What is Madagascar food? Or more correctly, Malagasy food? Which dishes should you seek out and what sort of flavors and spices might you find when you visit the country?

Before traveling to Madagascar, we knew little about its cuisine and what sort of food we would find. Then we sought out food in restaurants and local eateries called hotelys, in markets and street food stands, and in a village homestay. With this approach, undertones and influences came through.

Madagascar’s food reflects the country’s cultural diversity. It is influenced by France via its colonial history, by Austronesia (e.g., Indonesia and Malaysia region) through its origins, and East Asia, the Middle East, and the Bantu countries of East Africa through centuries of migration and trading.

These influences show themselves in terraced rice fields, spices like vanilla and pepper, and roots and tubers. Toss in copious fruits and vegetables and a sprawling coastline of the world’s fourth largest island and you have the makings of a culinary surprise.

Here’s a small taste of Madagascar food to keep as a guide when you travel through this fascinating and unusual destination.

When in Madagascar, eat as the Malagasy people eat. Let’s go!

The following Madagascar food experiences, meals and learnings are drawn from our G Adventures Highlights of Madagascar tour that took us around the eastern and southern parts of Madagascar. This tour is part of the Jane Goodall Collection of travel experiences focused on wildlife and conservation. Disclosure: This trip was provided to us conjunction with our long-term partnership with G Adventures.

Traditional Madagascar Food and Dishes

Zebu (Beef)

If you enjoy meat, you’ll find yourself in good stead in Madagascar. Zebu, the local breed of humped cow is everywhere across the landscape and in restaurants. For the most part, its meat is tasty and tender when served. You can find it served as a filet, grilled (aka, brochettes or skewers), or stewed for hours in one of the traditional dishes below, or in the French-inspired favorites further along in this piece.

Romazava

Romazava is the over-the-top national dish of meat (typically made of beef, but it can also feature different types of meat) turned in a sauce of tomato, garlic, ginger and stewed mixed greens. The meat is typically braised for hours so that it is tender and falls apart.

Ravitoto

While the name ravitoto suggests something complicated and exotic, it’s essentially mashed cassava (manioc) leaves. This dark-green spinach-like dish of greens can be served straight-up vegetarian, as it is when turned with coconut milk and some spices.

However, it is traditionally stewed together with meat, as in ravitoto with pork, which offers a very tasty, balanced contrast between the slightly bitter cassava greens and the richness of the meat.

Tilapia à la Malagasy

Tilapia served “Malagasy-style” means a fish cooked in a sauce made from tomatoes, greens (watercress), onions, garlic, ginger and other herbs and flavors. The resulting fish is tender, and the flavors spot on.

Laoka

Laoka is any side dish which is technically to be served alongside rice. Often times, laoka are vegetarian. However, vegetarians be aware and diligent that they may often contain meat or salted fish. You’ll just have to ask.

Laoka are typically sauced or stewed with a traditional blend of Madagascar flavor staples such as tomato, ginger, turmeric, garlic, onion, or even vanilla.

READ MORE: Madagascar Experiential Travel Guide: 25 Experiences to Get You Started

Vegetarian Dishes in Madagascar

Madagascar has no shortage of vegetables that grow heartily. Just take a look at its markets. Although many Malagasy families will eat vegetarian food at home most days because meat is so expensive and valuable, it can sometimes be heard to find vegetarian food at restaurants as the assumption is that when you go out you want to eat meat. But, don't despair.

There are several standard vegetarian dishes that you can almost always find on the menu. The vegetarians in our group always found something on the menu to eat, and it was usually pretty tasty at that. In addition to vegetarian ravitoto and vegetarian chopped vegetable laoka side dishes, vegetarians in Madagascar ought to also keep an eye out or ask for the following dishes.

Lasary

Vegetarians traveling in Madagascar ought to commit this term to memory. The Malagasy term lasary essentially implies vegetables. In menus or on the table, it means pickled vegetables or mixed sautéed vegetables served with rice.

Lasary Voatabia is one of the more popular versions of lasary that you’ll find on the table, typically served as a side. Vegetarians take note: you can always request it from the kitchen. It’s essentially a Malagasy version of tomato salsa, but dashed with chopped parsley. Always tasty and fresh.

Madagascar beans

Though they may not be called out as “Madagascar beans”, you will often find a bean dish (typically mixed white bean or Madagascar lima beans) on the menu. Beans are often served simmered soft and savory. Although they'll often be served heaping on the plate, consider ordering them as a side or pairing with some other vegetables.

Minsao (Misao)

Minsao, as it name suggests, is a Chinese-Malagasy fusion found on most restaurant menus. Minsao is another good go-to dish for vegetarians traveling in Madagascar as it is essentially ramen noodles stir-fried with vegetables. Meat eaters can opt to add beef, pork or chicken.

READ MORE: How Your Travels in Madagascar Can Support Conservation and Communities

Importance of Rice in Madagascar Food

When I asked our taxi driver from the airport about food in Madagascar his first response was “Rice!”

Sensing my confusion, he continued, “Most Malagasy people eat rice two times a day, sometimes three. Meat, vegetables, beans, and other foods go with the rice. But, rice is very important. Maybe most important.”

As you make your way across the country, and in particular across the rice terrace decorated highlands, this will come as no surprise. The word for “to eat a meal” in the Malagasy language is literally “to eat rice.”

In traditional Malagasy cuisine you’ll find that rice forms the center of the plate. Meat, cooked or pickled vegetables, and other sides are then served with and around it.

Madagascar Hot Sauces

Sakay (Madagascar hot sauce)

Malagasy dishes are themselves rarely served hot or spicy. We found this somewhat surprising given the range of spices and hot peppers in markets.

So where did all that spice go? It ends up as a side dish or condiment in something called sakay.

If you enjoy spice and heat, you must ask for it by name, or ask for it more generically as hot sauce. Every restaurant ought to have its own home-made version of sakay, the orange-hued chili-ginger-garlic hot sauce.

Without exception, all versions of sakay we tasted were on fire. Spoon and sprinkle sparingly.

Achard

In the tradition of what some might recognize as Indian pickle, achard features green mango or vegetables marinated in blend of spices. It is said to have come by way of influences from the island nation of Réunion. Counter-intuitive to this geographic arc, it is often found in the northwestern parts of Madagascar.

French Cuisine in Madagascar

Although we were aware that Madagascar was a former French colony, we were still surprised by the influence of French cuisine in the country. This impact on the Malagasy table was found not only in the appearance of bakeries churning out baguettes and French pastries everywhere in the country, but also in how many restaurants across the spectrum served variations on savory French classics.

Zebu au Poivre Vert

Many restaurants offer French-inspired sauces like poivre vert (green pepper) or tangy mustard sauce to go with your zebu filet. We found both of these sauces consistently tasty. This should not come as a surprise. When you visit local markets, you’ll find heaps and bunches of fresh, green pepper pods.

Magret de Canard and Confit de Canard

Given both the French colonial influence and how prolific ducks are across the countryside, it all fits. Two very traditional French dishes – roasted duck breast and slow-cooked, preserved duck – can also be found in regular rotation in Madagascar. Both dishes proved solid and tasty each of the times we tried them.

Foie Gras

Yes, the tradition of foie gras (duck liver pate) lives on in Madagascar. We were surprised as well. Our final meal in the country, taken at Sakamanga in the capital of Antananarivo, featured it. When we noted on the menu that the home-made foie gras recipe had been used for 28 years, we couldn’t resist. It was the real deal and surprisingly good.

Madagascar Seafood

Once you get close to the coast, we recommend you switch to a fish and seafood-focused diet. Food along the coastline typically features whatever the local fishing boats happened to catch that day. Fish is often served grilled whole or as a filet, and also in skewered cubes (brochettes). Seafood is often served grilled or fried, and also in specialties like lobster with vanilla sauce.

If squid, prawns, or lobster interests you, the restaurants along the beach in Ifaty will keep you busy. Food is fresh, and the grilled flavor is hard to beat. Nearby Toliara also has some great options for seafood, especially at Le Jardin de Giancarlo (more on this in our Madagascar Experiential Travel Guide).

Popular Snacks in Madagascar

Mofo and Mofo Anana

The most delightful of all snacks in Madagascar are called mofo, the country’s signature savory spiced beignet fritters. Though you can find these in markets, in street stalls, and in hotelys and restaurants, the best versions we tasted were served as a late afternoon snack at the Arc-en-Ciel homestay in Fiadanana village not far from Antsirabe.

There, we tasted mofo anana (literally, leafy green bread), bread fritters with leafy green strips and spices. The closest comparison I could make is to a pakora, the spiced Indian fritter. The mofo anana were served alongside mofo voatavo, or pumpkin beignet fritters, a variation which offered contrast to the savory. The latter were especially decadent when dosed with a bit of condensed milk on top.

Market and Supermarket Snacks

When buying snacks at supermarkets, give the spotted taro root “elephant ear” chips a try. Fried plantain chips are also a favorite. You’ll also find an ample supply of peanuts and cashews everywhere you go.

Street food stands sell small fried samosas and spring rolls. Just be sure that they are fresh and hot. Otherwise, make certain you have a strong stomach.

Madagascar Desserts and Sweets

Not surprisingly, many of the best desserts in Madagascar use local fruit as their base.

Mofo Akondro (Banana Beignets or Banana Fritters)

In markets, hot banana fritter beignets straight from the stove are among the most delightful (read: fattening) and hygienically safest treats. Eat them when they are hot!

Flambée

Banana and pineapple flambées are an entertaining experience. A slice of fruit is often further sweetened, doused in local rum, lit on fire, and sometimes topped with sprinkled cinnamon. Whatever you do, make sure all the rum burns off, as it’s often cheap and not of sipping/drinking quality.

Koba Akondro (Steamed banana and peanut cake)

Koba akondro is a dense steamed cake made with rice flour, crushed peanuts, bananas and a molasses-type sweetener. Its density and texture is the result of steaming in banana leaves. It’s typically steamed in cake rolls or logs, then sliced for serving.

You’ll find it in markets and on streets, as we did in Antsirabe. Ask for a small slice at the market as the cake is quite dense and rich.

Crepes (Pancakes)

Taking another page out of the French colonial cookbook, many restaurants in Madagascar serve crepes as dessert. These are typically filled with bananas or other local fruit, then drizzled in chocolate sauce. This is another traveler favorite.

Madagascar Chocolate

It turns out that Madagascar is a major producer of cacao, too. All manner of Madagascar chocolate is worth a taste. What we found worked best was teaming up with others in a group so each person bought something different and we could sample as many chocolate bars as possible. You can find the higher quality chocolate at larger, more formal grocery stores.

Among our favorites was the Tsara Ecláts de Fèves Chocolate, a 63% chocolate dusted with cacao and sea salt flecks.

You might also want to try a piece of 100% chocolate, just for the experience. But be sure to bring a few gallons of water to share and chase it with.

Buying Madagascar Vanilla Beans and Spices

Madagascar is the world’s largest producer of vanilla bean, with most farms and production concentrated in the north end of island. Madagascar also produces many other sweet and savory spices such as black pepper, cinnamon, and clove.

Where to find Madagascar Vanilla Beans

When buying vanilla (available in dried beans or moist beans) to take home, consult your guide on where along your trip you’ll find the highest quality-price ratio. Upon recommendation, we bought ours outside our hotel in Ranomafana National Park and paid 20,000 (about $6) for three packets of vanilla beans.

Prices start much higher. Bargaining is welcome, but up to a certain point.

If you’re about the leave the country and you still don’t have your stash of vanilla beans, head to the main market in Antananarivo. There, you’ll find people selling packets of vanilla beans. The prices were a bit higher than in Ranomafana, but not by much.

Buying black pepper and other spices in Madagascar

Just about every market in the country features a stand or two with piles of spices so you can just select from there.

At Analakely Market in Antananarivo, tables are stacked high with everything, including fresh green pepper pods, black pepper, mixed pepper, cloves, and chili peppers. Be sure to look out for Madagascar 4-spice, a blend of black pepper, white pepper, pink pepper, and coriander.

There’s also a big Indian spice store in Toliara filled with locally sourced spices and pepper corns.

Drinks in Madagascar

Coffee and Tea in Madagascar

Madagascar coffee is generally decent, though it may not quite live up to the strength and style of your favorite coffeehouse back home. It's usually made with a cloth bag filter or strainer. Often, condensed milk is served with coffee instead of regular milk.

Tea in Madagascar is often a better, more unique bet. Try various flavors to see what suits you. The most notable flavor we tasted was citronella tea. A little strong, but certainly distinct.

Madagascar Beer

THB (Three Horses Beer) is a decent lager that you’ll find just about everywhere. Beware that Three Horses Beer “Fresh” is a very low alcohol shandy.

Madagascar Rum

Many restaurants and bars will feature a lineup of bottles or jugs of rum infused with vanilla, various fruits, jasmine, and ginger, among others. A small glass is usually inexpensive and surprisingly good. But, be careful…it's potent stuff.

The locally available Dzama Rhum, even in its less expensive versions like Cuvée Noire (as in $2-$3 for a small bottle), is a surprisingly good rum to be consumed straight. This served as an “aperitif” for our group on several occasions.

If our experience is any measure, be careful about any big swigs of homemade local rum at markets sold out of random bottles. It’s often stiff and akin to the kerosene-quality rum used to top flambées.

Disclosure: G Adventures sponsored our Highlights of Madagascar tour. This trip is conjunction with our cooperation in G Adventures' Wanderers Program. Check out this article for all the different G Adventures tours we've taken and recommend. As always, the thoughts contained herein — the what, the why, and the how — are entirely our own.

The post Madagascar Food: A Culinary Travel Guide appeared first on Uncornered Market.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your travels can make a difference, here's a case study from our recent trip to Madagascar. It shows just how tourism can support conservation, sustainability and community development.

In Madagascar we witnessed an environment under pressure from deforestation, expanding population and poverty. At the same time, we visited lemur-loaded rainforests and parks whose preservation is motivated in good part by the economic potential of tourism — a potential which enables animals and ecosystems to be worth more alive than dead.

Considering that 80-90% of Madagascar's wildlife and plant species cannot be found anywhere else in the world, the island’s 110 species of lemur are only the beginning. In this mega-diverse (a technical term, in fact) country, there are dazzling chameleons, hissing cockroaches, ancient baobab tree species, glowing frogs, and medicinal plants that seem to cure everything.

Yet as we celebrate that beauty and diversity and the incredible travel experiences one can have there, we must also give ink to Madagascar’s challenges and struggles.

Those challenges offer context as to why travel and tourism, when done right, can have such a positive impact.

Madagascar's Challenges…and a Look to Sustainable Tourism and Conservation

Depending upon the criteria one uses, Madagascar stands between the 5th and 10th poorest country in the world. Access to clean water and adequate nutrition is a challenge for much of the population. Deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture and desertification remain huge problems.

Habitat depletion is a threat to lemurs, the most endangered primates in the world, and to other endemic wildlife and plant species. In the not-so-long term, these environmental problems also post an existential threat to the people living there.

Our aim is not to be negative here, but instead offer a realistic view and context. This is perhaps best summarized by: “Madagascar is a rich country [in terms of natural resources], but it is filled with poor people.”

We heard this sentiment echoed by several Malagasy people we encountered on our journey.

It would be naive to think that sustainable tourism can solve all the environmental, economic, educational and social problems in Madagascar. There are broader, interconnected issues across societal and economic dimensions.

However, during our G Adventures tour in Madagascar we visited innovative community-driven conservation projects and organizations registering a positive impact on the local level. They did so not only in terms of conservation, reforestation and increasing animal populations, but also in providing income generation opportunities and investment in education and health initiatives.

Money from tourism — travelers taking tours that choose these experiences and organizations — makes this happen and helps keeps these organizations sustainable.

Micro to macro. Local to regional. Regional to national.

According to the Lemur Conservation Network:

Many conservationists agree that ecotourism is the number one thing that can ensure the survival of lemurs in Madagascar. The local Malagasy people need to see that lemurs are more valuable alive than dead. Tourists will come to see lemurs in the wild.

When travelers align their travel and purchasing decisions with their values — choosing tours, activities, itineraries, and experiences that support animal conservation and community development — positive change can happen.

Here are a few ways travelers can do that in Madagascar.

How Tourism in Madagascar Can Support Conservation and Communities

Book a Walk at a Community Park

Our experience around the world tells us that conservation efforts which don’t engage local communities and actively ignore local economic realities do not work in the long run.

That’s where the model of the community parks in Madagascar aims to operate a little differently, combining the goals of sustainable conservation with the local interest of community development.

Recommended Community Parks in Madagascar

Here are some of the Madagascar community parks we visited on our tour, that we can recommend. At each community park an authorized guide is required to take you around. In addition, an advance team of spotters helps find where the animals are hanging out that day.

This system provides additional employment and income for the local community and connects them to the activity and to tourists.

Anja Community Park

Anja Community Park offers one the best opportunities to see ring-tail lemurs in Madagascar. It wasn’t always this way.

Nore, our local guide at Anja Community Park, explained that when the community park began in 1999, much of the forest in the area had been destroyed through slash and burn agricultural practices. The approach of the community park was to begin by planting trees in order to expand the forest and to put a stop to lemur hunting. The aim: to grow lemur populations to attract travelers to the area to see the wildlife.

The result, less than 20 years later?

The ring-tail lemur population has grown from 20 to over 400 thanks to their reforestation and conservation efforts. And it offers an outstanding lemur encounter for travelers. It’s outrageous, actually.

The lemurs were playful and fun, jumping over us, around us, between us. They were clearly in the wild, in their element, in their habitat. But they had grown to trust and understand that humans were no longer a threat.

In addition, Anja Community Park involves over 600 people from the community to work as guides, scouts, cooks and other service providers. Profits from selling tours and guided tourist walks are reinvested into the community. The proceeds aren’t only for reforestation and animal conservation efforts, but also for environmental education, secondary school construction, health clinic maintenance, and other local projects.

V.O.I.M.M.A Community Park

This place will always have a special spot in our hearts; it was the first location where we came face to face with lemurs.

At V.O.I.M.M.A. the local community of around 4,000 people decided to dedicate some of what was once their agricultural land to reforestation – so as to expand the protected rainforest area around Andasibe-Mantadia National Park.

Leva, our community park guide, explained that lemur families require a lot of territory. The endangered indri, in particular enjoy space. The additional rainforest provided by the community park now offers the space and corridors for the various lemur species and families to move about.

This has contributed to an an increase in various lemur populations in the area, including the indri, sifaka, bamboo lemur and brown lemur.

In addition, V.O.I.M.M.A. reinvests half of its profits into community development projects, including building water taps to access clean water and supporting a medical clinic.

Reniala Spiny Forest Reserve

Although Baobab Avenue in western Madagascar is the country’s most famous destination for baobab trees, the Reniala Spiny Forest Reserve near Ifaty in the south is a close second. The name “Reniala” means “mother of the forest,” which is how baobabs are referred to in this area.

Desertification has hit this part of Madagascar hard. As a result, agriculture and cattle farming have become increasingly difficult. People once used the inside of the baobab trees to feed their zebu (a local style of cattle) during the dry seasons. Since 2001 a parcel of 45 hectares of spiny forest has been protected, and the area’s unique nature flourishes once again.

Some of the baobabs in the community park are over 1,000 years old and believed to be among the oldest in all of Madagascar. In addition, the park features over 2,000 plant species, of which more than 90% are endemic, suited to grow only in this particular arid environment.

The area is also a haven for bird watchers. Some species – like the beautiful long-tailed roller – can only be found here.

We chose the longer of the two walking tour options (approximately 2.5 hours) with a local guide through the community park. This allowed us to get up close to some of these ancient baobab trees, the octopus tree and some of the park’s other endemic plants and insects. We even got a glimpse of the rare long-tailed roller as it crossed our path.

As several villages had to be relocated to create the park, a portion of the entrance and tour fees goes to supporting displaced families. In addition, the park also runs environmental education programs and employs twelve local people as guides, scouts and other staff.

Visit Madagascar’s National Parks

Although we’ve just sung the praises of Madagascar’s community parks, don’t neglect the country’s network of 42 national parks. These also play a crucial role in protecting rainforests, wildlife and other species because of the scale of land and space they protect.

Not to mention, they offer excellent opportunities to encounter different species of lemurs and other wildlife – often in the context of fun day hikes and beautiful landscapes.

The entrance fees to these parks contributes to continued conservation and research efforts. A portion of national park fees is also intended to support nearby villages since many communities and families have also been displaced by the conservation and rainforest reclamation effort.

National park employment programs also require visitors to hire a park guide, who is usually accompanied by a team of wildlife spotters.

Recommended National Parks in Madagascar

Here are a few of the national parks we visited in Madagascar we can recommend.

Andasibe-Mantadia National Park

For viewing indri, the largest and apparently most intelligent of all lemur species, this is the place to do it. Not only is it impossible to keep and breed indri in captivity (you'll never find them in a zoo), but indri really only inhabit this tiny area of Madagascar.

We recommend at least a half-day guided walk at Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. This will allow ample time to find the indri and spend time observing them and listening to their unique call. The sifaka and other lemur species also call this park home.

Ranomafana National Park

Ranomafana National Park is home to over eleven lemur species, but is most famous for the very rare golden bamboo lemur. The park features thick rainforest. In order to track wildlife, you must pull yourself through trees and vines. There are walking paths, but the real tracking here begins off path.

At one point, our guide Hery explained, as he pointed to a lush section of rainforest, “You’ll notice that the land is a bit flatter here. That’s because thirty years ago there was a village here. I remember it from when I was a kid.”

When left alone to its own devices, it's remarkable what Mother Nature can do. We saw no signs of human habitat. Trees, vines, ferns, bushes and all the wildlife that comes with it had simply taken over.

Isalo National Park

This is one of the Madagascar’s oldest national parks. It’s also its most popular. For good reason.

Sure, you can see a few lemurs, colorful birds, elephant foot plants and other endemic creatures and flora, but the real draw here are the day- and multi-day hikes through sandstone canyons, caches of rainforest oasis and hidden waterfalls in-between.

The stark contrast of sandstone desertscape and oasis-like swimming holes right next to one another is remarkable. This is not a constructed environment, either. It’s just how Mother Nature came together. That’s why our day hike at Isalo National Park remained a highlight for many in our group.

Community Homestay Programs in Madagascar

Although much of our Madagascar trip was focused on lemurs, wildlife and national/community parks, an essential highlight for most everyone in our group was a village homestay in Fiadanana in the highlands of Madagascar.

What made this experience so memorable wasn’t only the beautiful, serene setting of the village outside of Antsirabe. It was also in part because our host, Arc-en-Ciel (Rainbow) Community Association, and its founder, Yavansu, delivered a unique, engaging experience.

Yavansu had studied sustainable tourism and was a guide in Madagascar for over twenty years. Then he decided he wanted to show travelers a different side of Madagascar than the animals, national parks and beaches. He wanted to focus on its people, culture, and rural areas, and do so in a way that benefited Madagascar’s villages. Five years ago, he decided to bring a community-based tourism approach to his own village where he grew up.

It wasn’t easy at first, he admits. Local people didn’t understand the concept of tourism and were skeptical of travelers. Local superstition fed the notion that foreigners (particularly light-skinned ones) would steal their souls. Locals also couldn’t understand why any traveler would choose to visit their village, to learn about their lives. Finally, how would any of this actually benefit their families and their lives?

Good questions. And a few leaps.

Slowly, Yavansu worked through these challenges and began bringing travelers to see and experience a day and overnight in his village. The association reinvested profits into building primary school buildings, sponsoring children’s school fees (over 80 students now), and improving roads, thereby working together with and earning the trust of the villagers.

Today, 42 people in the community are association members and involved in its tourism and community development activities. The organization also provides work to 14 people who support the travelers’ visits by cooking food, cleaning, playing music, and guiding. The villagers now welcome travelers and are happy to share their culture.

For us travelers, this was a unique experience. Over the course of the day our host fed us some incredible home-made Malagasy food (“this is really farm to table!” someone in our group said, mid forkful). We had a guided walk through the village to explain everything from house design to superstitions. Later, some local musicians gathered for a jam around the bonfire.

A group of G Adventures travelers (usually 10-16 people) visits this village each week from April to November, helping to provide a sustainable source of income for the association so it may grow and pursue its projects. After our village walk Yavansu brought us all into one of the primary school classrooms built by the association over the years.

He shared the association’s goals and how they cooperate with the community: “In Malagasy culture it’s considered disrespectful for your family if you get something for free. It’s necessary to work for it, to earn it. That’s why with all the projects we do — like this room — the community is also contributing, whether it’s providing labor, transport, materials or something else.”

He pointed to the bare hills across the valley. “When my grandfather grew up here, there used to be a forest there. He remembers the lemurs. Now, all the trees are cut down and the land is arid. Children listen more than adults, so we work with the children to try and change behaviors. We ask them if they want the lemurs to come back and how they need to plant trees and protect those trees for life. Once they rebuild the forest the animals will come back.”

After witnessing the Madagascar countryside mainly from the window of our van, we really appreciated this experience. Visiting a local village enabled us to get up close and to better connect with Malagasy culture and people. To know that the tour fees were targeted to educational, conservation and community projects made it that much better.

Plant Trees with a Local Environmental Association

At the end of our day at Isalo National Park our group met up with Delana, one of the founders of Soa Zara Environmental Association, and her local team.

Last year the association purchased a plot of land just outside the national park. The focus of this parcel of land: to plant trees in an effort to reforest and extend the habitat for lemurs and other animals in the area. In addition, Soa Zara also runs sustainable charcoal production and environmental education projects in nearby communities.

For the last year, G Adventures has partnered with Soa Zara and uses a portion of tour fees to buy 150-200 saplings from its nursery located at ITC Lodge for the tour group to plant at the end of their day at Isalo National Park. The association cares for the saplings, with an eye to a new forest growing there in ten years.

Do the math. A tour group a week for eight months of the year equals around 55,000 trees planted by G Adventures travelers in one year.

Challenges notwithstanding, a pretty good start for a forest.

For us, it was a fun and enriching experience to get our hands dirty, plant a few tiny trees, and imagine what it might look like ten years from now.

Conserve and Distribute Clean Water

This item is less an itinerary suggestion, and more about trying to do the right thing, to perhaps make life a little better or easier for a few people that day.

As we departed beautiful Isalo National Park behind to head south, our tour leader, Jose, collected any plastic water bottles we’d used (and saved for days) and filled them with clean water at our lodge in Ranohira.

He explained: “In the south, people are really poor. It's like a desert now after decades of deforestation. It's hard to find water, and much of it isn't clean. So, with each tour group we fill as many bottles as we can with clean water and give them to families along the way who live near the road.”

A few hours later we noticed the land had become even more arid, trees even more rare, homes more fragile. The precariousness of life became clearer. On hut-dotted stretches of road between towns, our bus slowed down and our driver's assistant yelled something to indicate we had clean water.

He handed bottles and jugs of clean water out the window to mothers and children emerging from their homes.

“It's not much, but it helps a bit. At least for today,” Jose said.

Perspective.

This wasn’t an official community-based project or some sort of development program with long-term goals. Instead, it was the initiative of an individual, Jose, who knew the difficult reality of the situation in the south, and who cared and wanted to help.

He was able to use the infrastructure that our tour provided — that we were coming from a location with water and had lots of empty bottles to fill (because travelers can afford bottled water), and were driving through an area without clean water — to offer a little something to those who needed it.

Responsible Travel Tips for Traveling in Madagascar

These responsible travel tips are not meant to limit or restrict what you do in Madagascar. Instead, they are aimed at providing advice for travelers to engage and connect in a meaningful and enriching way that also benefits the local environment, culture and economy. You can read more responsible travel tips here.

1. Don't visit animal parks that offer photo opportunities as you handle lemurs or other wildlife

Although it may be tempting to goose your social media feed with a selfie as you hold a lemur, think twice about what you are doing. Consider avoiding animal parks where the main focus seems to be photo opportunities and selfies that involve handling lemurs or other wildlife.

These animals are not meant to be held or positioned for your convenience; they are meant to be in their natural habitat, in the wild. Often, these animals kept in captivity aren’t treated very well, and are broken by fear or sedated with drugs. Spend your money at one of the national or community parks instead.

2. Bring a refillable water bottle

Unfortunately, the availability of purified water dispensers to refill your water bottle is limited mainly to a few places in big cities. However, you can still reduce your plastic bottle footprint by purchasing large containers of water (e.g., 5-7 liters) from the grocery store and refilling your bottle, rather than purchasing a bunch of single use 1-1.5 liter water bottles.

Even better, use a Steripen (or similar) to sterilize water from the tap.

Note: If you do purchase bottled water, remember to save the bottles and refill them if you're going to a place that might need clean water. See #5 above.

3. Understand child welfare issues and don’t give to begging children

Children are everywhere in Madagascar. You’ll almost certainly be faced with children begging or selling things. Although it’s difficult to say no in the face of such poverty, don’t give directly to these children. This article explains why and offers alternatives, including how to find reputable organizations or associations that are working with local families and investing in local communities.

Here's another good resource on child welfare in travel.

4. If you want to volunteer, ask a lot of questions to ensure you’re not doing unintentional harm

Madagascar receives a lot of international volunteers each year. During our trip, we witnessed a fair number of them doing a variety of projects and tasks. If you are interested in volunteering in Madagascar, we recommend that you read this article first and ask serious questions of the host organization before you make any decisions.

It’s essential that you ensure your volunteering “work” (e.g., painting houses, etc.) does not take away employment or jobs from local people. While we understand the motivation to help behind volunteering, many of us wondered about the actual lasting effects and impacts of the “work” being done. It's also often unclear where the very high voluntourism fees paid by the volunteers — in Madagascar and elsewhere — go.

Madagascar Small Group Tours Focused on Conservation

G Adventures Tours in Madagascar

These G Adventures tours in Madagascar focus on conservation, sustainability and community development. They are part of the Jane Goodall Collection which are tours that are specifically focused on wildlife preservation, awareness and learning.

Highlights of Madagascar

This is the 2-week G Adventures tour that we took that focuses on tracking lemurs in national and community parks, a village homestay and some days of relaxation at a beach in the south.

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Madagascar - Baobab & Tsingy Explorer

Photo Credit: www.gadventures.com

If we had more time we would have added this tour as it goes north in Madagascar to see the epic Baobab Alley and the natural phenomenon of Tsingy National Park.

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Ultimate Madagascar Adventure

If you have three weeks, this is the tour to do as it covers so much of Madagascar. It combines everything experienced on the Highlights of Madagascar tour with Baobab & Tsingy Explorer.

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Madagascar: Tourism to Its Future

While it’s true that Madagascar's economic and environmental challenges are much greater than what sustainable tourism can solve, it’s important to understand how tourism does make a difference in the lives of individuals and local communities. Travelers can and do play an important role in Madagascar in lemur and wildlife conservation, as well as in community development.

Our recent trip to Madagascar underscored this reality.

All the different ways in which parks and community organizations engaged throughout our G Adventures tour itinerary demonstrated the effects and the interconnection. Together, these initiatives can have a network effect, too. When tourism engages and works with local communities and people around the country, money, resources and impact is spread, including to rural areas that are often forgotten. It’s a reminder of the impact sustainable tourism can have — not only in providing an immersive experience for the traveler, but also on local individuals, communities and a country.

The post How Your Travels in Madagascar Can Support Conservation and Communities appeared first on Uncornered Market.

Madagascar travel. While lemurs and Madagascar's unique wildlife and nature are what usually draw people to visit the country, that's just the very beginning. Here are our top travel experiences and recommendations from traveling through Madagascar to go deeper into the country's unique nature, cultures, food, landscapes, and more.

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of traveling to Madagascar? For most, lemurs and a verse (or two or three) of “I like to Move It, Move It!” from King Julien, the ring-tailed lemur star of Madagascar, the movie.

Me, too. The name Madagascar always held mystery, something of National Geographic documentaries. Exotic, remote. Travel to Madagascar and I figured I’d find strange animals and vanilla beans on a rugged island cut loose from the African continent millions of years ago. When our guide asked what we wished from our time in Madagascar, Dan joked: “To go a little deeper, to know Madagascar beyond “I like to move it, move it.”

So we did. We traveled two weeks in Madagascar with G Adventures. Wildlife, people, landscape, geology, spirituality, culture, and history – it all came together. Our journey mesmerized just as it demystified.

The following experiences are drawn from the Highlights of Madagascar tour (2 weeks) that took us around the eastern and southern parts of Madagascar, presented in chronological order. If you are considering booking a Madagascar tour with G Adventures and want to know what to expect, here’s an overview and review of the itinerary, activities and destinations you'll experience. This tour is part of the Jane Goodall Collection of travel experiences focused on wildlife and conservation. It is also now part of the new G Adventures Travel with Confidence Plus Collection that includes smaller groups, private transport and more personal accommodation space. If you choose to travel Madagascar independently, use this guide as inspiration to piece together experiences and destinations for your own itinerary of eastern and southern Madagascar. Disclosure: This trip was provided to us conjunction with our long-term partnership with G Adventures.

About Madagascar: Biodiversity, History, and Cultures

Madagascar, it turns out, is one of the 17 nations of the world considered “megadiverse” because of its biodiversity and concentration of endemic species. In layman terms, 80% of plants and animals in Madagascar cannot be found anywhere else in world. All of this snaps into place with the Gondwana supercontinent: Madagascar lost contact with Africa (160 million years ago), then with Antarctica, Australia and finally India (84-95 million years ago).

Madagascar’s human population knows a similarly diverse history. Although Madagascar is physically closer to the African continent, its first permanent human settlers are said to have arrived nearly 2,000 years ago from Austronesia (near Malaysia-Indonesia). Layers of migration and cultural evolution followed: textures of Bantu tribal East Africa, signs of French colonialism, echoes of Middle Eastern trading, and Asian-style rice terraces. The national language – Malagasy – most resembles those of Malaysian Borneo. Fascinating and complex.

There’s something about taking it all in firsthand to assemble your own sense of the meaning of the Madagascar. And also understanding how tourism there can have a positive impact and support conservation and community development. With this experiential guide to traveling Madagascar, we aim to give you an idea of what you’ll see and what to seek out.

Madagascar Travel: A Two-Week Itinerary

For those of you who love maps — as we do — here is a visual of the two weeks of our route we took through eastern and southern Madagascar on our tour with G Adventures.

25 Things to Do, See and Experience in Madagascar

1. Come face to face with a brown lemur at V.O.I.M.M.A Community Park in Andasibe

You’ll never forget your first lemur encounter. I mean, just look at that face!

Within minutes of setting out on the rainforest trail with Leva, our local guide at V.O.I.M.M.A. Community Park, a family of brown lemurs appeared in the tree branches above us. As we quieted down, they approached us, almost to eye level. Then, they were up and off again, leaping amongst the high branches.

A note on V.O.I.M.M.A and Community Parks in Madagascar: The initials stand for “Vondron’olona Ifotony Mitia sy Miaro ny Ala”, meaning “Local people love the forest.” It’s a fitting name for the park, a community-driven conservation and sustainable tourism program launched in 2012 by 4,000 villagers living near the Andasibe-Perinet National Park area.

The goal of the local community: to work together to protect what rainforest remained, using proceeds from park fees and walks to fund guide training, continued reforestation, and efforts to provide more space and protection for lemurs and other endemic wildlife. About half the money generated through tourism activities goes to fund medical care, clean water and other life improvement initiatives for villagers in the area.

A network of community parks, operating outside the national park system, exists throughout Madagascar. These local parks serve as an excellent example of how community-based conservation and care can work when paired with the power of increased income generation and life improvement initiatives funded by tourism activities. This not only engages local people as part of the conservation process, but it also provides them with an income source alternative to hunting, poaching, and wood harvesting. Meanwhile, pressure on the environment and local wildlife is slowly reduced.

READ MORE: How Your Travels in Madagascar Can Support Conservation and Communities

2. Admire the largest and smallest chameleons in the world

It’s hard to have an encounter with a Parsons Chameleon — considered the largest chameleon species in the world by weight — and not emerge with a grin.

Look at the nose, the tail, the eyes, the color. These and other endemic species unique to Madagascar will make you wonder, “Why?” “How?” “Here?” Mother Nature certainly had fun with this one.

For some contrast, narrow your eyes and squint if you must, and take a look at the 3-4mm long Madagascar dwarf chameleon, Brookesia minima. Note that it was recently usurped by the slightly smaller Brookesia micra. How local guides are able to zero in on these tiny creatures in midst of the lush forest amazes.

3. Listen to the call of the indri at Andasibe-Mantadia National Park

The indri (also known locally as babakoto), found only in this region of Madagascar, are the largest of all lemurs, and are considered the freedom fighters of the species. When placed in captivity, the indri essentially go on a hunger strike, starving themselves until they are released back into the wild. While admirable, this indri behavior makes it difficult for scientists to conduct research and all but impossible to increase indri populations through captive breeding.

The unique appearance of the indri is only outdone by their call. The rainforest canopy echoes with an eerie, dolphin-like sound the indri use to communicate with other members of their family (typically between 2 and 6 members) and with other families to mark territory and signal danger. As you walk Andasibe-Mantadia National Park with your guide, you’ll follow the call of the indri to find them.

When we eventually found “our” indris in the high trees, we were treated to an extended chorus between a male and female. Between the ambient sounds of the rainforest and the calls of the indri, we felt as though we were in our very own episode of Wild Kingdom. A beautiful, long moment to enjoy.

Numbering in the thousands, the indri are still considered a critically endangered species (sadly, as are most lemur species). However, our guide explained that indri populations have increased in recent years. Due to tourism, conservation and educational efforts, the local practice of hunting them for their meat has abated. The results of reforestation efforts also continue to provide them with additional range to expand their habitat. The challenge is ongoing.

4. Crash a party of Sifaka Lemurs

The sifaka, known as the dancing lemur, is another fun, social species of lemur that you’ll find in Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. Though we encountered multiple diademed sifaka families (usually 9-10 strong), one family in particular rewarded our group for being patient, silent and still.

They entertained us high in the branches, putting on an elaborate grooming show, and paying a visit to us near ground level. When they’d had enough of the human encounter, they leapt back up into the rainforest canopy to continue their morning escapades of movement, tree-to-tree.

I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that it really wasn't a party, but rather a conspiracy, of lemurs. This is now one of my favorite collective nouns.

5. Tuck into zebu, ravitoto and traditional Malagasy Madagascar cuisine

When in Madagascar, eat as the Malagasy eat. If you eat meat, you’ll find yourself in good stead. Zebu, the meat of the local variety of cow is everywhere, and is generally quite good. If you find it, try zebu filet or steak served with mustard sauce or zebu au poivre (pepper sauce), both of which are quite tasty.

Or try romazava, the over-the-top national dish of varied meats turned in a sauce of tomato, garlic, ginger and stewed greens. Another local favorite is ravitoto, mashed cassava leaves. This is often turned with coconut and spices for vegetarians. Meat-eaters, try the ravitoto with pork, which offers a little bit of richness and balance.

READ MORE: Madagascar Food: A Culinary Travel Guide

6. Walk through Andasibe town for a glimpse of local life

The town of Andasibe, just outside the nearby national and community parks bearing its name, is a walk through everyday Madagascar. You'll find stalls selling a random assortment of vegetables and foodstuffs, mothers drawing water from the pump, two-story homes with colorful balconies, a football pitch filled with boys playing a game of pick-up soccer, rice and agricultural fields in all stages of cultivation, and non-proverbial chickens crossing the road.

Bonus: Find the young boy who fashioned a foosball table from scrap pieces of wood. So cool, and it actually works surprisingly well.

7. Visit the Anziru weekly market

Weekly markets are a main event, no exception in Madagascar. Many local schools even take that day off so children can join their parents on market day. The weekly market is not only about buying and selling food and goods. It performs an important social function, too.

Weekly markets are about catching up on local news and seeing friends and family from nearby villages. If you’re single, they offer the opportunity to check out who’s available and in search of a mate.

Finally, they’re also places where you can enjoy a shot of local home-brewed rum with a side of crayfish to chase it down. And if gambling is your vice, try your hand at cards or at the hand-carved roulette wheels.

8. Make a Circular Economy purchase at the artisan workshops in Antsirabe

When we consider recycling, our minds run to putting recyclable trash into a bin for someone to carry it away, for it never to be seen again. In Madagascar, recycling means taking the used, broken, and out-of-date and finding a way to make something new from it all.

In the town of Antsirabe, a group of artisans and craftspeople collect metal from around the country, melt it down, and create the standard cooking pot that most in Madagascar seem to use. To be honest, the old-school technology doesn’t look particularly healthy for the those working. However, it’s remarkable how quickly this workshop can transform a pile of old metal junk into hot liquid and in seconds turn that liquid into a pot to cook that evening’s meal.

Another of our favorite artisans in town is an engineer turned bicycle enthusiast who found ways to recycle old bits, including fashioning fishing wire from old nets and re-purposing the metal and plastic from expired medical supplies into very cool hand-crafted model bicycles.

9. Fix your broken heart with a visit to a local Shaman

Even if your heart is not broken, it’s still worth visiting the local shaman, or healer. We paid a visit to one on the morning of our village homestay experience.

After a climb up a wooden ladder staircase to the village consultation room, we learned about traditional and natural medicines and how they are used to treat different ailments, both physical and emotional. Services include mending a broken heart, whether it be from unrequited love or a relationship forced to split because of parents.

The forests of Madagascar are flush with endemic trees and plants used over the centuries for medicinal purposes. This knowledge has been passed on from one generation of shaman to the next, usually within the family. As it was explained to us: you don’t really choose to be a shaman; the vocation chooses you.

10. Walk the terraced rice fields en route to Fiadanana village and stay the night

One of the big surprises for us in Madagascar: artfully terraced rice fields in the country’s highlands. Everywhere you go in the hills, you’ll find the terraces and cascaded pools of highland rice cultivation similar to what you might see in Southeast Asia and China. Why? The technique and approach of rice cultivation arrived with the island’s first inhabitants from Austronesia (Malaysia and Indonesia) almost two thousand years ago. Terracing took hold in the 1600s, and it’s still in use today.

After seeing terraced rice fields along our ride across the highlands of eastern Madagascar, it was worthwhile to see them up close during our 1.5 hour walk to the village homestay where we’d spend the night.

11. Get a taste of village life at a community homestay in Fiadanana

After a home-cooked and delicious lunch (many considered it the best meal in the country), our local guide also took us on a walk to the village, through and along the edges of the fields. There, we witnessed daily life: farmers carefully planting new seeds, zebu-drawn plows turning over the soil for the next planting, and villagers stepping through the stillness of their everyday, yet beautiful, landscape.

After which, we returned for citronella tea and pumpkin beignets (fritters) with a beautiful view of the terraced fields below.

Our host, Arc-en-Ciel (Rainbow) Community Association uses the money earned from tour fees (for an overnight visit, including meals) to help provide job opportunities, sponsor school fees in primary and secondary schools, improve infrastructure, and fund environmental education and activities. The organization’s founder, Yavansu, grew up in the village and returned five years ago with the goal of using sustainable tourism to benefit his community.

As fun as it is to wander and say hello to people, it’s even better with a local host who shares stories and context. It also helps to feel some connection along with a welcome from local people who are involved in the project and know that the money from the experience is being used for the improvement of their community and education of their children.

READ MORE: How to Use Social Enterprises to Improve Your Travels…and Make a Difference

12. Join the community in a bonfire dance

We admit, we are skeptical of singing and dancing “shows,” especially when people get dressed up in traditional outfits and drag tourists into it all in a way that can feel a bit forced. That’s where the Arc-en-Ciel community homestay bonfire music jam broke the mold.

A few local musicians showed up, kids gathered and dance-jumped around, a bonfire burned brightly. Before long, more people from the village appeared to see what was going on. Staff from the homestay kitchen came out during their breaks, and the beats grew faster and louder. Yes, there was dancing, laughter and fun. None of it was forced, it all felt natural. Nobody put on a show, except maybe for themselves.

That is, everyone had fun. Locals, too.

Bonus: Watch a World Cup game on a generator-powered TV
If your visit happens to coincide with the World Cup or another football tournament, ask your host if anyone in the village is showing the game. Since the village has no electricity, televisions are powered by generators. For us, we climbed up through several terraced rice fields to watch the World Cup Semi-final game between England and Croatia in the back courtyard of a local home.

Sure, the generator ran out of diesel fuel before the end of the game. That just added to the experience and built suspense to know the result the following day.

13. Trek lush rainforest and find the elusive golden bamboo lemurs at Ranomafana National Park

When it comes to tracking lemurs and other wildlife in the rainforest, prepare to get dirty, particularly when the skies open up at Ranomafana National Park. Yes, you feel a bit like a crazed biologist pulling yourself up the hills through brush and vines, craning your head up to catch a glimpse of the golden bamboo lemurs above.

Then, after the frenzy of finding one comes the silence and stillness of observing and admiring these rare, tiny creatures above you. Less than 500 of them remain.

It’s worth the effort, the mud, and the sweat. In fact, that’s all part of the experience.

14. Surround yourself with playful ring-tail lemurs at Anja Community Park

It’s hard not to visit Madagascar without keeping fresh in mind an image of King Julien, the dancing ring-tail lemur from the movie Madagascar. Turns out ring-tail lemurs really are as playful and fun as the movie lets on. Especially so at Anja Community Park.

Within just ten or fifteen minutes of our group entering the forest area of the park, we were surrounded by a ring-tail lemur family. Just five minutes away, another. They jumped around on the ground, hung out on rocks, groomed themselves on branches, chased each other across the trees, and just seemed to enjoy themselves.

We all enjoyed them, too. If it were up to our group, we might have stayed there all day.

Turns out that when Anja Community Park began in 1999 there were only 20 lemurs living in this patch of small forest. In less than 20 years, the community-led conservation efforts have expanded the size of the forest through yearly tree-planting campaigns and continued education of local people in the benefits of conservation and the economic potential of sustainable tourism. Lemur hunting has been eliminated. Their population in the park has grown to over 400 as their habitat has grown and the imminent threat to their existence has abated.

Around 600 local people are involved in the community park and earn additional income from its various tourism activities. Profits from park tour fees are now being used to construct a secondary school and local hospital. As tourism grows, so too do the other ways the community can direct its own investment and improvement.

15. Take advantage of an impromptu roadside repair stop to stock up on sweet papayas

One never wishes to hear a strange noise coming from one’s transport. It does happen from time to time, though. It’s a pleasant surprise when the repair stop happens right next to a tiny village featuring a roadside papaya stand.

As our group exited our van for a stretch, the local people sitting nearby wondered, not knowing what to make of all the foreigners descending on their little papaya stand. We began by buying one. Our guide and we sliced it and passed it around as an afternoon snack, including to one of our group who’d never before tasted a papaya! Then we bought another, passing around some more slices. Finally, we bought a couple more to take with us on the bus.

Not only were these the sweetest papayas of our trip, but everyone – travelers and locals alike — got a good laugh from the scene. Because of the setting and circumstances, and perhaps the turn of opportunity from temporary misfortune, everyone came away from our unplanned stop pleased with the unexpected yet authentic turn of events.

It was memorable for sure, and as real an experience as one might imagine on the roads of Madagascar.

16. Explore the canyons and sandstone cliffs of Isalo National Park

Madagascar’s environmental diversity shows itself across the country, but also in pockets, as it does at Isalo National Park where arid deserts yield to waterfall-draped oases via river-carved canyon paths. Our local guide, Hery, pointed out medicinal trees, elephant foot plants, wild silk worms, and fabulously camouflaged chameleons and stick bugs. He also shared stories about the local Bara tribe and their unique traditions which have been shaped by the area’s geology and landscape.

Unsurprisingly, our Isalo National Park day trek turned out to be one of our group’s favorites of the trip.

17. Take a dip in an oasis waterfall (or 2 or 3)

We admit to having a conflicted relationship with waterfalls, their often being oversold. However, the waterfalls you’ll encounter along the walk in Isalo National Park are well-placed, and worth a shot and a dip. The lush green surroundings also provide a nice break from the sun and heat.

18. Enjoy a sundowner, Madagascar style. And plant a tree…or five

At the end of our day at Isalo National Park, our tour leader told us we were in for a surprise. We walked up onto a nearby hill where we met with Delana, cofounder of Soa Zara Association, a local NGO and Planterra Foundation partner working on environmental protection and reforestation in the area. Over the last year, each G Adventures group ends their day at Isalo by planting 150-200 trees on a plot of land with a sprawling view to a table plateau and the sunset west.

Considering that a group visits each week between April and November, that’s a lot of trees in just one year. The goal: in 10 years, the once empty arid patch will become the makings of a forest once again, giving the nearby lemurs and wildlife more room to grow and expand their habitat.

Then, we walked to an overlook and enjoyed a celebratory drink watching the sunset over the Isalo mountains. Now, that’s a proper sundowner.

READ MORE: 20 Sustainable Travel Tips: How to be a Good Global Traveler

19. Hug an ancient baobab tree at Reniala Spiny Forest Reserve

Although the baobab trees of Baobab Avenue in western Madagascar get the most attention, the south also features its fair share of baobab caches. The Reniala Spiny Forest Reserve is one such area featuring a cluster of baobabs of all sizes, shapes and ages. Our group’s favorite of the baobab bunch was this bulbous baobab, estimated at over 1,000 years old (baobabs only grow 12mm each year).

As is the case with other community parks, Reniala Spiny Forest Reserve operates with local people serving as guides and spotters. A portion of the tour fees is used to fund conservation projects in the community and to help protect these ancient trees and their habitat.

20. Take a ride in a Bollywood-style Zebu cart

Get to the baobab forest by local transport, a zebu-drawn cart. If you’re really lucky, your zebu cart may also be adorned with Bollywood-style art and imagery.

Admittedly, your bottom may suffer a bit for the bounce, but the experience is one you’ll likely never forget.

21. Kick back at Mangily Beach, Ifaty

After your head is full of all the interactions, imagery and impressions of a busy trip through eastern and southern Madagascar, a couple of days at the beach makes for an ideal way to relax and wind down. While snorkeling, surfing, scuba diving, whale watching (seasonal) and other activities are on offer, we took a more laid-back approach and simply chilled out.

Our ideal mix of relaxation included sleeping in, relaxing by the pool or on the beach, taking an occasional dip (the water is a little chilly in the Austral winter), reading a book or two, playing a round of boules/petanque, gazing out on the horizon at sunset, and feasting on seafood. It was hard to leave our beach-side Bamboo Club bungalow after only a couple of days.

22. Get your lobster and seafood fix

If anything like lobster, squid, octopus, prawns or fish is your taste, the restaurants along the beach in Ifaty will have you covered and well-fed. Nothing fresher than this. And it’s hard to beat a touch of the grill to draw out the flavor.

There are a number of restaurants along the beach, as well as pop-up style lobster roasts run by locals. Among our favorites was Chez Cecile, for its copious breakfast, very good coffee and a long, drifting lunch of barbecued lobster served with a nicely chilled white wine.

Along your way to Ifaty and the southern beaches, you might travel through the bustling city of Toliara. If you do, be sure to drop in on Le Jardin de Giancarlo, a decades-old restaurant run by an Italian character who got lost in Madagascar decades ago. Mixed seafood plates (less than $10) are excellent and abundant enough for two to share. Vegetarians in Madagascar will also be delighted by the fresh vegetable-loaded pasta dishes and fresh ravioli.

23. Take in the diversity of Madagascar fruits, vegetables, and spices at Analakely Market in Antananarivo

Analakely Market in Madagascar’s capital city Antananarivo shows off the agricultural richness and diversity of the country. Tables are stacked high with vegetables and fruits, baskets overflow with beans and rice, and piles topple with black pepper, cloves, and chili peppers. Some of it you may recognize, much of it you may not. It’s a colorful island nation feast.

We can highly recommend picking up some Madagascar whole black pepper to use at home or to give as gifts. It has a sort of nutmeg flavoring to it that it rich and unique. Our foodie friends loved it as their Christmas gift.

The streets around the market are busy and bustling, but don’t let that scare you away. The alleys and lanes of fruits and vegetables are out in the open and pleasantly calm in comparison. They are also pretty much hassle-free.

24. Treat yourself to Madagascar-French cuisine.

Fancy yourself some foie gras? Maybe some magret de canard? Duck confit? Don’t be surprised to find French restaurants, specialties of French cuisine and even French-inspired Madagascar fusion cuisine. Madagascar was a French colony until 1960, and the French clearly left their mark.

There are a number of restaurants in the capital city of Antananarivo focused on French cuisine. We dropped into Sakamanga, an upscale yet reasonably-priced restaurant serving Malagasy and French dishes. If you're winding up your time in Madagascar, are looking for a nice, relaxing bite to eat and to taste a dish you’d missed out on during your travels across Madagascar, give it a look.

25. Dance with the dead and other unique Malagasy cultural traditions

One of the more unique cultural facets that we've come across in our travels is that of exhumation ceremonies in Madagascar. Malagasy people have a strong connection to their ancestors, believing that they represent a spiritual middle ground between earth and God, very far above. Many of Madagascar's 18 ethnic groups practice some sort of exhumation ceremony to celebrate their ancestors and create a connection between the generations.

Usually practiced every three, five or seven years (it depends on how much money a family has) an exhumation ceremony will bring family members from throughout the country together to the family tomb. Tombs are sacred places as they hold the remains of several generations collectively in one location.

During the exhumation ceremony, the stone tomb is opened and skeleton bodies are wrapped in new silk fabric and papyrus mats. A party ensues outside the tomb as everyone gathers together, eats a big feast, drinks rum, plays music and eventually dances with their ancestors by embracing the skeleton's silk wrap.

As our tour leader explained, being able to dance with a deceased great-grandparent is a way for families to keep alive the connection between generations. While dancing with dead relatives may sound strange to many of us, I understand it as a means to sustaining family identity and belonging, and cultivating a relationship with death.

A cultural tradition that I didn't quite connect with as much with was that of the male circumcision ceremony, conducted when a boy is 1-5 years old. The paternal grandfather spills some of the blood and foreskin from the circumcision atop a banana and consumes it to demonstrate his acceptance of his grandson.

For the Bara tribe near Isalo National Park, their tradition is to shoot the foreskin into the air…perhaps to set it free?

This is only the beginning of the fascinating traditions of the ethnic and cultural mixing bowl that is Madagascar. We were fortunate to have tour leader in Jose who was not only knowledgeable about all these ceremonies and traditions, but welcomed our curiosity and fielded our many questions.

Traveling Independently to Madagascar vs. Taking a Madagascar Tour

Of course, it's possible to travel Madagascar independently. However, it isn't always the easiest in terms of transportation, logistics and available information. We researched this in advance as we determined whether to travel independently in Madagascar or choose to take the Highlights of Madagascar tour with G Adventures.

After traveling through Madagascar and witnessing a variety of travel options and styles, we're happy with our decision to take the G Adventures tour. The reasons are many, but the main ones include the fact that the tour's itinerary included activities we would not have been able to arrange on our own, logistical support, and comfortable and reliable transportation (distances are vast in Madagascar). Most importantly, our high-quality local G Adventures CEO (guide), Jose, made all the difference in our understanding Madagascar in all of its complexity.

If you choose to travel independently, there is public transport around the country via minibuses. However, be prepared for these buses to be stuffed. The other option is to hire a private driver and car to take you around (going rate is €50-€100/day we hear). Obviously, if you can share the car with other travelers this will reduce your travel costs. Air Madagascar also flies domestic flights, which is a good option if you've got long distances to cover. Domestic flight tickets are not particularly cheap, however.

As you'll see below there's a range of accommodation around the country, so you'll likely always be able to find a place to spend the night. Here are more tips on traveling Madagascar independently.

When to Visit Madagascar

April to November is considered tourist season in Madagascar, with July to October as the high season. The rainy season is December to March. This time can be wet and also incredibly hot in some areas.

Our visit in July coincided with winter in Madagascar. It was surprisingly cold (e.g., down to 45 F at night in the eastern highlands). Be sure to pack several layers of shirts, fleece jackets, and rain gear if you visit during this time. That said, we enjoyed traveling at this time as the temperature was comfortable during the day and insects and mosquitos were much less than they'd otherwise be during hot season.

If your focus is strictly lemur tracking, consider visiting Madagascar in October-November. During this time, many of the lemur species give birth to their babies. They also apparently spend more time lower to the ground, rather than tucked into the canopies. That said, our experiences and images show plenty of lemur encounters in winter.

Madagascar Visas

It's easy to purchase a 30-day tourist visa upon arrival at Antananarivo Airport. At the time of our visit in July 2018 the cost was $37 or €35. Although we were not asked for a copy of our return flight from Madagascar, it's good to have this on hand as we hear that sometimes immigration officials ask for it.

In addition to the visa and immigration form you'll need to fill out a health form. If you arrive from a country where yellow fever is prevalent, officials will check your Yellow Card to be sure you have a valid Yellow Fever vaccination.

Flights to Madagascar

Members of our group came from Europe, North America and Australia. Since we flew to Madagascar from Berlin, Germany the easiest (and cheapest) connection was on Turkish Airlines. We also heard good things about connections from Norway and other parts of Germany via Ethiopian Airlines. Americans and Canadians in the group flew Air France, since it seemed to offer the best connections.

If you're already traveling in Africa at the time, Kenyan Airlines, South African Airlines and Ethiopian Airlines seem to offer the best flights to Madagascar from the continent.

You can check the best flights to Madagascar (Antananarivo Airport – TNR) using Skyscanner (it also includes all low cost airlines) or Expedia (usually a 24-hour cancellation period).

Accommodation in Madagascar

Although our accommodation was included along the trip, we can recommend the following hotels and lodges throughout the country for accommodation that is clean, has hot water, and is mid-budget (e.g., $20-$50/night). These aren't the cheapest accommodations options (hostels or very basic guesthouses), nor are they the most expensive lodges and hotels.

Here's where we stayed in Madagascar:

• Antanarivo: Chalet des Roses Hotel. Nice rooms and good location. Easy to walk down to the main square, old train station, and main market. In the other direction the hotel is close to Jardin Antaninarenina with a nice overlook over the city (especially nice at sunset) and good restaurants and cafes.
• Andasibe: Feon'ny Ala Hotel. Sleep in your own little hut not far from Andasibe-Mantadia National Park and V.O.I.M.M.A. Community Park.
• Antsirabe: Hotel Hasina. An OK hotel that serves as a quick overnight.
• Ranomafana: Manja Hotel. Nice collection of bungalows close to Ranomafana National Park with a good view over the river.
• Ambalavao: Aux Bougainvillees Hotel. A simple hotel that serves as a good overnight en route to Anja Community Park.
• Ranohira: ITC Lodge. Nice, clean bungalows close to Isalo National Park. Good restaurant as well. The lodge owners started Soa Zara NGO that works on reforestation projects in the area and there is a tree nursery on the grounds.
• Ifaty: Bamboo Club at Mangily Beach. Pleasant bungalows with a beachside pool and restaurants. A great place to relax and come down after a full tour around Madagascar.

All of these hotels and lodges also have restaurants. Be aware, it's customary for breakfast NOT to be included in the price of the room. So you'll need to budget for it and order it separately each morning for about $3-$5.

If you are extending your stay in Antananarivo after your tour and looking for a way to relax and wind down, perhaps with a massage or spa treatment before departing Madagascar, reliable sources recommend Le Relais des Plateaux close to the airport.

Safety in Madagascar

We felt very safe during our tour and we never had any safety issues. However, it's always best travel safety practice to stay aware of your surroundings, keep valuables locked away (e.g., like your passport), and be mindful of cameras, smartphones and other expensive gear when you're walking around. This is especially true in Antananarivo, the capital city, and particularly at night.

You may notice safety warnings for Madagascar from time to time, especially around elections and political events where there may be demonstrations or protests. These are usually held in the bigger cities are are not geared towards travelers. However, it's still wise to steer clear of them all the same.

Health Considerations for Madagascar

Before traveling to Madagascar consult a travel clinic and research recommended vaccinations and malaria medicines. Many of the standard vaccinations for tropical countries are recommended: hepatitis A and B, typhoid, tetanus, MMR. Although yellow fever is not present in Madagascar, you will be required to show proof of a yellow fever vaccination if you are traveling from another country that does have yellow fever.

Although we were traveling in the winter months when malaria is not as prevalent we still decided to take anti-malarial medicine to be on the safe side (mosquitos love Dan). We took Doxycycline (be extra careful with sun as your skin becomes more sensitive) while others in our group took Malarone. Consult your doctor as to what works best for you.

Money in Madagascar

Expect to pay for everything in local currency called the Malagasy Ariary (MGA). It's around 3,750 MGA/€1 or 3,300 MGA/$1. We used ATM machines at the Antananarivo airport and in the bigger cities and towns around the country to get local money and we never had a problem. Visa ATM cards seem to be more accepted than Mastercard. We also brought cash (Euros and USD) with us as an emergency in case the ATMs were broken and we had to exchange money.

We've been told that the best rates for exchanging cash are at the Antananarivo airport so if you do need to exchange your euros or dollars that's the best place to do that. Otherwise, banks around the country also offer currency exchange.

Disclosure: Our Highlights of Madagascar tour was provided to us by G Adventures as part of our partnership under the Wanderers program. Check out this article for all the different G Adventures tours we've taken and recommend. As always, the thoughts contained herein — the what, the why, and the how — are entirely our own.

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