About Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour

Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour in Madagascar Itinerary

Day 1: Antananarivo – Morondava

Meet and greet will be upon arrival at the airport or at your Antananarivo hotel by our Malagasy Tour guide. This will be followed by brifing on the Tsingy de Bemaraha tour.

Enjoy a transfer at the airport for your domestic flight to the west of Madagascar. Your destination today will be Morondava. Here our guide will be at standby to receive you upon arrival at the airport.

You will have the day time on Tsingy de Bemaraha tour visiting the market and the beach. Your overnight will be at Chez Maggie which is booked on bed and breakfast basis

Day 2: Morondava – Belo sur Tsiribihina – Tsingy de Bemaraha

The Tsingy de Bemaraha tour wakes up on the to an early breakfast. This is before you drive out of Morondava. You will pass through the famous “Allée des Baobabs” or Baobab Avenue.

Spend a few times there to take some nice shots of this splendid scenery. You will then head north to the Tsingy of Bemaraha. This will be with a drive on an uncomfortable but the only track to this site. The site is classified as a World Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

Return to your safari van and head to bekopaka village where tsingy of bemaraha park. Here you have to go across on a ferry boat with your jeep to reach Belo sur Tsiribihina. You will arrive in time for lunch and take a walk to see local market and people.

This break on Tsingy de Bemaraha tour will be followed by a drive to bekopaka with another 90 km with dust road. Arrive at bekopaka village, take your hotel and relax with nice breeze and hearing the nature. This is an adventure trip and has tough ride. Overnight will be at Relais de Tsingy booked on bed and breakfast basis.

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park

This is the protected area of Tsingy de Bemaraha in the west of Madagascar. It consists of a national park and strict nature reserve. The site is unique with its biodiversity and exceptional landscape called the Tsingy. This means “where one can only walk on tiptoe”.

In 1990, Bemaraha was the first area in Madagascar to be classified a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It also became a UNESCO National Cultural Heritage Site in 1991. Part of the reserve was changed to national park status in 1997.

Bemaraha National Park is in the Melaky region. This is in central west Madagascar, about 300km from Antananarivo as the crow flies. The park stretches over an area of 157,710 ha.  It has a length of 100km from north to south and a width of 10 to 40km from east to west.

The southern part with an area of 72,340ha enjoys the status of being a national park. The northern part, which is managed as a strict nature reserve, covers 85,370ha of land.

The protected area is on the Bemaraha plateau. It is at an altitude of 150 to 170m, a karst formation bounded to the east by steep cliffs and to the west by gentle slopes. South of the park, there is a formation of pinnacles where access is quite difficult. In the north rolling hills alternate with limestone formations.

The Bemaraha Park is located north of the Manombolo River. The rivers coming from the plateau have a seasonal or permanent character.

Rugged Massif

The Bemaraha Massif is a rugged limestone massif with many caves. It has an impressive canyon carved by the Manambolo River. The western part of the plateau has a sharp relief, covered in large parts by dense dry forest. This true limestone cathedral offers the most spectacular natural landscapes in the world! In the eastern part, the forest is intersected by savannas.

The karstic massif of Bemaraha offers a variety of natural habitats. It has many different ecosystems. They include dense deciduous forest and bushy xerophytic vegetation on the tsingy. There is also sub-humid forest in the valleys or low-laying wet areas. This is between limestone blocks as well as wooded or grassy savanna.

The park is home to lemurs, terrestrial and aquatic birds and bats. Here we also have amphibians, reptiles, endemic mammals and at least 650 plant species.

The population is predominantly Sakalava. This is an ethnic group who live according their strict traditions. This is protected by regulations using the fady (ban or taboo).

The park enjoys a dry tropical climate marked by two contrasting seasons. The rainy from November to April and dry from May to October. The opening of the park depends on the accessibility of the dirt road. This road connects Morondava and Bekopaka, usually open from May to November.

Day 3: Petit Tsingy and the Gorge of Manambolo River

This day on your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour starts in the morning. Enjoy a visit of the gorge of Manambolo on a dugout canoe. Here you will be out to see the caves and the inner features. They include stalactites, stalagmites.

Other places of interest include the famous family tomb of the Vazimba tribe. This tribe lived in the Tsingy in the 17th century. There is also the beautiful gorge of limestones pinnacles.

You will return back to the hotel for lunch. This is before the afternoon exploration of the beautiful Small Tsingy. Here the interest includes labyrinth of limestone. There are the 2 view points on the limestone pinnacle formation. This is also home to the biggest Sifaka of the West of Madagascar called Decken’s Sifaka. You also find red fronted brown Lemurs, Birds species, spiders.

This tour is a perfect circle which finishes on the Manambolo River’s gorge. Your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour returns to Relais de Tsingy for overnight

Day 4: Treking to the Grand Tsingy

The day begins with an early morning breakfast from the hotel. This will be followed by a drive to the starting point of Grand Tsingy of Bemaraha Park.

This is the most rewarding half-day trip on Tsingy de Bemaraha tour within the park. This is because it goes deep into the limestone forest. You will pass through several hanging bridges.  Enjoy impressive karstic formations below your feet. You need to photograph amazing landscape you have never seen elsewhere.

This trail is not that difficult and even children can cope with it. But you should not suffer from vertigo! The look down from the hanging bridge is something to avoid for the faint at heart. Do not forget to order and pay for your picnic food with water before you start the tour.

You will return back for lunch and rest. Later you will embark on a nocturnal walk. On your watch list include chameleons and especially the rare mouse-Lemurs. Return for overnight at Relais de Tsingy booked on bed and breakfast basis.

Day 5: Tsingy – Kirindy Forest

After your relaxed breakfast, you will head to Kirindy Forest which is on the way to Morondava. You will enjoy a night walk to see nocturnal species of Lemurs. They include the mouse-Lemurs, the fork-marked Lemurs. Dinner and overnight will be at Kirindy Lodge

Day 6: Visit of the Avenue of Baobabs while drive to Morondava

Enjoy the breakfast before a morning visit in the deciduous Dry Forest. You will be here to see Lemurs, birds and rodents. Enjoy your lunch at the lodge before a relaxed drive to get to the Baobabs Avenue at sunset. You will be here for a beautiful sunset and Baobabs photographs. Later after sunset, drive to Morondava for overnight at Chez Maggie Hotel.

Day 7: Departure

You will have the morning at leisure before a transfer to the airport. this is in time for your departure flight back to Tana.

———- End of Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour in Madagascar ———-

Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour in Madagascar Costs:

What is included in the cost of Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour in Madagascar?

• Transfer from the Airport to the Hotel and from the Hotel to the Airport
• Car and fuel with the driver from Tana to Miandrivazo or to the River
• The dugout canoe for the visit of the Manambolo River
• The guide-cook during the whole trip.
• All your land transportation and transfers in Madagascar
• The car ferry crossing 2 Rivers to the Tsingy National Park and the same for the way back to Morondava
• Government taxes

Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour in Madagascar Price excludes:

• Your food and drinks during the whole tour
• Airfares for the domestic flight in and out of Morondava

The guidance fees in the Tsingy of Bemaraha National Park and in Kirindy forest

• What to Carry on the Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour in Madagascar
• Light and a few heavy clothings for evenings
• Closed, comfortable shoes
• Sun protection like sun cream, hat
• Insect repellent

Tsingy de Bemaraha Tour Destinations

The Tsingy de Bemaraha tour takes you to the spectacular mineral forest of Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. This Madagascar national park stands on the western coast of Madagascar. Tsingy is the Malagasy word for “walking on tiptoes” and the nearly impenetrable labyrinth of limestone needles justifies this name.

The whole protected area, designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1990, comprises a surface of 1.575 km². This remote area was not a tourist trek until 1998, when the southern part (723 km²) was declared a National Park.

The northern section is an Integral Reserve so tourists are not allowed to enter the zone. The reserve’s canyons, gorges, undisturbed forests, lakes and mangrove swamps display an astonishing richness of fauna and flora which have not been completely recorded. The rate of endemism is about 85%, and 47% are even local endemic!

River cruise Manambolo

In the morning your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour undertake a river trip by canoe on the Manambolo river. Surrounded by the sharp rocks, you travel with a guide at a leisurely pace over the earth-colored river.

Your guide on Tsingy de Bemaraha tour will tell you many interesting stories about the local customs of the people who live here. You can visit special limestone cliffs and caves with sparkly stalactites that lie along this river.

A headlight is handy to bring along on this Tsingy de Bemaraha tour. You will be pointed out a Vazimba tomb up on a cliff ledge above the river. Enjoy the birdlife and the peaceful environment from your local pirogue (local canoe) while you float the calm and scenic river.

It is on Tsingy de Bemaraha tour that you are far removed from cities, roads and vehicles. This part of the country stands for remoteness, flora, fauna, and beautiful scenery.

The Small Tsingy

The Tsingy de Bemaraha tourheads to the Small Tsingy among the Tsingy de Bemaraha National park. It is located near the entrance of Bekopaka village. With its magnificent formation, it immediately catches your attention from a distance before taking the small ferry in the gorge of Manambolo.

Due to erosion this fissured limestone has become sharp and pointed, creating a very special scenery. A Tsingy de Bemaraha tour to the small Tsingy is a nice walk through the beautiful rugged landscape.

Via walkways your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour crosses deep gorges and there are several beautiful viewpoints. In this territory, 53 species of birds coexist with reptiles, tiny frogs, as well as mammals.

You also have a good chance to see the Deckens Sifaka during this walk. Their gray and white coat draws nicely against the gray rocks. The walk takes about 2 to 3 hours and is a nice warm up for the Big Tsingy.

The Big Tsingy

Your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour will head 17 kilometers, just an 1-hour drive from the entrance. Thii is where the walk starts in the big Tsingy. You start by fitting a harness that you will need during this adventurous hike.

You will be fully equipped and briefed on this activity of your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour. You start the walking through a beautiful section of forest to the starting point of the climb.

Secured to a cable you go in, through, over, under and along the sharp rocks. You get to know the Big Tsingy of Madagascar in a spectacular way. Your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour takes a hike to the first big circuit for its cave.

Take the suspension bridge and the magnificent view on the skyscraper’s limestone pinnacles. On the way you enjoy the picnic lunch from the lodge. You will be amazed by the 30 meters high cracks, forest canyon where lemurs and birds live and the unique flora with its endemic and medicinal plants.

This section of your Tsingy de Bemaraha tour lasts between five and six hours and requires the necessary perseverance. The tour is not suitable for people with extreme claustrophobia.

Kirindy Forest Reserve

Kirindy is the land of dry deciduous forests – the world’s most endangered ecosystem. This is where giant baobabs impress with their towering poise. Kirindy Reserve is a privately managed forest.

A Tsingy de Bemaraha tour to kirindy takes you to the home to seven species of lemur. Here you will see the pygmy mouse lemur, giant jumping rat, six nocturnal lemur species, many reptile and amphibian species.

The best time to go to Madagascar and visit Kirindy Reserve is undoubtedly the rainy season. Whilst Kirindy experiences extreme seasonal changes, the short and hot rainy season between December and February. This is usually followed by a surge of activity as it explodes with green vegetation.

Frogs leap through rain puddles and trees are filled with birdsong. But it is also the most popular time for safari groups, passing through on a regular basis en route to elsewhere.

Baobab Avenue

The Avenue de Baobab is stunning all day long and a widely popular attraction. However, sunset is the best and most popular time of the day. Truly magical due to Madagascar’s location; sunset is easily predictable.

In January sunset is around 6:30 pm and in June you can expect the light to disappear around 5:20 pm. If you want to see the Baobabs in bloom February and March are the right months. Along the dirt road RN8 connecting Morandava and Belon’i Tsiribihina you will find many Baobab trees (Adansonia grandidieri).

Only a small part of just 250 m is known as the Baobab Alley due to its photogenic nature. The road leads from Morandava to the Andranomena Reserve or the Kirindy Forest.

Photographers around the world visit Madagascar, and it became one of the most visited places in the country.