Andasibe-Mantadia National Park is one of Madagascar’s flagship parks and offers great wildlife viewing. Most people only visit the Andasibe section of the park (officially known as Parc National Analamazaotra), which is home to 12 species of lemurs. This includes the indri, the largest lemur alive. You can see six of the lemur species by day, but the other six are nocturnal. To spot these, you’ll need to go on a guided night walk in one of the private reserves that surround the main park.
Wildlife Highlights
The ultimate highlight is seeing the indri and hearing its haunting, wail-like cry. This is the best park in Madagascar for seeing these teddy-bear-like creatures in the wild. The charismatic diademed sifaka is another daytime highlight. Night walks in the surrounding reserves might yield sightings of the aye-aye, eastern woolly lemur, sportive lemur, dwarf lemur, rufous mouse lemur and Goodman’s mouse lemur. To see the beautiful black-and-white ruffed lemur, travel to the Mantadia section of the park.
Best Time for Wildlife Viewing
Andasibe-Mantadia can be visited throughout the year. Indri sightings are pretty much guaranteed year-round. However, the best times for wildlife viewing are the shoulder months of April, May, October and November. Many reptiles and some mammals, such as tenrecs and dwarf lemurs, are less active and harder to see in the cold drier months from June to September. Although it can rain at any time, the wettest months are from December to March, and hiking in the forest can become more difficult then.
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