Akory Aby* (*How are you)

Meet your driver guide. Direction south and connection to Ambatolampy. Set-up and departure for the southern route, to Ambatolampy, a town located about 2 hours’ drive from the capital. Visits to local artisans and villages along the way. In addition to the smiles of the children, you will meet various craft sellers posted along the road offering colorful items: small miniature cars and planes made from recycled materials or wood, baobabs and animals in painted raffia, baskets and bags in wickerwork, etc. The route will make you discover the green landscape of the Highlands, with its hills and hectares of rice fields, various plantations, dotted here and there with small hamlets with traditional houses with red brick walls and thatched roofs. You will take a junction at Ambatolampy to join the road leading to Tsinjoarivo (mixture of asphalt road and track, approximately 2 hours 40 minutes by car). You will pass through a dozen small villages before arriving at the cottage: landscape and daily rural rhythm, rice fields, traditional houses, field activities, zebu carts, ... an atmosphere that takes you far from all the movement of big cities. Welcome welcome!

Day of contact and meeting with the villagers. Visit to growing areas and introduction to certain works. Tsinjoarivo is a site rich in history and beliefs. Three possibilities for activities are available to you, which you will have discussed the day before with the local guide, depending on your abilities and skills: 1 – departure to participate in field activities and craft work (embroidery, basketry) with members of the Association and visits to the surrounding area 2 – hiking through mountains and valleys, fields and rice fields passing through various small villages dotted here and there up to the waterfalls of Andriamamovoka and Ambavaloza, with all the history and beliefs of the places that your guide will not fail to share with you (return by car) (medium difficulty, but at your own pace because there will be climbs through small dirt roads) 3 – hike (1 day) to the sacred primary forest of Mahatsinjo where you can discover endemic varieties of diurnal and nocturnal lemurs. End of the afternoon, discussions and sharing with members. It is possible to participate in their development projects (reforestation, increase and diversification of the yield of their culture and their craft work, improvement of the cottage, etc.) by offering them means for the purchase of equipment (spade, harrow, weeder, pitchforks, wheelbarrow, shovel, watering can, etc.).

Last moments with the villagers. Exit the dirt track and continue to Antsirabe. Lunch. Stops along the way for various cultural discoveries. Arrival and visit of the city on foot and visit of the open market. Room installation.

Departure from Antsirabe and connection to Manandona which is located south of the locality. Visit of the countryside of the highlands on foot, meeting with the local population, visit of a workshop of domestic silk and wild silk,….. Lunch in a lodging of reception. Return to the hotel at the end of the day and installation for the night.

Day of cultural discovery of the region. Culinary immersion and discovery of the daily life of a city dweller. Discovery of the colorful markets and its riches, you will be introduced to the local cuisine. Lunch. In the afternoon, you will learn about crafts or local music.

Departure from Antsirabe. Return to the north and direction to the east of the island. Andasibe is 3 hours from the capital. Lunch and passage through the Pereyras reserve and discovery of the local fauna. Arrival in Andasibe at the end of the afternoon. Visit of the Vakona Private Reserve (lemurs, crocodiles, etc.). Installation in your room.

Day dedicated to the discovery of nature. Visit of the Mantadia National Park. Drive to the northern entrance of the park and half-day visit to this untouched nature reserve. Return to the hotel.

Short transfer by car to the village of Ambavaniasy which is to the east. A short one-hour walk through the eastern countryside to reach the village of Vohimana and its bush lodge run by the village community of Vohimana. Visit of the village and meeting with the villagers. Installation at the gîte in the middle of a green nature.

Discovery of the village and its surroundings. Immersion in the daily life of the villagers. Discovery of life zones. Plantations and reforestation with the population. Agricultural activity, Visit of the association’s distillation site. Local lunch. Discovery of small nature trails.

Discovery of nature through the small village association of Vohimana. Visit the Vohimana reserve and its natural riches, the fauna and flora are abundant there. Day in the community. Discovery of the habits and customs of the Bezanozano, the dominant ethnic group of the region, introduction to crafts and visit to the woman’s house. The Bezanozano are one of the 18 ethnic groups on the big island. This ethnic group is located in the Eastern forest corridor and stands out from the others by their hairstyles.

Exit from nature and return to the capital. Three hours of cars and day use in a hotel before flying back to Europe.