Ile Sainte Marie, in the east, has decent coral and whale-watching in September. The best whale-watching centre is the Princesse Bora Lodge (see box).AND INLAND?Madagascar is opening up for hikers, with a relatively new and outstanding national park, Andringitra, offering some of the best mountain scenery in the country. There are several well engineered trails leading to alpine meadows at 2,000m, which will introduce you to flowers and plants that are found nowhere else in the world, with a backdrop of granite peaks and cliffs Magical. Eight weeks with Frontier costs around £2,300, and a six-week research expedition with Blue Ventures costs about £1,780. frontierprojects.ac.uk) or Blue Ventures (020-8341 9819; ). Before you visit any of the reserves, you have to visit the government agency, ANGAP, in Tana (tel: 00 261 20 22 415 38).
The website, in French only, is /angap.IS THE WATER LOVELY?Madagascar's beaches do not compare with the Seychelles or Mauritius but they still have sand and the warm Indian Ocean so most people round off their holiday by spending a few days by the sea. For budget travellers, Morondava is relaxed, inexpensive and has a good beach.Snorkelling and diving are popular, although the coral is fast disappearing. There are some very active and effective organisations working on marine conservation and some offer working holidays for in idyllic beach surroundings Contact Frontier (020-7613 2422; www. Most visitors choose either Nosy Be, an island off the north-west coast, or Ile Sainte Marie. Most popular is Nosy Be, where there is good nightlife; Ile Sainte Marie is more laid-back and tranquil. As you approach the city, the view is dominated by Tana's hill, with houses stacked up its sides and topped with the ruined Queen's Palace.Tana is a great city for walking, providing you are fit enough to cope with the steep hills and flights of steps Each turning reveals something new and surprising. It has little in the way of obvious sights - that's one of its charms.
In the past two decades, Madagascar has made the transition from * *"Christian Marxism" to capitalism so the concept of extracting money from tourists is relatively new.WHERE BEST TO SEE WILDLIFE?Plan to visit at least one national park or reserve. You will see the lemurs that feature in the film in the following reserves: Andasibe, Ranomafana, Masoala (rainforest); Berenty, Anj?ark (southern private reserves); Kirindy (the best chance of seeing fossas) and Ampijoroa/Ankarafantsika (western dry forest); Tsingy de Bemaraha, Ankarana ("tsingy" - limestone karst); Montagne d'Ambre (northern rainforest). All have accommodation nearby, from campsites to comfortable hotels. Fifteen shouldn't be too young to give them a taste of freedom, but only you know whether you're happy for your daughter to have unchaperoned independence, or would secretly prefer her to stay somewhere fairly regimented, so the following includes a range of options.If your daughter is set on surfing, the British Surfing Association (01637 876474; ) holds a list of accredited schools in the UK that is worth checking out, but the vast majority provide only training, expecting you to book accommodation separately.One honourable exception is Wavehunters (0870 242 2856; hunters uk ), a surf school and residential lodge in Port Isaac on the north coast of Cornwall. Of these, the top three reserves are Berenty - famous for its ringtailed lemurs, sifakas, reptiles and birds - Andasibe - the only place you will see the largest lemur, the indri, and hear its song, as well as many endemic species of wildlife - and Montagne d'Ambre - a beautiful rainforest with rare lemurs and the best place to see chameleons. A typical itinerary would include the two most popular reserves, Berenty and Andasibe, and a stay at a beach resort.
