City: Toliara Province
Top Things to do in Toliara Province
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Things to do in Toliara Province, Madagascar: The Best Nature & Parks
The Toliara Province (formerly Toliary or Tuléar) is a former province of Madagascar with an area of 161,405 square kilometres (62,319 sq mi). It had a population of 2,229,550 (July, 2001). Its capital was Toliara. Near Toliara was the "spiny forest".
Restaurants in Toliara Province
1. Lokaro Beach
2. Sainte Luce Reserve
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 5 reviews
Part of the last remaining absolute coastal forest in the south east of Madagascar, the reserve is managed as a non-profit social enterprise to protect flora & fauna in consultation with local people. Rich in wildlife, you can encounter lemurs, reptiles, and more. Our forest is primarily exotic and rare ebonies and other rare woods. Simple cabins like camping in a shelter, crisp white linen on a mattress on a traditional mat on the floor, inside a mosquito net. You can explore the 17km of beach and endless forest full of wildlife either with or without a guide.
Reviewed By 1997Domanello-27 - Richmond, United States
My experiences included: -Designing observational research methods for collared brown lemurs and teaching the Malagasy staff to gather data. -Creating educational resources and presenting information to villagers primarily focused on sea turtle conservation. -Planting and maintaining a fruit farm to increase the reserve’s sustainability. -Gathering propagules and planting mangroves to regenerate depleted riverbanks. -Relocating native seedlings from forest trails into the plant nursery and then back into the main forest. -Mapping land to plan for future reserve projects such as: a bamboo plantation to be used as supplies, thereby reducing the reserve’s reliance on lumber. -Building a new enclosure for a pair of rescued radiated tortoises. As a student, I was hesitant to make the investment, but this experience was well worth it. It has opened many doors for me and helped me to earn two funded field positions later this year. If you are a student considering volunteering here at the reserve, it really does help. For everyone else, if you are considering coming, then come! Camp lies between the windy reserve and the pristine stretch of littoral forest that is home to seemingly endless biodiversity. 4 lemur species, chameleons the size of your little finger, beautiful birds of all kinds, tenrecs, nile crocodiles, boas, and rare plant species. The experience is entirely immersive and this is part of what makes it so great. I stayed with the Malagasy staff at the reserve a vast majority of my staff. The guide speaks English, but everyone else speaks Malagasy and this makes learning the language come more quickly. I was able to use over 200 words by the end of my stay. I could write a book on my time at Sainte Luce, but the point is that there is no better way to see Madagascar than to live with the people, and work on this beautiful reserve. So go to St. Luce!
3. Saiadi Botanical Garden
4. Isalo National Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 647 reviews
Distinguished by a canyon and beautiful, rolling plains, the Parc National de Isalo is an attractive reserve of Madagascar's land and wildlife.
Reviewed By PeterE5 - Sydney, Australia
I spent 3 days in Isalo National Park and loved it. Although it's rainy season here this area is relatively dry and a good place to go at this time of year. It is difficult to get to sites and trailheads without transport, and the access roads are poor, but I managed to join another traveller with a vehicle, making things much easier. I am sure my experience was made much better by my guide Sandra. Sandra is a local Ranohira woman, has 3 years experience as a guide, has recently completed her tourism degree and speaks excellent English, as well as French and Malagasy. There are over 100 guides for the park, but only 5 females. So just in the interests of advancing women in Madagascar I would recommend hiring a woman, but Sandra was excellent. The guide rates are set at 120,000 ariary for full day, or 80,000 for half day. You can hire a guide at the guides office, across from the National Parks office, or they may approach you first. The Fenetre (Window) of Isalo is a unusual rock formation and great place for sunset - you need a vehicle to get there. My first hike was to the Piscine Naturelle, then we crossed within a wide canyon to Namaza camp site where there were lemurs and many birds, and then up the gorge to Piscine Bleu and Piscine Noire with waterfalls and beautiful natural swimming pools. Beautiful! My second hike was to Canyon des Makis and Canyon de Rates (but no rats!). They are two beautiful gorges. We were the only ones hiking there that day. I thoroughly recommend the Park and these hikes.
5. Avenue of the Baobabs
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 752 reviews
Reviewed By Mikiduta - Bucharest, Romania
We have been to The Avenue twice, both at sunset and sunrise. Being low season not too many tourists were around at sunset (around 40-50) while at sunrise which was happening at 5 am we were just a few (around 10 probably). The baobabs are amazing trees that can survive without water for a long period of time. During December they had a lot of leaves because one week before it rained. The weather was great when we visited the avenue so both sunset and sunrise were spectacular. During sunset there were plenty of mosquitos around while during sunrise the flies took the places of mosquitos. Sunset was really great and we have stayed also after the sunset to take pictures during the blue hour. The sunrise was also spectacular but totally different mainly before the appearance of the sun when a mix of orange, red and dark blue was taking our pictures to another level. I am really happy that we have visited Madagascar during December because we had good weather and almost no tourists around us. Special thanks to Cactus Madagascar which organized very professionally our tour!
6. Antsokay Arboretum
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 153 reviews
The Antsokay arboretum is a botanic garden with a collection of over 900 plant species from the southwest of Madagascar, 90% are endemic to the region and 80% have medicinal properties. Among these many succulent species are recognized as endangered.Visit also include opportunity to see creatures you can see no where else in the world. Not just chameleons, boas, tenrecs or birds but also other endemics such as the mouse lemurs which are the main night visit attraction of the arboretum.
Reviewed By marcdejong99 - Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Great garden with 900 species of endemic trees and plants! Beautiful and very warm;-)! Great guide which explains all varieties of different species like baobab and elephant trees and more. Also saw small snake, several geckoes, birds, small and large lizards. Nice small pool and restaurant at site.
7. Nahampoana Reserve
8. Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 37 reviews
Reviewed By mawe733
This is a small park just by the RN7 15km or so north of Sakaraha. We had stayed in Sakaraha (Hotel Palace, booked via their Facebook page, cheap but really not that great) and made our way here for an early start at 7.30. We had one guide and one tracker who were both very good and we saw various species of sportive lemurs and a family of Verreaux's sifakas who were quite close and happy to be photographed. We also saw a number of very pretty birds, unfortunately I know nothing about birds which this park is said to be particularly good for. We went at the end of August and bugs as mentioned by other reviewers weren't an issue at all for us. We spent about 2.5 hours here, staying a good while taking photographs with each sighting though so you can do it in less time.
9. Honko Community-Based Mangrove Reserve
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 20 reviews
Located on the road between Tulear and Ifaty, this community-based mangrove reserve offers the unique opportunity to take a guided boardwalk tour of southwest Madagascar's mangroves and explore its unique flora and fauna. This site is particularly noted for its wetland bird diversity (at least 37 species)! We offer various guided tours in English, French and Malagasy. Contact us for more info!
Reviewed By chasemarta - Chapel Hill, United States
We had a very informative tour of the project and learned about the different types of Mangroves (I believe that they have 7 different types there). We walked out into the area and saw the small trees that had been recently planted as well as some of the older trees. We also learned about some mangroves take the salt out of the water by their leaves and others by their roots. We also saw the different types of grasses that are being harvested by the community: the flat grass is used for construction and the round stemmed grass are used for crafts. This is a very worthwhile project and well worth the visit. You can also sign up to volunteer there.
