Maroantsetra

Maroantsetra is a 1hour 15 minute flight from Tana. Due to our international flight problems we arrived in Maroantsetra late afternoon with no local currency and minus my suitcase. Monique, the owner of the Relais du Masoala Hotel, was amazing! She took me shopping to the stalls that lined the main single street of the village to buy some clothes and essentials - with only 30 minutes shopping time she still insisted that the stall keepers would not overcharge me, because we were tourists. Monique changed some Euros into Ariary and also gave me a hairbrush and swimming costume (for use at Masoala Forest Lodge, our next destination). Monique helped to ease an otherwise, distressing situation which made the start of our holiday so much better. I can't praise Monique enough and it's this type of care and service for customers that makes her lodge stand out from all others. We stayed for one night and it was most comfortable, with an excellent dinner.

Masoala National Park

In the morning we were transported by speed boat to the Masoala Forest Lodge – there are no roads so the alternative is a 2 day trek!. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication with the local tour operator and the lodge resulting in us missing our half day on Mangabe Island en route to Masoala Forest Lodge.

Masoala National Park, reputedly the best wildlife park in Madagascar, comprises some 230,000ha of largely primary forest on the western side of the Masaola peninsula which has the largest remaining area of coastal / lowland rainforest on Madagascar – it’s one of the few places left where tropical rainforest extends right down to the sea. Masoala, which is the wettest part of the country with many clear, fast flowing streams and small rivers has arguably the greatest biodiversity in Madagascar. - red-ruffed lemur, white-fronted brown lemur, eastern woolly lemur, eastern fork-marked lemur and aye-aye amongst other species. Helmet and nuthatch vangars are regularly seen along with red-breasted coua, scaly ground roller, short-legged ground roller and velvet asity.

The park is home to the greater hedgehog tenrec, the fossa, the fanaloka, the falanouc, various species of brightly coloured Mantella frogs, and chameleons of all sizes. Masoala is also the refuge of the endangered Madagascar red owl and Madagascar serpent eagle, along with many, many endemic bird species. Whales also visit Antongil Bay around the breeding season in the austral winter and spring.

The flora includes the Masoala pitcher plant and the very rare ravimbe palm (Marojejya darianii, listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as one of the 12 most endangered living organisms in the world). Coral reefs teeming with life are protected in three adjacent marine parks. The peninsula has many beautiful deserted sandy beaches.

The name of the park derives from Masoala Cape at the tip of the peninsula, where navigating the treacherous straits requires good visibility ("maso" means eye and "oala" means haven or safe passage in the local Betsimisaraka vernacular).

The Mangabe island rainforest was set aside as a Special Reserve in the early 60's, in part to protect the fascinating nocturnal rare aye-aye which had been introduced there. This is the best place in which to see the black and white ruffed lemur, as well as the white-fronted brown lemur. The rainforest which covers Nosy Mangabe also shelters, among others, the cryptic fringed Uroplatus gecko, the largest of the 10 species in this endemic genus. Some look like dead leaves, some mimic bark, and this remarkable ability to literally fade into the woodwork makes them a particular delight to spot.