Madagascar is the fourth biggest island in the world; its as big as France! Its also incredibly diverse and unspoiled, with an incredible cultural mix, fantastically varied landscape and some of the most unusual plant and animal species. The island is famous for its lemurs (found nowhere else on Earth) and for stately baobab trees, but there are also hundreds of types of colourful birds, chameleons and even turtles.
All of this rich variety will be presented to us as we cycle southwards from the capital, Antananarivo (locally known as Tana) to the south-east corner of the island, where we spend 2 days at leisure at a laid-back beach resort beside the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. Our journey takes us to some of Madagascars best-known national parks; Ranomafana, Andringitra and Isalo and we make the most of each of these by getting off our bikes and doing some hiking. At Ranomafana, we will be on the look-out for lemurs, whilst at Andringitra it is the towering granite cliffs which will perhaps make the biggest impression. At Isalo, we will explore amongst forest and bizarre rock formations and take a dip in a beautiful river pool known as the Piscine (swimming pool) Naturelle. We have split this classic journey into a mix of vehicle transfers and manageable cycling stages, mostly riding on tarmac roads, but with some long sections of dirt road, too. As a fitting conclusion to this unforgettable cycling holiday, we have 2 full days at Ifaty on the Indian Ocean where you can choose to do as little as you wish from your beach-front accommodation. This just might be biking in paradise!
Once out of the rackety colonial city of Antsirabe, unfrequented roads and rough dirt tracks take you through a succession of spectacular filmsets: Middle Earth with rice paddies, a rainforest teeming with lemurs and chameleons, the American West (with sapphire prospectors and mountains like a mini-Yosemite) and an Indian Ocean beach featuring sail-powered fishing canoes by day and myriad stars by night. You will be welcomed by people who know the uses of standing stones, who steal and sacrifice oxen, who have never seen a movie screen (for there are none in Madagascar) and who take direction from ancestors in their dreams. Local manufactures are demonstrated. Poverty is everywhere, but so too is human dignity and the enjoyment of life. This professionally-run trip, developed over several years by a German settled in Madagascar, offers competent mountain-bikers the opportunity to experience a unique biosphere and culture before large-scale tourism begins. The mountain bikes are of good quality, and excellently maintained. The schedule is flexible, allowing for extra kilometres on the bike or extra time in the support bus. Food and accommodation are at least serviceable, often better. The beach hotel at the end is quite special, and more than makes up for any hardship along the way. I went in March/April and didn't regret it my early-season choice: there were occasional thundershowers, but the flowers were out and we had most of the sites (and some of the hotels) to ourselves.
The holiday: fantastic food, great accommodation, plenty of options for extra miles (I did 850km total) to make the holiday much more challenging than advertised. The off road is moderately technical in part so some experience is a good idea. Really great wildlife experiences. Hiking days are nice and challenging too which was better than I'd anticipated. Very close to village life as you cycle off road. The guide: Claus is an absolute waste of time. Rude and disinterested. As non German guests we were made to feel second rate with our briefings lasting half the time. I really did not like the way he spoke to the local guides and treated them like slaves. I would suggest travelling home no the last day. Although a bit of a gamble in case internal flight is delayed or cancelled it is better than killing time in an awful Chinese run hotel on the outskirts of the city! this is the only accommodation I would fault. The staff were so unhelpful and have no authority as the boss 'is away', everyone smokes in the lobby despite signs.