Overview

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Book by Oct 29, 2010 to receive a price reduction of $1,000 per person in all categories.

There are over 120 known species of lemur living in the forests of Madagascar. They’re some of the most extraordinary animals you could ever hope to see, and Madagascar is virtually the only place they exist in the wild. These ancient, miniature primates – with names like Ring-Tailed, Ruffled, Mouse, and Sportive – are everywhere, leaping and darting with quick elegance, and looking back at you with vast, intelligent eyes.



About 65 million years ago, the lemurs’ ancient ancestors migrated to Madagascar over the ocean, rafting across the sea on dense mats of vegetation.

If that’s astonishing, it’s nothing compared to the wonders of nature and culture we will see together on this voyage to Madagascar and Mozambique. These rarely-visited African nations could not be more different from one another, except in their exotic beauty.

Madagascar is a global treasure of nature: very much like the Galapagos, except on an epic scale – it’s the 4th-largest island in the world. It contains 5% of the world’s plant and animal species. We’ll wander through immense rain forest ferns to observe chameleons, butterflies, birds, and lemurs – and parade through the awe-inspiring Avenue of the Baobabs.

Mozambique’s gentle turquoise seas and peaceful, broad beaches were a welcome sight to Portuguese explorers after rounding the Cape of Good Hope. In the Bazaruto Archipelago, we’ll marvel at a sublime vista of totally unspoiled islands with immense schools of tropical fish in the waters below. And we’ll experience a fascinating mix of African, Arab, European, and Indian influences in the historic trading post of Inhabane and a little bit of Portugal and Brazil in the squares of Maputo.

We’ll also enjoy wonderful accommodations aboard the elegant, 114-guest, all-suite Corinthian II, while our study leaders will help create an extraordinarily enriching journey. This is an experience of Africa unlike anything you’ve seen before. We hope you can join us.

Watch a photo slideshow of Chris J. Raxworthy's most recent trip to Madagascar in search of a new species of chameleon in the New York Times here: View his slideshow