Add Madagascar?
 

My wife and I will be traveling in Africa later this year and will be doing the Northern Tanzania circuit (with the possibility of a sidetrip to Unganda for the gorillas) ending up by crossing to Kenya with a stop Kichwa Tembo in late October/early November. After that we are planning to fly south to Johannesburg to visit friends. We have wanted to visit Madagascar. I am wondering if a flight from Nairobi to Antananarivo and then a second flight to Johannnesburg after 5-7 days would not be an economical way to see a bit of the island. Anyone have any experience with this route? What should we try to fit in 5-7 days? Our main interest would be in lemurs, not beaches or native culture.

Thanks,
George

George,

Another option would be to fly from Nairobi to Lusaka to spend possibly 5 nights in either Lower Zambezi or South Luangwa. If you were to visit on or after November 01st, you would qualify for low season rates.

From Lusaka, you could then fly direct to Joburg, afterward.

Here are some camps that may be of interest:

www.luangwa.com (Kafunta)
www.kasakariverlodge.com (Lower Zambezi)
www.chongwe-river.com (Chongwe River Camp)

These would be the most economical options, although they are all great places.

Rocco, "Zambia" is not the answer to every question about Madagascar :-d

With five to seven days, you could visit Perinet for a couple of days (its only a few hour drive from Tana) and is home to indri, the largest lemur, and also fly to the southern tip (Ft. Dauphin) and visit Berenty, a nice private reserve with ring-tailed lemurs by the dozen, as well as sifakas (lemurs that walk upright) and introduced brown lemurs. I think those are your easiest options.

Michael,

Sorry, I didn't catch myself until after I had already posted. In my mind, I was still continuing a conversation with the OP, George, from another thread, where he said that he would be visiting Matetsi Water Lodge. Knowing that he would be in Victoria Falls, anyway, I figured that Zambia would be a much easier add-on than Madagascar.

There is a method to my madness. ;)

I need to drop you a line. I was at the Adventure Travel Show in NY and I met the Zambian Tourist Bureau rep, who gave me a very nice book on Zambia, which I told her was to pass along. So if you see an email from [email protected] its not spam.

Michael,

Great...I will keep a look out for it.

Thanks.

Rocco,

I thought that was what happened. This is not the same George with whom you were discussing Zambia. Thanks for the information thit_cho.

George

George, I did a trip report on my trip to Madagascar in May 2005, that I'm sure you can find by doing a search for Madagascar or Perinet. Its a great country, and lemurs are pretty easy to find.

Michael