A 645km-long series of man-made lakes and waterways, the Pangalanes Canal extends from Foulpoint near Tamatave, all the way southwards to Faragangana.
One of its northern lakes, Ampitabe, is where Le Palmarium - a popular stop for natural history photographers - is located. If you want to see plenty of habituated lemurs and if wildlife photography is your thing, look no further.
Le Palmarium's private reserve is home to a variety of lemurs, but some of these are not indigenous to the area, so were introduced by the proprietors. The introductions include Coquerel's sifakas from western Madagascar as well as Crowned and Black lemurs from northern Madagascar. There has been some hybridising going on between Black and Crowned lemurs.
On the other hand, Palmarium is an amazing place in which to observe up close, Black & white ruffed lemurs, which are nationally scarce and which occur across a large swathe of eastern Madagascar. It is also the best place in which to see semi wild Aye ayes - guests can visit a small, wooded islet offshore after dark. (So if Aye ayes are high on your list, then this is THE place to go).
Note that these excursions can involve a shared boat, in which case, there is a supplement of €35 for a private boat to the islet, subject to availability.
This tract of east coast littoral forest in the property also holds a selection of Malagasy reptiles, frogs and invertebrates.
Le Palmarium
About an hour by motorised boat from Manambato village (which in turn is about 4 - 5 hours drive east of Andasibe on roads that include some rough sections following cyclone damage in 2022 and 2023) or 2h,30min - 3hr motorised boat transfer from Port Fluvial, Tamatave, this simple, relaxed and no-frills lodge is on the shores of tranquil Lac Ampitabe Lac Ampitabe is part of the Pangalanes Canal,...
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