In June 2024, our Travel Designer Wietske van de Zande took a trip to western Madagascar with her partner.
They visited the famous Avenue des Baobabs and the spectacular Tsingy of Bemaraha, two iconic destinations.
Anyone who wants to see these places must have an adventurous spirit.
The reward is great, as these landscapes are truly unique.
Then if you also manage to see the shy and rare fossa, that is truly the bonus that gives the trip a golden edge.
Wietske reports on their trip to this remote corner of Madagascar.
All trips begin in Tana
Antananarivo (or Tana), the capital in the center of the country, a place where all the senses are on full alert.
Chaotic traffic with cars, mopeds and handcarts, narrow streets flanked by stalls with merchandise, old French villas and stately houses with small structures in between that utilize every square meter, it looks like a teeming anthill.
Traces of Malaysia, Indonesia, Africa, India and China are mixed together in a big blender.
Not only in culinary terms, the smells and sounds, the people are clearly a motley cultural mix.
I know of no city like Tana; it is truly unique. 
The city is built on seven hills with rice paddies and fields in between.
It is so built up and streets are narrow, the increasing amount of traffic regularly gets stuck.
A few ring roads have been built around Tana to relieve the center but driving in Tana takes a lot of time.
I feast my eyes along the way, observing people; every street corner is a lively scene that already tells so much about Madagascar.
The old 2CVs and Renault4s date from when Madagascar was a French colony; they are still used as cabs.
I see an endless succession of market stalls and small stores where vendors greet me with open smiles.
It is the harbinger of beautiful encounters during our journey to the rugged West. 
Morondava and the Avenue des Baobabs
We travel to Morondava, slightly south on the west coast.
We could have reached this stretch by land but that takes two very full travel days, the second day of which is largely on a very battered paved road.
Since a long travel route awaits us anyway, we opt for the faster and much more relaxed domestic flight of over an hour.
We land in a completely different world, here life takes place at a much slower pace.
On the beach are narrow fishing boats: hollowed-out tree trunks fitted with a handmade sail.
Not far from Morondava is the iconic Avenue des Baobabs or Allée des Baobabs: a dirt road flanked by those enormous giants, baobabs sticking out above the other vegetation to the left and right into the distance.
It feels a bit like seeing the Taj Mahal for the first time, so impressive. 
Needless to say, the Avenue des Baobabs is a draw for tourists.
Now there are no great masses of tourists traveling but those who are in the area come to this place at the end of the afternoon.
We stand among dozens of others in a spot with the best view of the sunset behind the silhouettes of baobabs, it is convivial and there is enough space for everyone.
Many leave fairly quickly while the most beautiful colors are yet to come.
The sky turns spectacular orange and pink.
Expedition over unpaved roads
The next morning begins our expedition to Bekopaka, the base for the Tsingy of Bemaraha.
Bekopaka is 250 km to the north; the expected travel time is ten hours.
Ten adventurous hours on unpaved, dusty roads, and we have to cross a river a few times.
At the beginning of the drive we once again pass the Avenue des Baobabs, and then we drive through open countryside with baobabs as far as the eye can see. 
The landscape changes, the vegetation is locally denser and the road narrows.
It is a dusty, dirt road full of potholes.
Especially fun if you like off-the-road driving, but for people with back problems, this is no treat.
On some stretches, the driver can set a reasonable pace; I imagine this is what a Paris-Dakar Rally must feel like. 
There are also parts of the route where there is still a lot of water.
In the rainy season it is absolutely impossible to get here by car, and I can understand that when I see how much water and mud there still is several months after the last rainstorm.
This regularly causes considerable delay.
For the local Malagasy, this is a daily occurrence; our driver also deftly drives through mud puddles and past obstacles.
Meanwhile, he spots chameleons and other animals.
We are deeply impressed by his stamina and smooth way of driving. 
Then we come to the first river where we cross on a ferry made of sturdy planks on long metal floats, driven by motors of considerable power. What an experience! For our driver, this is a good opportunity to rest for a while. It takes a while for the ferry to reach our side and some time passes before we reach the other side.‘Mora mora‘ it sounds, meaning ‘take it easy’.
This is the rhythm of life in Madagascar. 
Waiting for the ferry and during other stops along the way, we are cheerfully greeted by groups of children.
They shout“vazaha, vazaha!” which means “white, white!” from afar.
For them, contact with tourists is always fleeting because all those cars drive on as soon as they can, after all, the road is still long.
They hope to get some candy or money but even if that doesn’t happen they reply with a big smile or wave. 
The longest stop is in Belo-sur-Tsiribihina, where we have lunch at the famous restaurant Mad Zebu.
This is big class, the most delicious food we ate so far!
Other than that, we stop occasionally to stretch our legs and backs or when we have to cross another river. 
All in all it is a very long and not very comfortable day of travel, but one with incredible color, adventure, a delicious lunch and beautiful encounters.
That it was also really tiring we feel when we arrive at our hotel.
We leave that long travel day behind us as we relax in the pool.
Just two days ago we drove through busy Tana, yesterday we found Morondava a quiet town on the coast.
But now we have truly entered another world.
There somewhere in that vast landscape we look out over from the pool is the Tsingy of Bemaraha. 
The Tsingy of Bemaraha
Then comes the day when we will explore the Tsingy.
This is a heavily eroded landscape of limestone with razor-sharp points and ledges at the top, gorges and caves deep below. 
It is an extremely inaccessible and challenging landscape but through a variety of aids such as ladders, rope bridges and even sections of via ferrata, parts of this National Park have been unlocked.
There are excellent guides but you must be in good shape yourself and have no fear of heights.
From Bekopaka, the Petit Tsingy or Little Tsingy is best accessed and here the routes are a little easier.
It is also possible to take a boat trip on the Manambolo River, which cuts the Tsingy through a deep gorge.
There the stratification of the landscape is clearly visible and from the river there is access to bat caves. 
We choose to take the most challenging day trip and that is into the Grand Tsingy or Great Tsingy.
That means a long drive first.
Arriving at the starting point, we get a climbing harness on, which is necessary to secure to steel cables and stirrups on the via ferrata sections.
But even the ‘lighter’ sections require a lot of scrambling, with our guide extremely helpful in guiding us through the most difficult sections.
During the four-hour ‘hike’ we only occasionally walk on a normal and reasonably flat path.
Quite an effort but in return an incredibly beautiful experience! 
At the very bottom, hidden among the rocks in places with little or no sunlight, even there is life.
Tree roots of trees that sometimes grow more than ten meters higher up have found their way into the humus-rich and moist soil, there are plants that have enough for some morning dew, the twittering of birds echoes between the rock walls, and when we pass a cave we hear and see bats.
Along the way we see beautiful fossils that remind us for a moment that this was the bottom of an ocean millions of years ago.
For dessert we also saw a sifaka, the lemur species also known as the dancing sifaka.
The Tsingy of Bemaraha is almost otherworldly, a valhalla for geologists and biologists, and a fantastic playground for anyone who enjoys being amazed by such a unique natural area. 
Return Morondava or private charter
After the magic of the Tsingy de Bemaraha, we accept the return trip towards Morondava.
We could have chosen to fly by private charter – from an airstrip not far from Bekopaka – directly back to Tana.
That is a fine option for those who see the outward journey as a less desirable compromise to visit both the Avenue des Baobabs and the Tsingy of Bemaraha.
If that stretch by road is really an impregnable bump, it is even possible to fly from Morondava to Bekopaka by private charter.
However, we opt for the same overland route, but with a break along the way: we’re going to Kirindy Forest.
Fossa and mini-lemurs in Kirindy Forest
Most of the long stretch to Morondava is over when we arrive at our lodge.
The terrain is completely different and, on the contrary, very accessible: Kirindy Forest is a deciduous forest on almost flat terrain and with – outside the rainy season – very good walking paths.
The lodge is located in the middle of the forest and we already see the first lemurs from our terrace.
The main purpose of our stay is to look for a few special animals, including two mini lemurs, both during the day and in the evening. 
During the evening walk, we meet Madame Berthe’s mouse lemur, the smallest primate in the world weighing only 30 grams. 
We also meet its slightly larger sister: the Gray mouse lemur and it weighs no more than 60 grams.
Furthermore, we see sleeping chameleons and nightlemurs, curled up in a tree cavity.
The very shy Fossa does not show itself this evening.
The day hike in the early morning is wonderfully relaxing and we are the first to see a nightlemur that has not yet sought its roost. 
Deep in the forest, we run into a whole family of Sifaka.
They sit relaxed on the ground munching on some “pok-pok,” a fruit that is abundant at this time of year. 
And then…
How lucky we are!
Although the Fossa is mostly active at night, we see this magnificent animal in daylight as it crosses the path.
This is Madagascar’s largest predator, extremely rare, and there he is.
What an impressive beauty! 
Back in Morondava…and then?
Just before we get back to the asphalt, we once again pass the Avenue des Baobabs.
Not at sunset when it is crowded, but just during the day.
It feels unusually familiar to be here again. 
It is one of those moments when it dawns on us how improbably much we have seen and experienced over the past few days.
How extraordinary it has been!
Later in Morondava we will wash off the dust and toast this great adventure.
Then we will also look ahead to the days that still await us: tomorrow we will travel on to Nosy Be for a few wonderful days by the sea.
