Tak's Travel Tips & When to VisitMadagascar.....
Madagascar is a French (and Malagasy)-speaking African island nation which has one of the most vast bio-diversities on the planet. It is also very impoverished.
Best Time to Visit Madagascar
Short Answer: Great times to visit Madagascar are April through June and September through November. Best time I believe is April and May for landscapes and October & November for wildlife.
Longer Answer: Note that the wet season runs from Mid-November through April, with the cyclone season running from January to mid-March timeframe. Generally you should avoid January to March as it is the wettest.
Northern Madagascar experiences the most rain in the wet season out of the various regions.
The middle of Madagascar is wettest November through March, and is dry May through September.
Southern Madagascar has less rainfall than the middle of the country but follows the same rough monthly patterns.
Surfing is generally good during the dry season, sometime between April and October. Diving is best from mid-July through October. Whales pass by in the June to September timeframe. Orchids flower in the rainy month of February.
If you want green landscapes, head to Madagascar after the rains in months such as April and May. If you want to spot game animals, wait for it to dry out.
The vanilla harvest begins sometime between late-May and July. Traditional methods would require another 6 to 8 months for the beans to sweat and cure in a wooden box. The best vanilla is found in the northwest.
October and November are good times to visit, especially during the first rains of November for animal courtship, lemur births, etc.
July and August are high seasons due to vacationing Europeans and Americans. Despite it being dry, I generally avoid this time of year if able. However, this is a good time to go otherwise.
Miscellaneous Travel Tips for Madagascar
Nice beaches on the west coast. Beware of currents and sharks on the east coast.
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2 Comments
My husband and I want to go on a vacation where we can take lots of great pictures, and we’ve been considering going to Madagascar. Your article had some great travel tips for Madagascar, and I really liked how you said to go in the months of May or April if we want to see green landscapes. Thanks for the helpful post; we’ve seen so many amazing photos of Madagascar, we want to go take some for ourselves!
Thanks for much for the nice comment Jocelyn. April starts a great shoulder season to visit, after the heavy rains. Enjoy and best wishes!