Morondava

Fly to Antananarivo via Paris or Addis, then a domestic hop or a legendary two-day taxi-brousse west.

A beach bungalow in town, then rough camps if you push on to the Tsingy.

The Avenue of the Baobabs at sunset, zebu carts, and — two hard days north — the Tsingy de Bemaraha, a forest of razor limestone spires you cross on rope bridges.

Skip the sunset crowd: go to the baobabs at dawn when it is just you, the trees, and farmers walking to their fields.

April to November

Salama — hello in Malagasy.

Muddling Through in Madagascar by Dervla Murphy — mother and daughter, on foot, in 1983.

Kirindy forest — night walks for the fossa, Madagascar's strange apex predator.