Masoala is the largest national park in Madagascar, covering more than two thousand square kilometers of rainforest on a rugged peninsula in the northeast, and this point lies on its western side, facing Antongil Bay. The bay is wide, deep and sheltered, one of the best places in the Indian Ocean to see humpback whales, which come to calve between about July and September. The town of Maroantsetra, at the head of the bay, is the usual gateway, a quiet, humid place with a river, a market and boats waiting at the shore.
The forest here is among the richest in the country. Masoala is the only home of the red ruffed lemur, a large and noisy animal whose chorus can carry across the valley, and it shelters aye-ayes, fossas, dozens of chameleon species, tiny leaf-tailed geckos and a huge variety of orchids and palms. Rain falls through much of the year, up to several meters, so the leaf litter is thick and the air carries the smell of wet earth. Together with other eastern rainforests, the park is part of the UNESCO site called the Rainforests of the Atsinanana, listed in 2007.
For anyone thinking of riding, the truth is that there are few roads here. The peninsula has no through route, and the park is reached mostly by boat across the bay or by trails on foot. The roads that do exist around Maroantsetra are dirt and mud, often impassable in the cyclone season from January to March, and suited to local motorbikes and sturdy four-wheel-drive vehicles. Even in the dry months, from about September to November, streams must be crossed and ferries waited for.
Services are limited. Maroantsetra has a few small guesthouses, and fuel is limited and sold in small quantities, so plan on carrying what you need if you come by road. Trips into the park are best arranged with local guides who can arrange boats, camping and permits.
If you stay on the water, the evening is memorable. Fishermen paddle out in dugout canoes with the forest dark behind them, and the call of a lemur floats across the bay as the light fades.