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Powdery white beaches, palm trees and impossibly blue waters dominate everyone’s imagination of tropical island escapes. Even better if there is no one else there.
This is the case at Cap Masoala, the destination of the Blue Lagoon Expedition, where time might as well have stood still for the past few hundred years. Rural people survive there on a subsistence lifestyle and over the past 20 years have accepted guests as part of the community.
Some 50km from the base camp at Masoala Forest Lodge lies Cap Masoala, the very tip of the Masoala Peninsula. This remote location holds a small rural population that depends largely on the sea for subsistence and has the luxury of a fortnightly visit by a coastal trading boat for rarer goods. It really is miles from anywhere and as a result has an idyllic, disconnected feel.
Access is literally only by boat from Masoala Forest Lodge and guests can stay there only as part of the Blue Lagoon Expedition, the first nights of which are spent at Masoala Forest Lodge after first flying into Maroantsetra Airport some 90km from Cap Masoala.
On this expedition you combine the core area of Masoala National Park and rainforest with a marine exploration of the Blue Lagoon, its beaches, fringing reefs and offshore islets by kayak and outrigger pirogue. Walk the shores and snorkel the coves while still finding time for night walks in search of lemurs and sundowners on old crumbling colonial lighthouses. Simple food, fresh air, and midday siestas in shady hammocks are the order of the day.
This expedition takes place in the summer months of October, November, and December during optimal ocean conditions.
Day
1
Antananarivo to Masoala National Park [Masoala Forest Lodge]
Scheduled charter from Antananarivo to the small coastal trading town of Maroantsetra where you are welcomed by the lodge team. Drive to the harbour and boat to Masoala Forest Lodge. Meet your guide and the lodges managers and settle into camp. Enjoy the sunset with a drink at the beach fire followed by dinner.
Day
2
Masoala Forest Lodge
After a leisurely breakfast head to the primary forest in search of Red Ruffed Lemurs, Helmet Vangas and an array of other rainforest wildlife. After lunch enjoy snorkeling and swimming in front of the camp, and then later the adventure of a forest night walk.
Day
3
Masoala Forest Lodge
Kayak or boat south along the coast to the sacred island of Nosy Ndraindra, continue to the nearby beach of Ampamoavana where a picnic lunch is set up for you. Kayak or boat back and enjoy the stunning views of the forest from the ocean. Join us back at the lodge for a traditional Malagasy night.
Day
4
Masoala Forest Lodge
Snorkel the reefs at tooth rock near the lodge in the morning. In the afternoon enjoy a coastal walk to the Tampolo River and take the traditional dugout canoe up the river. Here you have good chances of spotting bamboo lemurs, Nelicorvi weavers and kingfishers. You will also encounter the unique scenery of mangroves and volcanic rock formations and enjoy the magical silence on the river.
Day
5
Cap Masoala [Crusoe's Cabin]
This morning you load up the expedition boat and travel 40km south to Cap Masoala, the very tip of the Peninsula; after lunch and settling into Crusoe’s Cabin we explore the marine surroundings.