2020 GeoEx Catalog

THOMAS MARENT / MINDEN PICTURES

ABOVE  Avenue of the Baobabs, Madagascar. Ambling among these towering, ancient Adansonia grandidier is like being ants at the feet of dinosaurs.  BELOW  Verreaux’s sifakas, part of the Indriidae lemur family, make remarkable leaps from tree to tree, using their long tails for balance.

Madagascar  THE EIGHTH CONTINENT TOURING · SAFARI | 15 DAYS · CUSTOM

M  ost of us are a little hipper to Madagascar than Marco Polo, who almost seven centuries ago called it “Magastar, one of the greatest and richest Isles of the World.” Fourth-greatest isle in size, Madagascar is probably the world’s richest in fauna and flora; it’s said to house an incredible 5 percent of the planet’s plant and animal species, 80 percent of which are found nowhere else (including the 30 species of the island’s signature lemurs, who rafted away with the rest of the island as it left Africa 60-odd million years ago—before the rise of the larger primates). Little surprise that Madagascar is often called the Eighth Continent. We set out from the highland capital of Antanana- rivo (or Tana, as it’s commonly called) for a visit to the rain forest of the eastern plains at Andasibe. We’ll spend our time in guided exploration, based from the lovely Mantadia Lodge, discovering wildlife marvels in the Analamazoatra (Perinet) Reserve, haunt of the largest of the lemurs, the Indri indri , and Mantadia National Park, also abundant in lemurs; the two protected areas, almost needless to say, are thronged with birds and gloriously rampant greenery. After some excellent wildlife and reef excursions at Mantadia, we head to Madagascar’s extreme south to walk in forests both sacred and spiny. Then to Morondava, where both sunrise and sunset shine upon the famous Avenue of the Baobabs. For our finale, we fly across the island to Anjajavy, to which no roads lead, but

MASSIMILIANO STICCA / MINDEN PICTURES

which has some of the sweetest beaches, reefs, and forests (1,800 floral species, eagles, iguanas, and lemurs, etcetera) on any continent.

offered year-round from $13,165 internal airfare $6265

Day 1  arrive in Antananarivo ✦  2  drive to Andasibe ✦  3 & 4  Andasibe and Perinet Reserve, Mantadia National Park ✦  5 & 6  charter flight to Morondava, mangroves and fishing village, Kirindy Forest and Avenue of the Baobabs ✦  7  fly to Mandrare ✦  8–10  Mandrare, Spiny Forest, and Lac Anony ✦  11  fly to Tana and explore ✦  12  fly to Anjajavy ✦ 13 & 14  Anjajavy ✦  15  fly to Antananarivo, depart.

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SOUTHERN AFRICA

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