Farankaraina Tropical Park, Toamasina Province, Madagascar
4.5 (6 reviews) Spent More than 3 hours Ranking #6 in Maroantsetra Nature & Wildlife Areas
Quite an adventure just to get there!
Farankaraina would be the least touristy of the 3 reserves in the Maroantsetra area, after Masoala and Nosy Mangabe island. None of these places receive many tourists so, as you can imagine, being the least touristy of the 3 means that if you go to Farankaraina you are almost guaranteed to be the only tourist there. When it comes to wildlife this park isn’t quite as impressive as some of the other parks in Madagascar but getting there is quite an adventure in itself…. even more so now since bridges along the route to get there were destroyed in the last cyclone in spring 2018. You now have an extra pirogue crossing and have to wade through a waist deep river along the final part of the route. I booked my trip with Nico tours who organised everything for me including my own personal guide, Pascal, who carried all the food and camping gear we needed on his dirt bike. With the exception of a chain on the bike breaking during the river crossing all went pretty smoothly. So if you’re looking for an easy hassle-free destination then this probably isn’t a place that will interest you, but if you’re looking for a real adventure, to get away from all the typical tourist destinations and relax on a beautiful secluded beach adjoining a very nice forest then this is somewhere you should definitely consider visiting.
Address
, Maroantsetra, Madagascar.
Website
http://www.madacamp.com/Farankaraina
Current local date and time now
Tuesday, May 07, 2024, 17:21
User Ratings
4.5 based on (6 reviews)
Reviews
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5Travelling Zoologists 5:00 PM Dec 8, 2019
Amazing forest with Aye-aye watching
In beautiful Farankaraina Forest, we finally saw wild aye-aye, western grey bamboo lemur, white-fronted brown lemur, greater dwarf lemur, eastern woolly lemur (avahi), MacArthur's mouse lemur. Farankaraina actually exceed our expectations: with quite a small territory it has an impressive number of mammals (all of which, with maybe an exception of eastern woolly lemur, are guaranteed to see in two-three days of stay). The forest is undoubtedly a great place to see truly wild aye-ayes (note that so-called Aye-aye Island - is just a fraud with the animals taken from nature, which do not reproduce there and are used only for owners profit). In two nights we were lucky to see four (!) aye-ayes at the same tree at the same time. Albeit high in a Canarium tree these fantastic nocturnal lemurs were fully at open at some moments. Farankaraina seems to be a reliable place to see aye-ayes at least when Canarium trees are fruiting there. The boat trip from Maroantsetra town is actually very affordable. Non-expensive camping shelters and old but nice bungalows facing the sea are available. And the beach is beautiful for swimming what is much appreciated after jungle walks. Our trip to the parks in Antongil bay we organized with the great help of a local guide - Emile Rafaralahy emilesrafara at gmail.com See our full review here https://www.tripadvisor.ru/ShowUserReviews-g298272-d2189697-r731614042-Masoala_National_Park-Maroantsetra_Toamasina_Province.html
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4Franc C 5:00 PM Jul 28, 2018
Quite an adventure just to get there!
Farankaraina would be the least touristy of the 3 reserves in the Maroantsetra area, after Masoala and Nosy Mangabe island. None of these places receive many tourists so, as you can imagine, being the least touristy of the 3 means that if you go to Farankaraina you are almost guaranteed to be the only tourist there. When it comes to wildlife this park isn’t quite as impressive as some of the other parks in Madagascar but getting there is quite an adventure in itself…. even more so now since bridges along the route to get there were destroyed in the last cyclone in spring 2018. You now have an extra pirogue crossing and have to wade through a waist deep river along the final part of the route. I booked my trip with Nico tours who organised everything for me including my own personal guide, Pascal, who carried all the food and camping gear we needed on his dirt bike. With the exception of a chain on the bike breaking during the river crossing all went pretty smoothly. So if you’re looking for an easy hassle-free destination then this probably isn’t a place that will interest you, but if you’re looking for a real adventure, to get away from all the typical tourist destinations and relax on a beautiful secluded beach adjoining a very nice forest then this is somewhere you should definitely consider visiting.
