Madagascar: 6-day Berenty Reserve Extension

Madagascar Birding Tour: 6-day Berenty Reserve Extension
October/November 2025

The small, private Berenty Reserve, situated at the southern tip of Madagascar, is one of the island’s best-known and most frequently visited nature reserves. Stretching along the Mandrare River, it is composed of deciduous riverine gallery forest and a small stretch of spiny forest, where virtually all the plants are covered in thorns. Although most famous for its dense lemur populations, with hundreds of individuals per square kilometer (research on lemurs has been continuing here for more than three decades), the reserve is also a haven for birdwatchers, boasting a high number of endemic species. With luck we might be able to find Banded Kestrel, Madagascan Sandgrouse, Torotoroka Scops Owl, Sickle-billed Vanga and perhaps even Madagascan Cuckoo-Hawk here. This tour also includes a visit to Andohahela National Park where we will search for the rare and localized Red-tailed Newtonia.

Berenty Reserve is famous for its lemur species such as Ring-tailed Lemur.

This extension to our Best of Madagascar: 14-day Birding and Wildlife Tour can also be booked as a stand-alone tour. It can also be combined, preceding the main tour, with our Madagascar: 6-day Masoala Peninsula Pre-tour and, preceding that, with our Madagascar: 8-day Northwest (Ankarafantsika/Betsiboka Delta) Pre-tour.

White-browed Owl can be found in Berenty Reserve.

Itinerary (6 days/5 nights)

Day 1. Arrival in Taolagnaro/Fort Dauphin

We will take a flight from Antananarivo or Toliara to Taolagnaro/Fort Dauphin, on the completion of our Best of Madagascar tour. After arrival we will transfer to our hotel.

Overnight: Croix du Sud, Taolagnaro/Fort Dauphin

Day 2. Andohahela National Park and Berenty Reserve birding

We will have an early departure this morning as we stop in at Andohahela National Park to look for the rare and range-restricted Red-tailed Newtonia, with Andohahela being the best place to see this species. We will spend a few hours looking for the newtonia and may also find a few common forest species such as Cuckoo-roller, Madagascar Cuckooshrike and a suite of vangas during our search. Collared Brown Lemur is also a possibility while in Andohahela.

We will then continue with the two- to three-hour drive to Berenty Reserve. Our interesting drive will take us through rice paddies and tropical forests, to the famous dry spiny forest that once covered large areas of this part of Madagascar, but sadly today exists only in small patches. Along the way we may find Sakalava Weaver and Namaqua Dove. In the afternoon and during an evening outing we will start to explore the magnificent Berenty Reserve, perhaps encountering Giant Coua or Madagascar Sparrowhawk.

Overnight: Berenty Lodge, Berenty

Crested Coua, one of several coua species we are likely to encounter in Berenty Reserve.

Day 3. Birding Berenty Reserve

Exploring Berenty Reserve for a full day, we hope to find Banded Kestrel, Madagascar Sandgrouse, Madagascar Green Pigeon, Madagascar Buttonquail, Madagascar Sparrowhawk, Giant, Crested, Running, and Red-capped Couas, Chabert, Hook-billed, and Sickle-billed Vangas, Grey Emutail, Grey-headed Lovebird, Subdesert Brush Warbler, and Humblot’s Heron, and possibly also Madagascar Cuckoo-Hawk, which is, however, difficult to find.

On night outings we will hunt for Rainforest Scops Owl, White-browed Hawk-Owl, and Torotoroka Scops Owl.

Lemurs will keep us entertained throughout the reserve. During the day we will marvel at the antics of Ring-tailed Lemur and Verreaux’s Sifaka, while at night we might be lucky enough to encounter White-footed Sportive Lemur, Grey Mouse Lemur, and Grey-brown Mouse Lemur.

Overnight: Berenty Lodge, Berenty

Day 4. Birding Berenty Reserve, transfer to Taolagnaro/Fort Dauphin

We will spend another full day birding Berenty Reserve, searching for species we might have missed before.

Overnight: Berenty Lodge, Berenty

Vangas such as this Sickle-billed Vanga will be high on our target list on this tour.

Day 5. Flight to Antananarivo

This morning we will transfer from Berenty to Taolagnaro/Fort Dauphin from where we will fly back to Antananarivo and transfer to our hotel.

Overnight: Relais des Plateaux, Antananarivo

Day 6. Departure

Today your international flights will leave for home.

Please note that the itinerary cannot be guaranteed as it is only a rough guide and can be changed (usually slightly) due to factors such as availability of accommodation, updated information on the state of accommodation, roads, or birding sites, the discretion of the guides and other factors. In addition, we sometimes have to use a different international guide from the one advertised due to tour scheduling.

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