Today we leave Madagascar so I thought I would do a summary of our experience.
Madagascar is a five star wildlife experience and a real education for those wanting to see and understand a different way of life.
Madagascar is the 4th largest island so an enormous country; there are 18 tribes and much of their daily lives are governed by ritual and traditions or fady.
The national parks are excellent but really are natural islands in a large country which has been drastically affected by human activity - the challenge is how you get a hungry man to think of the future rather than just feeding himself today and until there is a permanent government in place that will remain difficult. Maintaining the parks will be a challenge but there are bright lights like the community conservancy project at Anjaha; they are increasing their forest to protect the ring tailed lemurs. They see the connection between wildlife, tourism and wealth as do many of the communities around the parks who are benefiting from the income tourism can bring - clear evidence of that was in Ranomafana and Isalo. But the burnt canyon in Isalo was questionably down to some disgruntled locals who did not feel they were benefiting enough from the park entry fees. So the protection of the small pockets of natural habitat that exist will not be easy albeit the presence of researchers helps - again this was noted in Ranomafana where the researchers employ young people and we watched as strong smiling young women, passed us with supplies on their heads, acting as their porters.
You are also aware of and could see the pressure on forests - just from the need for villagers to use the paths as thoroughfares.
The local and tour guides were all excellent - indeed tour guides are some of the best paid people - they were the only people we saw in new tshirts - the guide book said that many earn as much if not more than junior doctors - and there is a need to be careful with how tourism and we the tourists,through our tips, can skew the economy - the ones we had were well educated young men, unlike other countries we also saw a large number of women guides with other groups, all seeking to increase their income and education through interaction with us. Their job is not easy and they do not get a day off except during the wet season when there are no tourists - but that is no different to elsewhere in the world!
Best wildlife experience: for me it was seeing and hearing the Indiri in Perinet.
For John it was was watching the ring tailed lemurs at Anjaha.
We also enjoyed the night walks looking for lemurs and chameleons.
Best walks - the 10km with Jack from east to west Ankarana,through the Tsingy and lunching with wild crowned lemurs.
The best bird/ wildlife walk for overall variety was with Tena in Ankarafantsika.
For landscape the 10k in Isalo was also superb.
Best hotel: the accommodation was acceptable to very good....everywhere was friendly and welcoming.
For high standards we loved the Litchi tree (north)
For local friendliness we especially liked Setam lodge where the staff tried really hard to meet my vegetarian needs and ensure our washing was done and delivered - the couple of poor reviews on trip advisor were, in our view, undeserved. Laundry was excellent and cheap 30p a shirt and 60p for trousers.
Value for money: nothing was very expensive - tshirts were £10 -15 so perhaps more expensive but good quality; most of our money went on tips.
Tour guides, local guides, drivers, porters, restaurant staff etc.
Air travel - a necessity if you want to do North, South,East and West but try and get morning flights before the day to day operations force changes and you incur unscheduled over night stops!
Food - in the hotels overall it was good - breakfast is always very French and continental, occasionally with eggs available - but it suited us.
Being vegetarian was a challenge to them in some places but they always tried and a good fallback was to ask for vegetable au gratin. Unexpectedly the least accommodating was the best hotel the Relais de la Reine they could easily have had a vegetarian option on their menu.
Always niggling in the back of your mind was food hygiene because of the difficult environments in which they work and operate in - we had a couple of 'dicky moments' but nothing that prevented any activity!
Safety - never felt under any threat but we didn't go out at night in Antananarivo. The biggest challenge on the roads were the potholes and avoiding the Zebu carts.
Tiptop: make sure you have plenty of wet wipes - for eating mango and generally cleaning your hands before eating!
If heading south make sure you stop at Zombitsie National Park - it doesn't get lots of visitors, they drive by , but it is the only real place on this trip to see Verreaux's sifakas and the guides are good and need encouragement to preserve this environment.