Madagascar Unfiltered Day 4&5: Mikea Beaches, Baobab Forest, Glamping, and the Indigenous Tribe

Before I start with my recap of our fourth and fifth day in Madagascar, I just want to say that I know my writing formatting is way off on these posts. I never write this long of titles or sentences (at least try not to), so apologies if the content has been somewhat hard to read!

Moving right along! Here’s the main highlight days of the tour that Wau Madagascar put together for us:

Madagascar Day 4: Finally Arrive in Mikea!

This entire itinerary is built around the main climax of reaching the Mikea Forest area! It’s an extremely remote part of Madagascar that requires a lot of driving, off-roading, and even a boat along the coast to get there! The reason why it is not directly accessible by road is because the actual roads are so bad that you can’t drive them.

But more importantly, the reason why the Mikea area is so special, is not only because of the stunning scenery you’ll see, but also the nature is still relatively un-touched and intact.

Baobabs in abundance for example are rare now due to deforestation. As I’ve mentioned, many tourists just go to Baobab Alley to see them because it’s easiest, but in Mikea, they are in some of the last natural land areas. Then there’s also the Mikea tribe, which I’ll get to in a bit.

The Adventurous Route to Mikea Lodge

I’m giving this it’s own section because the way we got to Mikea Lodge deserves some attention. We basically had to go off-roading in four wheel drive on a sand and dirt road for two hours to start with. It was so bumpy and swervey that we were all literally holding on to the car at all times.

While continuously thinking “When will this end?!” my brain somehow also half thought of how interesting it was to see the villages that are built closer to the ocean. Every little town we had passed through in the past couple of days was built differently, but these ones were now my favorite.

They built tall fences made of perfectly placed wood branches around their villages, likely for privacy but also to keep the sands from blowing into their homes. Their homes were made of the same wood branches, and reminiscent of beach tiki huts.

You can catch glimpses of the kool-aid blue ocean on the shore in the distance, as well as the many wooden boats they use for fishing every day.

When we finally got to a town called Ankasy after that off-roading adventure, we boarded a rather nice speedboat for a one hour ride along the coast to Mikea.

Arriving in Mikea by Zebu Cart

When we finally got to the shores in front of Mikea Lodge, we were greeted by some seriously stunning, clear-blue, shallow waters. We were fully prepared to hike up our dresses and walk the half mile from the beach to the shore without a doubt, and actually eager to do it!

Then we saw two ebony black Zebu’s pulling a wooden cart in our direction. We assumed that was how our luggage was going to get from the boat to the shore, and marveled at the thought of that. It was also remarkable to see how the giant beasts contrasted with the light water and sand.

As we were about to jump down into the water though, the boat skipper stopped us and indicated that the cart was to take us to the shore! I was hesitant because I felt bad for the Zebu’s, but had to consider that in this country it’s what these animals are bred to do. Plus if these Zebus weren’t working…they would probably be someone’s dinner.

So the four of us crammed in the small, rickety wooden cart, and held on tight as the Zebu splashed back to shore.

Lunch and Beach Relaxing at Mikea Lodge

Today is the first day we got to actually relax and enjoy the location we were in for more than an hour. We were greeted with delicious welcome drinks, then immediately put orders in for a fresh seafood lunch. I had fish skewers and homemade mash (that I had been craving since seeing the “Mash Potato Sandbars” in Bazaruto), that was absolutely salivating.

We were then shown to our glamping chalets, which line the beach and are separated by young Baobab trees. The stilted, overlarge tents were as chic as tents can get, including a fabulous outdoor hot shower!

When the sun finally set, we enjoyed another delicious meal followed by local music and dancing by the staff and a Malagasy band! (And to be completely real, we stayed in the main restaurant to use WiFi to work for the remainder of the night).

NOTE! I must give a massive shoutout to the amazing family that currently manages the Mikea Lodge: Caroline and Peter (and their two adorable little kids Pierre and Sapphire). They are not only beyond hospital, but extremely fun and interesting to talk to! I hope you’ll get a chance to meet them when you go!

Madagascar Day 5: Baobab Forest, Mikea Forest, & the Indigenous Tribe

We woke up early for our included breakfast, then it was back to adventure time! The first activity we were scheduled to do was ride Buggys and quads to the Baobab Forest, which was an adventure itself!

I immediately called first dibs on driving the buggy…which…is impressive considering I just recently recovered from PTSD and anxiety from a bus flip accident last year and a car flip while I was driving the year before. The buggy’s are made for sand and off-roading though, so after the first 30 minutes of freaking out, I convinced myself it was safe.

We swerved and slid through the sandy pathway, passing a couple villages and tons of bush until we finally started seeing multiple Baobab trees. Finally we reached an area where they were dense enough to be considered a forest!

The Baobab trees we saw were probably between 600-900 years old! The wider the tree, the older it is! Also, the reason why the Baobab trunks are so massive, is because that’s where they store their water for the dry seasons. They are thought of as the “Tree of Life” and also a legend says that they were planted upside down…

Mikea Forest and the Indigenous Mikea Tribe

Later in the day we set out for another adventure; trekking through the Mikea Forest to look for people of the Mikea Tribe. The Mikea Tribe is unique because they are one of the last indigenous tribes in Madagascar that still live completely primitively. They don’t use any electronics or electricity, nor do they have actual homes or clothes aside from loincloths.

They prefer this way of life, so choose not to interact with civilization unless absolutely necessary; which typically is out of need. We learned what those circumstances were when we met a small family, but I’ll explain how we were able to meet them first.

There is only one family in the Mikea Tribe who has agreed to let foreigners meet them. They are a man and woman with two little girls (sadly their son had recently passed away). In order to find them, you have to go with a skilled local guide, which we had from Mikea Lodge, who knows how to find them and who has learned their language in order to translate.

I say “find them” because they are nomadic; traveling about 10kms every day or so depending on where they find food. So in order to locate where they currently are, you must continuously walk through the Mikea Forest and look for smoke from their fires, and listen for their voices. 

When we found them, our guide went ahead first to ask permission if we could meet them. The wife, named Ravnal (translates to leaves in their language) agreed, and we met her and her two daughters.

I’ll 100% admit that I felt a bit uncomfortable at first because all I could think of was that these people probably think we’re looking at them like zoo animals. I didn’t want to make them feel uncomfortable as well, especially since they weren’t clothed, but I was interested to hear their story.

We conversed as much as we could through our guide translating, and learned about how they lived. It was honestly one of the most raw, real, and authentic experiences I’ve had with another culture.

Ravnal answered all of our questions such as, “What types of foods do you look for”, “Do you use certain plants for medicines”, and “How did you make the fire”, and she even instructed her youngest daughter to come show us the Zebu horn and piece of flint they use to spark it.

Even though they all smiled, and laughed when we tried to pronounce “Thank you” and “Goodbye” in their dialect, I still wondered if they thought we were intruding, or glad to share about their lives.

Madagascar Baobab Camp

Sun was setting by the time we finally left the Mikea tribe family, and we set off to find our camp that the Mikea Lodge had set up for us. In addition to the Baobab Forest excursion, Mikea Lodge is also going to start offering the Baobab Camp option for guests!

The military grade tents were set up in between a cluster of three obtuse 900-year old Baobabs. They came complete with a front patio area that even had a camp-wine-cooler! If you’re not a huge fan of camping, you can have the option to head to the camp for a BBQ and bonfire, then head back to your chalet at Mikea Lodge!

Since we were covered in dirt from the buggy and four wheeler excursions, we opted to sleep back at the lodge. Well, and also of course because we needed wifi to be able to post things like this for you to read 🙂

Tomorrow will be the last entry of this series before I post a round up of tips and important travel information about Madagascar! Be sure to subscribe to my posts on Instagram, Facebook, or on here to get updated, and also to sign up for my Madagascar Eco-Tour next year!

Disclosure: This tour was sponsored by WAU Madagascar, however all experiences, opinions, and writing are my own!