Kirindy Forest National Park is a nice place to find some lemurs, fossa, and birds. The park is quite small, and the hiking trails are easy to do and close to each other. This park gives the biggest chance to see the fossa, and it is almost guaranteed. The park is mostly dry forest, which is not very colorful, but seeing the animals in it makes up for it. To learn more about this park, check out this page!

Price: Entrance fee for the park is 50,000 ariary per person, and a compulsory guide is, depending on the hike, between 50,000 and 70,000 for a small group.

Tourist occurrence: Low.

How to get here: 2 hour drive North from Morondava.

How much time needed: 1 Day.

Day hikes

The day hikes start from the ecolodge, and you walk straight into the park. From the moment you enter the park, there are chances of seeing chameleons, birds, and lemurs. On a day hike, there are easy trails, and walking here is very easy. The paths are flat without obstacles in the way, so anyone can do it. The lemurs to find on the day hikes are Verreaux's sifaka and red-fronted brown lemurs (see picture). The hike will take around 3-4 hours.

Night hikes

For the night hikes, you have to drive for a couple of minutes, and from there, you will go into the park. Kirindy Forest is one of the only parks where you can enter the real park at night, which makes it a very cool experience and gives you a fantastic chance to find lemurs. There are 3 species of lemurs that can easily be spotted, and they are plenty. Besides, there is a chance of finding a giant jumping rat. The hike is very easy and will take around 2 hours.

Fossa

Kirindy Forest is by far the park with the biggest chance to find the elusive fossa. The biggest carnivore of terrestrial Madagascar is almost always present, but you can almost never find it except in Kirindy. There are individuals around the ecolodge in the middle of the national park. The big disadvantage for me is that there is a big chance that you will see the fossa eating garbage. This is very unnatural, so yes, it is cool to see a fossa, but how is not the best. During the hikes, it is very tough to find them.

Lemurs

Kirindy Forest is a park where lemurs are found pretty easily. During the day, you can find red-fronted brown lemurs and Verreaux's sifakas. The Verreaux's sifakas are famous as the dancing sifakas, where they jump on the ground. However, they mostly do this in Berenty National Park, I saw one individual doing it. During the night, you have good chances to see grey mouse lemurs, red-tailed sportive lemurs, and pale fork-marked lemurs (see picture). Besides, you also have a very small chance to see Coquerel's giant mouse lemurs. 

When to visit

Kirindy Forest is a park that can be visited throughout the year, but October and November is the mating season of the fossa, which gives you a better chance that a fossa will be around the ecolodge, as they are more active during these months.

Where to stay

The best place for me is to stay in the ecolodge in the middle of the park. The stay is basic, but being in nature is always a treat. Another option is Relais du Kirindy, but this is further away.

Good combination

Kirindy Forest is very close to the road between Morondava and Bekopaka, which makes it an ideal stop for a night on the way back from Bekopaka, where Tsingy de Bemeraha is located, to Morondava. I would recommend going to Kirindy on the way back because it suits seeing the Avenue des Baobabs with the sunset better.

How much time needed

I would recommend staying here for 1 night and 1 day in Kirindy, as it is a small park, and in this time span, there is a big chance of seeing 5 lemur species and the fossa (which I did). When coming from Bekopaka, that means that you come here after lunch, so you can do the night hike later and do the day hike in the morning a day later. Keep looking around the ecolodge for the fossa.

Final thoughts

Kirindy Forest is a perfect stop between Tsingy de Bemaraha and Morondava. Wildlife spotting is great, and you have a good chance of seeing the mighty fossa and many lemur species. Being in a forest is always a treasure, and in Kirindy, you are also with just a few other people. This is a good stop during the long ride. 

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