Madagascar: Rare Birds and Mammals of the West

Madagascar: Rare Birds and Mammals of the West

October 2025/2026

Tsingy Forest Rail is one of Madagascar’s least observed birds and a major target on this tour.

This exciting 8-day Madagascar birding tour will likely appeal to serious global listers and those wishing to see some of Madagascar’s most iconic and seldom-seen mammals. Although this tour does not yield as many species as some of our other Madagascar birding tours, it offers better chances at birds not typically seen on other itineraries, such as Banded Kestrel and the global mega Tsingy Forest Rail. In addition to these stand-out species, we will likely encounter representatives of Madagascar’s well-known families while birding the region’s deciduous forests, with birds like Giant and Coquerel’s Couas, Schlegel’s Asity, Cuckoo-roller, White-breasted Mesite, Sickle-billed Vanga and many more.

The mammals on offer are equally alluring, and we’ll look for several lemur species, including the impressive Verreaux’s and Van der Decken’s Sifakas and a few nocturnal species, for which a night walk is required. Perhaps the best of all our mammal targets is the island’s largest carnivore, Fosa, which we will search for during our time at Kirindy Forest Reserve. This tour also has some of the best scenery in Madagascar, and we’ll be sure to take in the sights of the famous “Avenue of the Baobabs” during our time in Morondava.

Sickle-billed Vanga is just one of several vanga species on this tour.

Itinerary (8 days/7 nights)

Day 1. Arrival in Antananarivo

After arrival at Ivato International Airport in Madagascar’s bustling capital, Antananarivo, participants will be transferred to a comfortable hotel close to the airport. Although we have no set birding plans today, we will likely encounter some of the more common Malagasy birds around the hotel, such as Red Fody, Malagasy Bulbul and Madagascar Wagtail.

Overnight: Relais des Plateaux Hotel, Antananarivo

Days 2. Flight to Morondava

Today, we will fly to Morondava, a town on Madagascar’s central west coast and gateway to the iconic “Avenue of the Baobabs.” From the airport, we will transfer to our beachside hotel to unpack and prepare for our afternoon excursion. Time-dependent, we may pop down to the beach to bird the Morondava estuary, which may yield a variety of shorebirds and terns, including Terek Sandpiper, Greater Sand Plover, Lesser Crested Tern and even the vulnerable Madagascar Plover. Olive Bee-eaters are common throughout much of the island and should quickly work their way onto our lists.

In the afternoon, we will make our way to the “Avenue of the Baobabs.” On our short 30-minute drive to the baobabs, we may see Malagasy Kestrel, Madagascar Buzzard, and Madagascar Cisticola. We hope to enjoy a spectacular sunset at the baobabs – a bucket-list experience.

Overnight: Palissandre Cote Ouest, Morondava

Sunsets at the “Avenue of the Baobabs” are out of this world!

Day 3. Transfer to Tsingy De Bemaraha National Park

Today will be an exclusively travel day as we embark on the 10-hour drive from Morondava to the town of Bekopaka – the base from which we will explore Tsingy De Bemaraha National Park. En route, we will pass by the “Avenue of the Baobabs” again, this time at sunrise. Although birding will be somewhat limited, we’ll keep an eye out for Banded Kestrels while passing through Kirindy Forest Reserve. We will return to Krindy later in the trip and will have a better chance of seeing this tricky bird upon our return.

Lesser Vasa Parrots should be a regular feature of this tour.

The drive to Bekopaka will not be without its adventures, as it involves two ferry crossings! After a long day on the road, we will arrive at our accommodation and get an early night in anticipation of an exciting few days in this area.

Overnight: Soleil des Tsingy, Bekopaka.

Day 4. Birding the Great Tsingy

We will start early this morning and head to the forests of the spectacular Great Tsingy. This area is known for its limestone karst pinnacles, and it is in this scenic habitat that we will search for our main target of the trip, the Tsingy Forest Rail. Finding the rail may require a lengthy search; however, perseverance may reward us with views of one of Madagascar’s least observed birds. In addition to the forest rail, we hope to connect with birds like Greater and Lesser Vasa Parrots, Cuckoo-roller, Madagascar Green Pigeon, Schlegel’s Asity, Giant and Coquerel’s Couas, Hook-billed and Madagascar Blue Vangas and Madagascar Harrier-Hawk. Mammals will also be on the target list today, and we may see Van der Decken’s Sifaka, Red-fronted Brown Lemur, and Ring-tailed Vontsira, among others.

We’ll return to our accommodation in Bekopaka to rest and relax after what will surely have been an exciting day out.

Overnight: Soleil des Tsingy, Bekopaka.

The attractive Crested Coua is just one of a few coua species possible on this tour.

Day 5. Little Tsingy and Malambolo

Today, we will bird the Little Tsingy area, where we will have another chance at Tsingy Forest Rail, should we have missed it yesterday. The birds on offer are again similar to those we would have connected with yesterday, and we will have the opportunity to clean up any missed targets.

Overnight: Soleil des Tsingy, Bekopaka.

Limestone formations at Tsingy De Bemaraha National Park.

Day 6. Kirindy Forest Reserve

We will bid farewell to Bekopaka today and make our way south again towards Kirindy Forest Reserve. Once again, this will be a long day in the car; however, we hope to arrive in time for a good afternoon of mammal-watching and birding. Kirindy boasts one of the largest areas of protected dry forest in Madagascar; as a result, the birding is phenomenal. We may see White-breasted Mesite, Crested, Giant, and Coquerel’s Couas, Rufous, Red-tailed, Sickle-billed, Madagascar Blue, Chabert and Hook-billed Vangas, Grey-headed Lovebird, and with luck, Banded Kestrel.

The main target here is, however, Fosa. This large and bizarre-looking carnivore is seen with some regularity around park lodgings and is one of the most wanted mammals on the island. In addition to Fosa, other mammals may include Verreaux’s Sifaka, Red-fronted Brown Lemur and even the seldom-seen Narrow-striped Boky. We will head out at night with the aim of seeing some of the park’s nocturnal inhabitants like Grey Mouse Lemur, Pale Fork-marked Lemur and Red-tailed Sportive Lemur. During our night walk, we will try for White-browed Owl and Madagascar Nightjar.

Overnight: Relais du Kirindy, Kirindy Forest Reserve.

Fosa is seen with some regularity in Kirindy Forest Reserve.

Day 7. Flight to Antananarivo

We will leave Kirindy Forest Reserve this morning and catch our flight from Morondava to Antananarivo to conclude what promises to be an unforgettable tour in a part of Madagascar that few get to see. Depending on our arrival time, we may squeeze in a final birding session at Lake Alorobia on the edge of the city for Meller’s Duck, Humblot’s Heron, Malagasy Pond Heron, White-throated Rail, and many other water birds.

Overnight: Overnight: Relais des Plateaux Hotel, Antananarivo

Day 8.  Departure

Today, you will be transferred to the airport to catch your international flight home, or you will join our Best of Madagascar: 14-day Birding and Wildlife Tour, which starts in Antananarivo after this tour.

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 guide from the one advertised due to tour scheduling or other factors.

Download Itinerary

Preparing for Madagascar: what to expect

(in spring/early summer, i.e. the September-December period)

Despite the fact that Madagascar is only 250 miles (400 kilometers) from the African mainland, it is absolutely nothing like Africa. Some of its birds have more affinity to Asia than to Africa, but the most striking thing about Madagascar is how different its bird, animal, and plant life is from ANYWHERE else in the world. Madagascar is simply the ideal place to see unique wildlife! With four (or five for the Malagasy region with Cuckoo-roller that also occurs in the Comoros) endemic bird families, and about half the bird species endemic, and with every single native terrestrial mammal species being endemic, including endemic families such as lemurs and the hedgehog-like tenrecs!

It’s a fabulous wildlife country, but there are also a few items that you need to mentally prepare for, so that you can gain maximum enjoyment from your trip. Here are some points to help you prepare for your tour:

• Madagascar is about quality and not about quantity. Some birders are disappointed by the small numbers of individuals and species seen – it’s one of the countries with the fewest number of species relative to its size, but birders need to realize that the relatively few birds that one does see are incredibly special. Don’t expect lots of species or big numbers of any one species. Also, much of the country is covered in rice paddies, and most of the natural habitat has been destroyed, so be prepared to drive through a lot of relatively sterile (from a wildlife point of view) monoculture. In no ways does this make Madagascar any less amazing. It has all the endemic bird, mammal, and plant families and contains some of the planet’s most unique wildlife!
• If Africa is the third world, then Madagascar is the fourth world. You’ll see extreme poverty.
• Please visit your doctor or a travel clinic before your trip to get precautions against possible “travelers’ diarrhea”, as this is horribly common in Madagascar, even when eating at good restaurants, staying at comfortable accommodations and even when being careful about drinking only bottled water and avoiding unpeeled/uncooked vegetables/salads. Imodium, Valoid, and an antibiotic such as Cipro, in bad cases, should be carried (but please consult your doctor for proper advice before the trip). Please visit your travel clinic or doctor for antimalarial medications and possible vaccinations, and please also take a close look at the CDC’s (Centers for Disease Control) advice for comprehensive health information about Madagascar. Some people also opt for leech socks, since leeches do occur in Madagascar, although we don’t usually encounter many of them.
• It’s good to have an idea of what the climate in Madagascar is like. Rain is possible but usually not a big problem in the “dry” season when we run our tours. It can be very hot and humid, but it can also be surprisingly cold in the highlands, where we spend a fair amount of time. So bring layers expecting cold to very hot weather and possibly rain. The desert areas such as Ifaty can be extremely hot and dry, and in fact we are sometimes forced to cram birding activity into the first hour or so of daylight because of the sweltering heat there in Ifaty.
• There are some reasonably strenuous walks in Madagascar, so please bring hiking boots as well as comfortable shoes to change into during the evenings if your boots get wet or you get blisters. There might be opportunities for swimming and snorkeling (especially when it is too hot for birding). Sun protection such as sunblock, sunglasses, etc., is advised.
• On days in which we’re doing forest birding please kindly be considerate of the other tour participants, since it can get frustrating when only the front people see the birds. Please do not be offended when the tour leaders enforce the “rules for group tours”, such as not spending all your time at the front with the tour leader on the trails but staying only five minutes at the front before dropping to the back again to give everyone a fair chance. The tour leaders work hard to get everyone onto every bird species, and with patience everyone should see everything. The practice of rotating seats on the vehicle(s) is also something that the tour leaders will oversee.
• Accommodation is in general fair and quite comfortable but not luxurious. Generally, there is warm to hot water for baths or showers and there is electricity for charging camera gear. But not everything works 100 percent of the time here in the “fourth world”, so expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if it’s better than expected. Sometimes there is power for charging only in the lodge restaurants and not in the rooms, or only when the generator is on. Electrical sockets are the same as in Europe (except the UK) – 2-prong and 220 Volts ITA Type C (please note that a lot of South African equipment can be plugged directly into these – it’s the same socket as the common 2-prong adapters South Africans use in their homes).
• Air Madagascar has the monopoly as far as domestic flights within the country go (and, since it’s a massive island with bad roads, one has to fly between some of the sites). Air Madagascar flights are, unfortunately, completely unreliable, and scheduled flight times can change on the day of the flight until even one hour before the scheduled departure. On our usual two-week circuit (“The Best of Madagascar”) we only have one flight at the end of the trip, back to Tana (the commonly-used abbreviation for the capital Antananarivo), but on comprehensive trips (when you do all the extensions/pre-trips shown on our website, basically) we can have six to eight local flights, and one has to be philosophical about the fact that, because of Air Madagascar, the itinerary is never set in stone and changes invariably happen!
• We often do night walks in Madagascar to see nocturnal lemurs, reptiles, and birds – so bring a flashlight/torch/headlamp!
• As of January 2018, visitors to Madagascar have been using the e-visa system, either getting an e-visa in advance online or on arrival in Tana. Please carefully check the latest visa requirements for your nationality, though. Madagascar does give free visas to certain nationalities from time to time (e.g. for South Africans); otherwise, they usually cost around 30-60 euros. Visas are payable in major currencies or the local currency (ariary, MGA) and usually also by card if the system is working. But even if you arrange your visa in advance expect some chaos when you arrive in Tana.
• You may wish to draw local currency (ariary) for tips, souvenirs, etc. at the airport ATM just after arrival, and you can also speak to your guide when your money starts running short, so you can stop in the next few days when you drive through the next town with an ATM. You can also change most major currencies, but in general euros will give you the best rate in Madagascar. When you do change money ask for more small bills that you think you will need; these will come in handy for tips. (You can also use one-euro coins and one-dollar bills for tips if you have these.)
• In Madagascar it’s a legal requirement to employ park guides, a local guide and driver. These highly competent people are, of course, extremely useful, e.g. the park guides keep track almost daily of the whereabouts of some of the more difficult species, thus minimizing the chance we’ll dip on anything important. But some people are thus understandably surprised that these trips seem a bit “over-staffed” (including also our full-time international tour leader) with so many people to potentially tip. Tipping is not compulsory, but most trip participants do like to tip staff who have worked hard to provide them with a great experience on their tour – our tipping guidelines and advice are shown here.
• This last point does not apply to our usual set departures, but only to unusual remote Madagascar trips we sometimes arrange by request. In addition to our set departures, we also sometimes run some remote Madagascar tours from time to time, as private trips. These remote custom trips can include the worst roads you’ll ever experience, and some camping. The camping at Bemanevika (where we target four extremely rare species) can be cold, so jackets and thermals for sleeping in are recommended (especially at certain times of the year). Depending on the exact itinerary, we can send you further details for custom remote area trips separately.

Please don’t let any of these concerns dissuade you from visiting Madagascar; it’s an essential destination for any serious world birder and a “must-visit” place for those wanting to see the world’s most bizarre wildlife.

Useful books for Madagascar:

Bird guide – please see our recommended field guides to the seven continents and islands web resource.

Mammal guide – Mammals of Madagascar: A Complete Guide by Nick Garbutt.

We suggest you look for plant, chameleon (Madagascar has over half the world’s chameleons!), and other guides, too! Wildlife of Madagascar (Wildlife Explorer Guides) is a guide to all of Madagascan wildlife, including birds and even some plants, with excellent text and pictures.

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