One of the things on my must-do list for my trip to Madagascar in 2023 was to visit the Lemurs’ Park, at Katsaoka, just 22 km from the capital, Antananarivo.
Ring-Tailed Lemur:
Lemurs Park Madagascar was established in 2001 to rehome and help the dwindling population of Madagascar’s national animal.
Lemurs are a family of the world’s oldest living primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. Some think they arrived from Africa on hollowed-out logs, but others say they existed in the region when Madagascar was still attached to the rest of Africa.
Lemurs are an endangered species.
Despite being a protected species, they are endangered, close to extinction.
Ongoing deforestation, slash-and-burn agriculture, illegal logging and mining, the Lemurs have lost 44% of their natural habitat since the 1950s. They are also hunted for their meat and kept as pets.
The Lemurs’ Park currently has 7 species:
- Black Lemur
- Black-and-white Ruffed Lemur
- Coquerel’s Sifaka Lemur
- Crowned Sifaka Lemur
- Ring-tailed Lemur
- Indri Lemur
- Bamboo Lemur
How much does it cost to visit the Lemurs Park?
The entrance fees as of 2025 are as follows:
Adult: 75,000 Ar (around €15)
Child (5 to 12 years): 30,000 Ar
A guide is compulsory. I joined 2 others, and Jonathon was our guide.
When is the best time to go?
The best part of the day to spot the lemurs is between 7 am and 10 am.
The Park is open all year round; however, it might be worth considering that from May to October is the dry season, which makes for a better experience.
The park is just 5 hectares, so there is a limit on the number that can be cared for there. The different species have their own territories within the park. So they work in collaboration with other national parks where they are reintroduced to the wild.
The mating season depends on the species, but that only happens once a year, giving birth to just 1 baby at a time and with the gestation period between 3.5 and 5.5 months, it will take a long time to get the numbers back up, which is why the work at the Lemurs’ Park is vital.
A great moment for the Nomadic Backpacker timeline. My first sighting of a Lemur. The male Black Lemur:
A bit closer:
The female Black Lemur:
Crowned Sifaka Lemur:
Coquerel’s Sifaka, named after the French entomologist Charles Coquerel:
Black and White Ruffed Lemur:
More photos of the Crowned Sifaka Lemur at the Lemurs Park near Antananarivo in Madagascar:
Ring-Tailed Lemur:
You can see many tortoises here too
And after, enjoy a good meal and a beer in the on site restaurant:
How to get to the Lemurs Park at Katsaoka, near Antananarivo:
Here is the location of the Lemurs Park on Google Maps. And I took a local minivan, known as “Taxi-Brousse” to get there.
You can’t miss them. They are everywhere, and if you live by the catch phrase ‘travel like a local’, this is what you are gonna be using. And as a solo traveller, on a low budget, like always, this is my go-to mode of transport, travelling on the cheap, crammed in like sardines.
The big problem with these mostly clapped-out bush taxis, other than them being cramped and a major cause of the pollution here, is knowing where they start and finish and what routes they follow.
I had some vague knowledge I gained from the tourist office. On RN 1 heading southwest out of town, there is, or rather was, the Southern Taxi-Brousse Station as pinpointed on Google Maps and MapsMe. This is no longer in use!
Les Taxis-Brousse line up on RN 1 in the Anosibe district after the Colas Madagascar Construction. The road that goes past the now-defunct Southern Taxi-Brousse Station. It’s chaotic in the extreme!
The Lemurs’ Park is just near the small town of Katsaoka. This is the keyword you need to remember. Don’t try and muster in your best French, “Excuse me, but do you go to Katsaoka?” Not everyone speaks French here. Locals who started working at 5 years old had no time to go to school, so they just say Katsaoka and look inquisitive.
We crawled along picking up passengers. The driver’s mate who hangs off the back collects the money.
“9,000 Ariary”. I was like, that’s steep. But whatever. I had found locals very trusting, and until now, prices have never inflated.
I gave him a 20,000 note. Sometime later, I get my change. 18,200. So the ride was 1,800 Ariary, not 9,000 Ariary. Weird, I hear you ask? Sort of. Up until 2005, they used a different currency. The Malagasy Franc. This is 5 times the Malagasy Ariary. 1,800 x 5 is 9,000. And 18 years later, they still quote the prices in the old money. I knew that.
Traffic going out of town is mental. It’s mental everywhere, and despite it being only 20km, it took nearly 90 minutes.
From the bus stop, it’s just a 5-minute walk to the Lemurs’ Park.
Thankfully, I caught a ride back to town with some newly made friends!