Sauvage Trek A

The sauvage trek is a 5-day trip for experienced hikers who are in good health. You have sufficient time to really experience the nature and culture of Madagascar. You do not mind living in a basic and remote setting for a few days. This trip will lead you through different small villages and the majestic virgin rainforests of East Madagascar. You will visit places where few others have ever travelled and are likely to see lemurs, chameleons and other endemic animals of Madagascar. The trek will be led by an English or French-speaking guide.

The trip day by day

Day 1

Departure from Toamasina
Your guide will pick you up in the early morning to catch a ride from the taxi-brousse station towards Brickaville. The taxi-brousse station is not far from Centre Lambahoany and the best way to go is by taking a pousse-velo, the Malagasy bike-taxis. Taxi-brousse means bush taxi, but it is best described as a minibus (or sometimes a car) which takes up to 14 people and drives between certain locations. You can find these buses almost everywhere in Madagascar. On our trip to Brickaville we will first pass an oil palm plantation of Savonnerie Tropicale where the soap for the whole of Madagascar is fabricated from palm oil. One hour later, after a drive through a variety of green landscapes and road side villages, we will arrive in Brickaville, a busy little town. Before we head for the boat, you can get some additional breakfast at a hotel and do the final shopping with the guide at the market. The boat then departs for a trip up the river Rianila. After a few miles you will see the sugar refinery Sirama on your left. On the banks small villages will appear behind banana trees and you can see woman doing laundry.

Anivorano

After a 3-hour boat trip we will arrive in Anivorano, a beautifully situated village with large white sandy beaches. From the bank you can enjoy a broad view across two joining rivers. Here we will stop for our lunch. After lunch we will continue upstream towards Gisimay. During the trip you can see large rocks, banana and sugar cane plantations, villages and perhaps young boys with their zebus.

Fetraomby

After one hour we will arrive at the rapids. For our own safety, we will get off the boat and walk a few hundred metres along the river and get back in the boat on the other side of the rapids. Chickens also have to leave the boat as it is fady (taboo) to pass the rapids with chickens. We will be in the boat for about another hour until we arrive in Fetraomby. In the village a bungalow with a shower and toilet is awaiting us. After freshening up we are going to visit the pierre bizarre (weird stone), also known as the embarrassing stone (pierre qui fait honte). This stone plays an important role in the life of the women in the village. Women who want a child go to the stone to pray. When the stone is visited we must perform a short ceremony to honour the ancestors - some sacrifices are placed on the stone and some rum is shed. After the ceremony we will walk back to the village for dinner.

Day 2

Ambodikely
After breakfast we head west for a long walk on foot. On the way, after 4 hours of walking through mainly cultural landscape, we arrive at the village of Ambatomahamenatra where the villagers await us with a nice lunch. After two more hours of hiking we will arrive at today's destination: Ambodikely. Here we also receive a meal with, in addition, a musical feast of traditional Betsimisaraka music. From Ambatomahemenatra, Ambodikely can also be reached by boat (3 hours).

Day 3

Today we are taking it a bit easier. In two hours, we walk to the village Andranonahoatra, which has an interesting history. After we have met the villagers and seen their homes, we will continue to the nearby waterfall for a tasteful picnic. The rest of the day can be spent in the jungle or the village.

Day 4

Andriantantely and Hanahana
This morning we get up early for a visit to the primary forests of Andriantantely, where we are going to look for the famous Indri-Indri, the largest species of lemur around today. This lemur can only be seen in the wild - because of its complex diet it is unable to survive in captivity. Furthermore, we aim to show you some other species of lemur as well, since there are 12 different species of lemur to be found in this forest. In this virgin forest we might also come across some other animals such as mongooses, wild pigs and perhaps even the civet cat like fosa. For sure we will see some chameleons and possibly a snake. All snakes in Madagascar are harmless for humans. In addition, we can see the bees after which the forest was named. Below the sky-scraping trees, surrounded by an impenetrable forest of plants, bushes and a bubbling creek on the background we are having our lunch. In the evening, we arrive in Hanahana, a village in the middle of the jungle, where we spend the night.

Day 5

After a night in Hanahana we are going on a thorough hike of 8 hours through a stunning primary forest, where we will enjoy the breathtaking vegetation and wildlife. The journey takes us via the village of Fanasana - where we will have lunch and visit the village - to civilisation: the town of Razanaka. Razanaka is of economic importance for the vicinity and even has its own train station. Here agricultural products are shipped by bamboo raft downstream to Anivorano. We too will travel by bamboo raft to Anivorano, or by foot, whatever you prefer. From Anivorano, we take a taxi-brousse to Brickaville (1 hour) and continue to Toamasina over the RN2 with another taxi-brousse (1.5 hours).