Isalo & the South: Canyons, Sandstone & Lemurs

Today the RN7 road trip begins as you head south into the highlands towards Antsirabe. The drive is a feast of scenery, winding through emerald rice terraces, red-earth villages of tall brick houses, and hills dotted with grazing zebu, with plenty of stops for photographs and roadside markets. You pause in craft villages known for wood carving, embroidery and miniature model-making. By afternoon you reach Antsirabe, a genial highland town founded as a spa resort, famous for its faded colonial grandeur, thermal springs and countless colourful pousse-pousse rickshaws that throng the streets. You settle into your hotel and perhaps take a rickshaw ride through the wide avenues or visit a craft workshop where artisans work zebu horn, gemstones and recycled metal. As the day ends, you relax in the cool highland air. Rest well, for tomorrow you descend to the rainforest of Ranomafana.

Today you continue south and east towards the rainforest of Ranomafana. The road runs through more spectacular highland scenery of terraced valleys and brick villages, passing the woodcarving town of Ambositra, centre of the Zafimaniry tradition, where you can browse beautifully carved boxes and marquetry. Gradually the cultivated highlands give way to greener, wetter, forested country as you drop towards the escarpment. By late afternoon you arrive at Ranomafana, where dense rainforest cloaks steep hills and the humid air hums with insects and birdsong. You settle into your lodge near the park, perhaps soaking in the thermal springs that give the town its name. If time and energy allow, an optional night walk along the forest edge may reveal mouse lemurs, chameleons and nocturnal creatures. As the day ends, you rest amid the rainforest. Sleep well, for tomorrow you enter one of Madagascar's richest reserves.

Today is devoted to Ranomafana National Park. Setting out early with your local park guide, you follow forest trails that climb and dip through steep, dripping montane rainforest laced with streams and waterfalls. Your guide's trained eyes pick out the park's celebrated lemurs, the rare golden bamboo lemur discovered here, red-bellied lemurs, graceful Milne-Edwards' sifaka and lively brown lemurs. You also look for the dazzling chameleons for which Madagascar is famous, along with bright frogs, geckos, unique birds and the strange plants of this ancient forest. The walking can be steep and muddy but is endlessly rewarding, and your guide explains the fragile ecology and conservation work protecting it. Afterwards you may relax in the thermal springs. As the day ends, you return to your lodge, thrilled by the day's sightings. Rest well, for tomorrow you journey on towards the ring-tailed lemurs of Anja.

Today you journey on down the RN7 to Ambalavao, pausing at the wonderful Anja Community Reserve. The drive climbs back into open highland country of granite domes and golden hills, and you pass through the pretty town of Fianarantsoa, the intellectual heart of the highlands, wrapped around its old upper town. Near Ambalavao you stop at Anja Reserve, a small park run by the local village where ring-tailed lemurs thrive among giant granite boulders, strangler figs and ancestral tombs at the foot of soaring cliffs; you walk among these charming, striped-tailed lemurs at close range. In Ambalavao itself you visit the famous Antaimoro paper workshop, where handmade paper is embedded with pressed flowers, and perhaps the region's renowned zebu market. As the day ends, you settle into your accommodation. Rest well, for tomorrow you cross to the dramatic sandstone country of Isalo.

Today you drive southwest into a changing landscape as the highlands fall away to golden savannah and the dramatic massif of Isalo. Crossing the wide plains of the Horombe plateau, you watch the scenery grow steadily wider and more arid, with grasslands stretching to distant blue hills and herds of zebu moving across them. By afternoon the eroded sandstone ramparts of Isalo rise on the horizon, sculpted by wind and water into cliffs, canyons and strange formations. You settle into your lodge on the edge of the park, many beautifully designed to blend into the landscape, and perhaps drive to a famous viewpoint to watch the sandstone glow crimson and gold at sunset over the plains. As the day ends, you relax under enormous skies at the gateway to one of Madagascar's most beautiful parks. Rest well, for tomorrow you hike into Isalo's canyons.

Today you hike into the spectacular canyons of Isalo National Park. With your local guide you set out among the eroded sandstone massif, following trails that wind through ravines, across open plateaus with sweeping views, and into hidden gorges where palms and pandanus cluster around cool, clear natural swimming pools fed by waterfalls, an idyllic place to swim and picnic. You look for ring-tailed lemurs, Verreaux's sifaka and brown lemurs among the rocks and shady canyons, and admire the endemic plants clinging to the cliffs, including the strange elephant's foot. The rock formations, sculpted over millions of years, take on extraordinary shapes and colours, and your guide explains the sacred sites and burial places of the Bara people hidden among them. As the day ends, you return to your lodge, perhaps pausing again for the glorious sunset over the sandstone. Rest well, for tomorrow you continue to the coast.

Today you complete the southern RN7 to the coast, passing through the strangest landscapes of all. Leaving Isalo, you drive southwest through the transitional forest of Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park, a good place to stop for endemic birds and lemurs, before the land turns truly arid. You enter the spiny forest, a bizarre, prehistoric-looking thicket of octopus-armed didierea, thorny scrub and swollen baobabs found only in southern Madagascar and alive with unique creatures. Reaching the coast near Tulear, you turn north along a sandy track to Ifaty, a laid-back fishing area strung along a lagoon behind a coral reef. You settle into your beachside lodge, the pace slowing to the rhythm of the sea and the sails of the Vezo fishermen, and may take an afternoon walk in a private spiny forest reserve among ancient baobabs. As the day ends, you relax by the Indian Ocean. Rest well, for tomorrow you begin your journey home.

After a final morning by the coast, perhaps a last walk on the beach, a reef snorkel or a stroll among the baobabs, you are transferred to Tulear for your domestic flight back to Antananarivo and your onward international departure. You leave having travelled the dramatic southern RN7 into the deep south, hiking the sandstone canyons and natural pools of Isalo, walking among the ring-tailed lemurs of Anja, tracking golden bamboo lemurs in misty Ranomafana, and discovering the eerie spiny forest, giant baobabs and reef of the coast, all warmed by gentle Malagasy hospitality. The images stay vivid long after you land, the natural pools of Isalo, the striped tails at Anja, and the strange spiny forest against the sky. Madagascar's deep south offers wild, dramatic beauty and wildlife found nowhere else, and you depart already dreaming of a return to this extraordinary island.