19 Day Discover Madagascar Baobab Guided Motorcycle Tour

You start the trip in the central highlands in the capital Antananarivo. After a day trip visiting its most famous lemurs and an old palace, you ride eastward. You drive adventurous routes: visiting the beautiful parks of Tsingy and Isalo, driving on long off-road stretches through the west coast, taking a boat trip to see the whales, and passing through the Tsiribhina gorge. This is a varied journey through desolate lowlands and beautiful mountain areas.

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrival - Antananarivo

The tour manager will be waiting for you at the airport to take you to the hotel in the city center. Antananarivo is situated in the highlands and this is very noticeable as all roads slope away and are often interconnected by steps and staircases. The center of the city is Independence Square, although the square bears more resemblance to a dual carriageway run through the middle by a green strip. It’s always busy here, but in the small streets around the center, there’s also plenty going on. All this is within a 5-minute walk from your hotel. As you’ll arrive early in the morning you’ll have plenty of time to explore the city.

Day 2: Antananarivo - day trip

You get on your bike for the first time to enjoy a ride out for a day trip. To start, you follow a route through the busy and narrow streets of Antananarivo. You ride through market streets and no doubt get (unavoidably) stuck in traffic a few times. Once out of the city, the traffic soon quiets down.

About 20 miles outside the city lies the Royal Hill. Located on top of the hill are several temples built by the first immigrants from Southeast Asia, which show great similarities to temples found in Indonesia and Malaysia. The place is still of great importance to many Malagasy and is held in high regard as a link to their ancestors and origin. It is on UNESCO’s list of protected heritage sites.

On the way back to the capital, you visit Lemurs Park, a rescue center for lemurs. Inside the park, you find different sorts of free-ranging lemurs, and as you walk through the park, a park guide explains the different species of lemurs and their particular characteristics.

The ride back into the city is an adventure in itself, especially during the late afternoon. The traffic barely moves anywhere. Lucky for you, though, the bikes can get through the narrowest of streets and marketplaces.

Day 3: Antananarivo - Ampefy

You leave Antananarivo during the morning rush hour (which lasts from 7 - 9 a.m.), crossing the main road and taking a well-asphalted road westwards. After half an hour’s ride, you come across the second lemur park of this trip. If for whatever reason you didn’t manage to visit the one yesterday, you can go here instead.

The biggest place en route today is Arivonimamo. Here you stop for coffee and an early lunch. Then, it’s a 2-hour ride to Chute de Lily, one of Madagascar’s biggest waterfalls. After this, you backtrack for a bit before heading south where you stay overnight in the tiny village of Ampefy. The quality of the guest house here certainly leaves a bit to be desired, but you’ll make up for that with some good hotels later on in the trip.

Day 4: Ampefy - Antsirabe

A few 50 kilometers after you leave Ampefy, the road becomes unpaved. The first off-road part of this trip! It’s about 80 kilometers. You ride through beautiful areas with rice fields every once in a while. It’s green in the rainy periods and brown in the dry seasons. After the off-road part, you ride a paved road to Antsirabe. This sweet town is the main city of the pousse pousse: a bright-colored rickshaw pulled by manpower. This is a nice place to stop on our way south because of some historical colonial buildings.

Day 5: Antsirabe - Miandrivazo

A short trip today, but plenty to do once you reach your destination. You carry on over the paved road you started on yesterday, but you’re now on a descent. You leave the higher regions of the island and enter a rolling landscape. It’s a good 200 kilometers from Miandrivazo. Here you park the bikes, take your time for lunch, and get on a boat for a trip through the gorge. Late afternoon, you’re back at Mandrivazo looking for a nice place to eat.

Day 6: Miandrivazo - Morondava

You descend further still. First towards the south for 120 kilometers. Then you have lunch in Malaimbandy where you find many tiny uncluttered places to eat. Lucky for you, Malagasy cuisine reflects a wealth of influences, firstly from Southeast Asia, secondly from France, and thirdly from the island of Madagascar itself, with of course plentiful supplies of fish and beef. You can eat great meals in the smallest of places.

After lunch, you take the asphalt main road to the coast to Morodova - a cozy little coastal place and a small beach. These were your first 4 days on the bike, primarily over asphalted roads. This is not the case for the next few days.

Day 7: Morondava - Bekopaka

You leave very early for one of the most amazing things you see on this trip: the sunrise on Avenue de Baobab. For the photographers among us, this is an opportunity not to be missed. Picture the scene: bikes covered in the dust of unpaved roads, bathed in the orange light of the sunrise against a backdrop of dozens of beautiful baobab trees.

Next, you ride through the private nature reserve Kirindy. After a 90-kilometer unpaved and often dusty dirt road, you arrive in Belo Tsiribihina beside one of the widest rivers on the island. Here, you cross by ferry. After lunch, you ride a further 100 kilometers over unpaved gravel tracks to the entrance of Tsingy National Park where you stay overnight.

Day 8: Bekopaka - Daytrip at Tsingy

Tsingy National Park is the most bizarre park on the island. The park consists of countless sharp limestone peaks making up bizarre formations. A walking route connects some peaks with hanging bridges – not for people with a fear of heights. If you have any time left there’s a second walking route through the park further north. You stay for a second night in Bekopaka.

Day 9: Bekopaka - Morondava

You ride the same unpaved road back the way you came - all of it. You have no choice. You lunch again in Belo Tsiribihina and then get back on the ferry. The fun part of today is experiencing Avenue de Baobab but at sunset this time. Again, this means some beautiful photos but of course also a late arrival at the hotel.

Day 10: Morondava - stay

Today you can rest. While the mechanic checks the motorcycles, you enjoy the beach, different restaurants, and bars that Morondava has plenty of. If you would like to you can visit Baobab Avenue around sunset.

Day 11 and 12: Morondava - Manja, Manja - Toliara

These are the two most difficult days of the tour. This region has no main roads, and all you come across are tiny hamlets. You aim for an overnight stay in Manja but let this depend on the state of the roads, whether they are more or less difficult than expected.

Even though you won’t spend time at sea, the first part of the road in question does run alongside the coast. It then swerves slowly inland, following the river. Manja is located quite a bit further inland and approximately 150 kilometers from Morondava.

For the second part of the route, you remain in the lowlands and cross the Mangoky River, which you have to cross with small ferries. After this, it’s still a good 180 kilometers before you hit the coast again. These are two long days where the weather, to a certain extent, determines how difficult the trip will be, whether it’ll be mud or loose sand. Whichever, you at least have a really good hotel in the harbor town of Toliara, with lovely warm showers and a good restaurant. You'll stay here for two days.

Day 13: Toliara - Daytrip

You use this day for a day trip to visit the whales. There is a certain amount of luck involved in them being there at the time of your visit, so there is no guarantee you will see them. The boat trip starts south of Toliara. You go there by bike. If for whatever reason the boat trip is canceled, you will visit the caves of Sarodrano, also south of Toliara.

Day 14: Toliara - Ranohira

You follow the really excellent highway, the N7, on a slow ascend back up into the mountains; you even have a proper 1.056 meters mountain pass to cross. Around noon, you stop at Ilakaka, a sapphire boomtown where you have lunch. You visit the mines and do a workshop. Next, it is only a one-hour drive to Ranohira, where you spend the night.

Day 15: Ranohira - visit Isalo National Park

Isalo National Park kind of resembles the Grand Canyon of America. This park is not about animals but about landscapes and unique rock formations. Today, you enjoy this park with a guide. You discover the waterfalls, natural pools, and adventurous canyons. In the middle of the wilderness, you have a barbecue lunch while lemurs play in the bushes around you.

Day 16: Ranohira - Ambalavao

You continue your travel over Highway number 7 until Ambalavao. Around lunchtime, you check in at a beautiful hotel near Park Anja. A short trip brings you to a big group of ring-tailed lemurs, perhaps the most famous kind of lemur.

Day 17: Ambalavo - Ranomafana

Today, you enter the mountain area and zigzag your way north. You’ll have plenty of time to take pictures and stop in the small villages. You have lunch somewhere near Fianarantsoa. North of this city, you head east and stop at the Namorona waterfalls. You spend the night in the small town of Ranomafana.

Day 18: Ranomafana - Antsirabe

In the morning, you visit Ranomafana National Park. After the visit, you take a different road to the main road than you came on yesterday. This one is unpaved. From there, you get back onto Highway 7 and carry on northwards. After lunch in Ambositra, it is a further 80 kilometers to today’s final destination. You ride all day through the highest parts of the island, enjoying beautiful roads and wonderful views.

Day 19: Antsirabe - Antananarivo (departure)

Today you follow a beautiful zigzag route back to the capital of Madagascar. The closer you get, the busier the traffic becomes. You hope to arrive in the city center before the early morning traffic jams.

You leave the motorcycles at the hotel and say goodbye to the driver and mechanic. If your departure is in the evening, you have plenty of time to discover the city and buy some last souvenirs. You end this trip in a lovely restaurant, and late in the evening, you ride to the airport to depart home.

If your flight departs in the afternoon, Motor Trails will find a solution to arrive at the city in time so you’ll have enough time to take a shower, get dressed, and get to the airport.

Motorbikes

During this trip, you will ride on a Honda XR 250cc. There is a limited option to upgrade to 400CC.

Difficulty and offroad

You will encounter neither high altitudes nor extreme weather conditions on this trip. Some off-road parts are somewhat challenging, however, the distances are not very long.

There are four difficult off-road stages in this trip in the southeast of the country. The difficulty of these days will depend on the weather. When the weather has been very dry, the ground can consist of loose sand in some parts, which causes a very difficult ride. In wet weather, this will change to a soft, slippery surface (mud). This is only the case on parts of the trails and not over the entire stretch.

Skill level(s) required for this tour: Beginner, intermediate, and advanced

Beginner:

• Can ride for 2-3 hours
• Minimal riding experience
• Assistance required
• Comfortable with curves and leans
• Basic experience with unsurfaced roads
• Short distance ascents and descents

Intermediate:

• Can ride for 3-4 hours
• Average riding experience
• Little assistance required
• Comfortable with extreme curves and leans
• Average experience with unsurfaced roads
• Steep ascents and descents

Advanced:

• Can ride for 5-6 hours
• Extensive riding experience
• Assistance on demand (if required)
• Experienced with riding a variety of motorcycles
• Comfortable with any terrain and weather conditions