"One of the few parts of Madagascar that can easily be explored by road out of Antananarivo, the scenic southern highlands are studded with pretty crater lakes, traditional artisanal outlets, and agricultural highland towns. But the main regional highlights is Ranamofana National Park, which protects a beautiful tract of montane forest inhabited by 12 lemur and 115 bird species.”

- Philip Briggs

Ranamofana National Park & the Southern Highlands

Extending across 416km2 of steep rainforest-swathed hills some 400km south of Antananarivo, Ranamofana ranks as one of the island’s best equipped and biodiverse national parks. An excellent network of guided hikes offers opportunity to see up to seven types of diurnal lemur, including the striking Milne-Edward’s sifaka and black-and-white ruffed lemur, and the more secretive golden bamboo lemur, a critically endangered species first described in 1986. Birdwatching is excellent and canoe trips run daily on the forest-fringed Ranamofana River.

Other local attractions include the Arboretum Ranomafana, which you can explore unguided, but take care to stop to look at the only known wild specimen of Dypsis robusta, a type of palm named in 2005 and now regarded to be the world’s rarest tree. A full-day excursion to the nearby Kianjavato Research Station offers the opportunity to track several species of diurnal lemur in the wild, and unique opportunity to look for a naturally-occurring population of the nocturnal aye-aye.

For those driving from Antananarivo, attractions en route include the pretty crater lakes of Andraikiba and Tritriva outside Antsirabe, and a women’s silk-growing and -weaving cooperative at Soatanana.

When to go

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