Ranomafana means 'hot water' and as its name suggests there are also hot thermal baths supposedly reported to have healing qualities. On your Madagascar tour it's possible to hire a masseuse for an hour of pampered relaxation! Once again there are options for the length of walk you can do - 2 hours, 3 ½ hours and 5 hours.

The services of a guide for the group are included on your Madagascar tour. The rest of the day is free to visit the village or the thermal baths and to have lunch. You will head back to the Park at approximately 4:30pm for an early evening viewing of nocturnal Lemurs, after which dinner is at your leisure. Breakfast is included. 

Day 8: Fianarantsoa, Madagascar

Today you head south on your Madagascar tour for Fianarantsoa, meaning 'place of good learning' and the capital of the Betsileo people. This is the second largest town in Madagascar and an education centre. The town is situated in the middle of the islands richest tea and wine producing area and the town is a maze of cobbled lanes, steep alleys and medieval architecture.

On your Madagascar tour you are free to explore the town and markets at your leisure. It's also a good place to change money and catch up with communications, and there is a large selection of restaurants and food stalls. Breakfast is included.

Day 9: Ranohira, Madagascar

Departing after breakfast you will head for Ranohira on this leg of your Madagascar tour. The journey of this Madagascar tour will be broken up by a visit to a local paper factory in Ambalavao - this is an open-air factory, which is well worth the visit for a chance to see the step-by-step ancient paper making process.

The people in this area are Betsileo, but their papermaking copies the coastal Antaimoro tradition, which goes back to the Muslim immigrants who wrote verses from the Koran on this paper. This Arabic script was the only form of writing known in Madagascar before the LMS developed a written Malagasy language nearly five hundred years later using the Roman alphabet.

Antaimoro paper is traditionally made from the bark of the Avoha tree from the eastern forests. After the bark is pounded and softened in water it is smoothed on to linen trays to dry in the sun. While still tacky, dried flowers are pressed into it and brushed over with a thin solution of the liquid bark to hold the flowers in place.