Masoala Forest Lodge

the best lodge for coastal rainforest in Madagascar

Masoala Forest Lodge is located in the Masoala Forest Reserve area to the northeast of Madagascar.

The lodge was founded (and is still sometimes personally hosted) by Pierre Bester from South Africa, who previously had a kayaking operation on Lake Malawi, amongst other exotic locations. He fell in love with Masoala when on a sea-kayaking expedition through the area and returned to build the lodge in 2004. Maria Bester is originally from Germany, another epic adventurer who first fell in love with Africa when driving from her home all the way to Cape Town, where the two met. She came to the lodge in 2010.

The couple now have a really strong team of local Malagasy staff, including guides, hosts and chefs.

The lodge is centred on a simple thatched lounge and dining area known as The Beach House, tucked away amongst the palm trees at the back of the beach.

From there a boardwalk leads up to an elevated beach bar and further dining area known as The Sea Deck.

There is also a small massage tent.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Masoala Forest Lodge is in seven tented rooms under thatch, which are raised up on elevated decks at the back of the beach, with private open bathrooms to the rear.

Activities

Masoala Forest Lodge provides access to the following activities …

• Walking safari
• Snorkelling
• Kayaking
• Cultural visits
• Night walking safari

Thanks to the presence of the one excellent lodge and its reasonably easy access by air, the Masoala area tends to feature in a good proportion of trips. This is a cool outpost.

The usual stay duration is 3-4 nights.

Seasonality

The best time to visit Masoala is generally considered to be Sep-Nov, which is the latter part of the dry season.

We would probably add December into the mix, since the wildlife viewing usually continues to be strong then.

The area experiences a tropical rainforest climate, which is to say that it’s reliably hot, humid and rainy. In fact the area can experience in excess of 5000 mm (200″) of rain in a year, which is a lot.

The temperatures are relatively constant year round, with peak daytime temperatures around 28C/82F and nighttime temperatures a potentially uncomfortable 20C/68F. The relative humidity is around 85% year round, which doesn’t help.

The Sep-Nov period represents the ‘dry’ season, although with an average of 125mm/5′ of rain per month, this would be considered rainy in most locations. The rain also tends to fall during the day. However temperatures tend to be slightly lower and the prevailing conditions are very much sunny.

The Dec-Apr period represents the main rainy season, with an average rainfall of around 400mm/16″ of rain per month, which is a lot. You can expect heavy and potentially continuous downpours every other day, but with plenty of sunny weather in between. For much of this season the rain tends to fall at night, leaving the days clear. Temperatures can soar Jan-Apr in particular.

The Jun-Aug period can get very windy out at sea, making the crossing from Masaola much more challenging and potentially hampering snorkelling, canoeing and whale-watching activities.

Getting there

The only practicable way to get to Masoala is to fly from the capital Antananarivo to the town of Maroantsetra on the northwest coast, from where it is a (potentially arduous) motorboat transfer of around two hours across Antongil Bay to the forest.

accessed by light aircraft from the capital