Ranomafana National Park

A rainforest with no mosquitoes, no venomous snakes, and no poisonous bugs! What a treat! If you want a good guide, ask for Daho. He is incredibly knowledgeable and a descendant of the local forest tribe. He is very adaptable and willing to take you for a whiter more adventurous hike (definitely something we loved!). He works with a teammate, James, who is an excellent animal spotter. Between the two of them we saw several species of lemurs, tons of birds, and all kinds of interesting bugs and plants. Daho is easy to work with, professional, and super knowledgeable. He can tell you stories about local history as well as western science. He is very well versed. If Daho is not available, ask for Linda. She has been guiding for a long time and is also a great wealth of information. She was very accommodating and we saw her handle a variety of groups with care. The park itself was lovely, and we had the good fortune to meet some scientists conducting field work. The night walk for chameleons is also a very good! Remember, be a compassionate and respectful visitor. Do NOT feed the wildlife, no matter how cute they are, and bring extra water for the warm hike! The guide fee is paid at the park entrance and is cash only. There is a parking lot and parking along the road. The entrance has some curiosities for sale and some spices. You can do a circuit in the park, anything from an hour to a half day to a multi day trek.

Absolutely fabulous. I was in awe at the diversity of wildlife we saw within just a few hours. Multiple species of lemurs, chameleons, birds, even a satanic leaf-tailed gecko (so cool!). Our guide, Emile, was incredibly knowledgeable and a pleasure to spend the day with. Ranomafana has a system of wildlife spotters who walk through the park to spot different species, and then inform the guides to bring the guests there. It was an excellent system, and our spotter, Marie, was fantastic! Spend a few days here if you can, as there are several different sections to the park.

It was a nice experience!! We saw 5 different kinds of lemurs. Our tour lasted four hours, which was the right amount of time for us. More would’ve been a bit too much for us since the tour is mostely about seeing the lemus no matter what. Be prepared to walk off-road through the jungle. You are also not alone, as other tourists will cross your path. The guides are very invested and try to give you the best experience. They always helped us to get the best spots to see the animals.

I opted fort the 3-4 hour hike. Lots of lemurs. Some cool looking geckos. Great scenery. Moderate difficulty. The pricing at all Madagascar parks is absurd....still worth it though.

One of the most beautiful parks of Madagascar. Deep rainforest, multiple lemurs, mangooses and birds. Dense forest and some waterfalls around too. Only bad point is some guides feeding some of the animals. Unique bamboo area and endemic species of different animals and trees.

Fabulous National Park. Good walking trails, restaurant and toilet facilities Wonderful flora and fauna

I have to say my expectations were higher. Don't expect to see King Julian lemur, but you can spot some lemurs in distance. We visited this park during August, very dry season, so there was no rain and no leachers on our ankles, hands, faces. It was very humid, we sweat a lot so it was a good walking trip through the tick forest. If I cpuld rate difficulty I would say 3/5. At some parts our guide took us off the paths so be prepare to wrestle with trees and bamboos. Overall it was great trip we took middle one (there us shory, middle and long tour), lot of wildness but spotting lemurs is extremely hard so keep your expectations lower. At the end of tour our guide wanted a tip in the range of entrance ticket. If you wanna see lemur jumping pn your shoulder go to Nosy Be in Lemuria Land. Check my review for that park.

Excellent national park, I've travelled large parts of Madagascar, and this is certainly one of the best rainforest habitats that you will find. I specifically came for the reptile life, and it didn't disappoint. Point of note, you cannot night walk along the main road that bisected the national park without a guide, they have had problems with animal poachers and loggers so you're basically not allowed to wander or poke around on your own. Not the end of the world, but do expect to pay around 35,000MGA (£10) for a guide to accompany you for a 2-3 hr night walk. Worth it, though, as they will be much better at spotting the animals and will know the best spots to check. As others have mentioned, the terrain is steep at points within the park, but there are easier flatter routes as well. The local guides are good spotters and helped us find our target species of chameleons and geckos for photographs, and we saw a few unexpected ones as well. People have mentioned the leeches, while I've found the odd few trying to latch on when walking in other national parks, Ranomafana is definitely the worst I've encountered in Madagascar for leeches, I got covered at times. Wear long loose trousers and tuck shirts in at the waistband, and you'll be fine though, you just have to pause and flick them off your clothing every 20 mins or so. They were more prevalent right down the bottom of the slopes by the streams and river, not many at the top. The river that runs through the park has a wonderful waterfall at the top, and aside from all the amazing animals we saw, it's just a generally wonderful place to go hiking. There's also a bit of history deep within the rainforest with an old holy site, which is like tombstones but not actual graves.