Madagascar Birding Tour: 6-day Masoala Peninsula Pre-tour October 2020/2021

The Masoala Peninsula pre-tour can generate the unbelievable Helmet Vanga, Brown Mesite, and Short-legged Ground Roller, as well as the largest – and most bizarre – nocturnal lemur, the Aye-aye, and a stack more.

Helmet Vanga is a member of one of the five endemic avian families of Madagascar which we hope to find on this tour.

This pre-tour to our Best of Madagascar: 14-day Birding and Wildlife Tour can also be booked as a stand-alone tour. It can also be combined with our preceding pre-pre-tour, Madagascar: 7-day Northwest (Ankarafantsika/Betsiboka Delta) Pre-tour, and, following the main tour, with our 6-day Berenty Reserve Extension.

Itinerary (6 days/5 nights)

Day 1. Flight to Maroantsetra

We fly to Maroantsetra and transfer to our hotel.

Overnight: Masoala Resort, Maroantsetra

Day 2. Boat transfer to Masoala National Park

Today we will take a boat trip across Antongil Bay, Madagascar’s largest bay. We travel past the island of Nosy Mangabe and eventually reach the Masoala Peninsula, which contains Madagascar’s largest tract of lowland rainforest and also its largest national park in the form of Masoala National Park.

Overnight: Ecolodge Chez Arol, Masoala

Crested Coua; one of the coua species we should see on this tour.

Days 3 – 4. Birding Masoala National Park

We bird the incredible forests and remote tropical beaches of Masoala National Park for some of Madagascar’s most awesome birds, including Madagascan Pratincole, Crested Coua, Blue Coua, Helmet Vanga, Short-legged Ground Roller, Brown Mesite, White-browed Hawk-Owl, and many other sought-after birds. There are also some incredible lemurs here, including Red-ruffed Lemur and Red-fronted Lemur.

Overnight: Ecolodge Chez Arol, Masoala

The secretive Brown Mesite.

Day 5. Boat Transfer to Maroantsetra, flight to Antananarivo

We return via the wonderful boat trip to Maroantsetra and from there fly to Antananarivo. Transfer to our hotel.

Overnight: Relais des Plateaux, Antananarivo

Day 6. Departure, or day 1 of main trip

Today either your international flight will leave for home or you will start on our Madagascar main tour.

Please note that the itinerary cannot be guaranteed as it is only a rough guide and can be changed (usually slightly) due to factors such as availability of accommodation, updated information on the state of accommodation, roads, or birding sites, the discretion of the guides and other factors. In addition, we sometimes have to use a different international guide from the one advertised due to tour scheduling.

This is a sample trip report. Please email us (info@birdingecotours.com) for more trip reports from this destination.