite earth with very beautiful crystal formations). Afterwards drive to Ankarana (meaning "sharp stone"), a protected nature reserve. There you can admire the unique limestone formations called "Tsingy" in Malagasy language, as well as some caves where you can see stalactites and stalagmites and bats in some places. Hike of about three to four hours.

Similar to the Tsingy de Bemaraha and of Namoroka, this is an eroded limestone plateau where wind and weather have formed needle-sharp rocky peaks. Some of the valleys, some of them deep, are closed off from the outside world and are crossed by streams that often disappear into underground cave systems, for example in the hole called "Perte de rivière". These streams can dry up in the dry season, and in the rainy season they can quickly swell up into rivers. Picnic lunch. Overnight stay in a hotel on the edge of the National Park.

Excursion to explore this reserve in a hike of several hours. If the spectacular landscape is not reason enough to visit the Tsingy du Nord, as they are also called, you will find an interesting flora and fauna. There are eleven species of lemurs, including the rare fingered animal (Aye Aye). Picnic lunch. Overnight stay in a hotel on the edge of the National Park.

Departure after breakfast to Ankify, a small village on the beach, then transfer by boat to Nosy Be Island. On the way we pass the long pretty town of Ambilobe on the Mahavavy River. In the fields around the village a large part of the Malagasy sugar cane harvest is cultivated and processed in a nearby factory, some of it into rum. The cocoa and spice plantations in the area are also important employers. From Ankify the ferries leave for Nosy Be. Due to often high waves, however, they are no longer allowed to sail to the perfume island with its tropical picture book landscape in the afternoon. After arrival in Nosy Be transfer by car to the hotel. Overnight stay in Nosy Be.

Days at leisure. Overnight stay at the hotel. As an option for an extra charge "mini-cruise" to Nosy Komba, a small neighbouring island, where you can see some lemurs (black lemurs, females are brown, the males are deep black) Vanilla is also cultivated there. A 622 meter high volcano can be climbed. There is no road, no cars... Then on to the small island of Nosy Tany Kely with its underwater reserve (since 2011, 200 hectares of national marine park), a snorkeling paradise rich in various species of fish, starfish, crabs, corals and several species of algae. The water around this island is clear and mostly calm. A picnic on the beach is served on request. Back to Nosy Be.

Another day on Nosy Be at leisure on the beach. As an option, excursions can be made for an extra charge, e.g. to the Lokobe Reserve to discover a rainforest with lemurs and others during a jungle hike lasting several hours.

Or to Mount Passot, the highest peak on the island at 329 meters, where you can admire the surrounding lakes and islands and the sunset.

Or to Lemuria Land, an animal and plant park, which was established in 2010 and where you can see bird, reptile and lemur species but also numerous orchids.  Overnight stay at the hotel.

Transfer to the airport and return flight to the capital. Reception at the airport and transfers to the city. Rest of the day at leisure. Overnight stay at the hotel.

Depending on the departure time of your international flight, you may be able to visit the historical sites of Ambohimanga (UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001). It is the holy city of Merina, and was once the residence of the most powerful of all Merina princes, King Andrianampoinimerina. Until the conquest and final subjugation by the French in 1896, no foreigner was allowed to enter it. It had seven city gates, and the most powerful of them still serves as the entrance gate to the place today. Next to the gate there is a huge, smoothly polished and almost circular stone slab. In former times it was rolled every evening in front of the entrance gate. From the top of the "Blue Hill" - that is the translation of Ambohimanga – at 1468 meters of altitude, you have a beautiful view of Tana and the surrounding area.

Afterwards visit a market with Malagasy handicrafts to buy last souvenirs and, if the flight is late in the evening, day use of a room in the hotel. Afterwards transfer to the airport and check-in for departure for departure for the flight home.