Remote and little visited, this is about as isolated as you can get. A beautiful deserted beach and small fringing reef, with nothing but passing fishing pirogues to break the isolation, this is the place for those who want to get completely off the beaten track and a good base from which to visit Tsimanampetsotsa … Continued

North of Tulear on an Indian Ocean beach, Ifaty enables visits to both spiny forest and offshore reefs. The spiny forest is a bizarre tangled mix of drought-resistant plants with extravagant adaptations to their environment such as baobabs and didieracae (known as octopus trees). This is a good location for locally endemic birds including nightjar, … Continued

The Ifotaka and Mandrare River region (near Fort Dauphin and Berenty) is an area of dry spiny forest and riverine or gallery forest with ninety-five per cent endemicity, home to the proud Antandroy tribe with its fiercely held traditions and a fascinating culture. The forest is sacred to the Antandroy and much hunting is fady … Continued

Famed for its stunningly eroded, Jurassic sandstone runiforme scenery, strange plants, canyon-dwelling lemurs and pandanus, the Isalo massif rises majestically from the flat Horombe plateau. The park offers wonderful hiking through impressive gorges, canyons and forested areas of fire-resistant tapia on which the endemic Malagasy silk worm feeds (harvested for centuries to weave expensive burial … Continued

Normally included as a short stop between Isalo and Tulear, the rare forests of Zombitse Vohibasia is in a transition zone between dry deciduous and spiny forest habitats. Birders will be interested to learn it protects 47% of Madagascar’s endemic birds and appreciate seeing Appert’s greenbul (found nowhere else), giant, Coquerel’s and olive-capped couas, as … Continued

Another area to see the remarkable spiny forest. Also offers great birding, as well as interesting reptiles and invertebrates.

Lying between Fort Dauphin and Berenty, it protects a surprising range of habitats for its 760 sq kms. Rainfall patterns over the Anosy mountain range have led to eastern humid rainforest at one extreme, and lower rainfall in another section has given rise to dry spiny forest at the other. The area in between is … Continued

A RAMSAR site, it is the newest designated National Park in Madagascar and one of its most unusual reserves. It comprises a milky blue 15-km long saline lake populated by pink and dwarf flamingos and other wading birds, with an adjacent limestone escarpment covered in rare pachypodium-dominated spiny forest displaying extreme adaptation to the arid … Continued

Berenty is a long-established private reserve set amidst sisal plantations, with habituated ring-tailed lemurs, ‘dancing’ Verreaux’s sifakas and beguiling brown lemurs seen from wide, easy trails in the gallery (riverine) forest and patches of spiny forest near the reserve’s lodge. Sightings of lemurs are guaranteed, giving ample scope for good photographs. Fruit bats nest in … Continued

Nosy Ve is an uninhabited coral island three kilometres off Anakao in the far southwest with deserted white-sand beaches and low greenery with little shade. Local fady (taboos) have left Nosy Ve unspoilt and provided a safe nesting ground for many red-tailed tropicbirds which allow close approach. Mediocre snorkelling is available on the fringing reef … Continued