About 150 kilometers east of Antananarivo, the capital of the nearly 590,000 km² island nation of Madagascar, is located the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park. It is named after the village Andasibe, in english the large camp. Botanists, scientists and researchers established their base camp here. The Andasibe-Mantadia National Park was founded in 1989 and officially opened. Due to its direct location on the Route nationale, the RN2, unlike some of Madagascar’s other nature parks, it is easily accessible by road. The 155 km ² large park is a a forest area and mostly dense. The landscape is hilly up to mountainous. On the one hand, this makes them varied, but on the other hand, it requires a lot of fitness and a good overall physical condition for the park visitor.
Just as in all other nature parks in Madagascar, the native, often endemic animals and plants are particularly protected here in the national park. In Andasibe-Mantadia there are more than a dozen lemur species, rare beetle species such as the giraffe beetle, as well as several chameleon species. The visitor often encounters the Indri as the most well-known animal in the national park. He is the largest lemur, in english the wet-nose monkey and has his habitat here. Plant diversity includes rare orchids, tree ferns and endemic plants and shrubs. They offer the visitors of the park a new, previously completely unknown world full of truly magnificent, unknown flowers and plants. In the park at an altitude between 900 and 1,300 meters, the daily average temperatures are pleasantly 20 degrees Celsius . The region is part of the central highlands of Madagascar with sometimes high temperature change between day and night. Fog, rain and sun alternate during the day. The visitor would do well to adapt to the weather with sturdy shoes and waterproof outerwear.
The tourist will find the entrance to the Andasibe-Mantadia National Park near the village of Analamazaotra, a few kilometers from Andasibe. Here the formalities for the park visit are clarified, guides booked and bought provisions for the park stay. For accommodation in and around Andasibe you can choose among comfortable hotels and simple lodges with or without electricity. In 2007, the National Park was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since then, global interest in one or more days of park visits has increased significantly.
Highlights
– Indri (Madagascar’s largest lemurart)
– various types of snakes and cameleons
– Orchids and medicinal plants
Equipment
– Hiking shoes or trekking shoes
– enough liquid
– Sunscreen
Duration
Day Tour (3-6 hours)
Multi-day tour (2 days)
