I drove 2,500km across Madagascar to find the world's last lemurs

One epic road trip connects Madagascar's richest wildlife, most spectacular landscapes and the world's last lemurs.

Sitting beneath a thick canopy of trees in Mitsinjo Reserve, I crane my neck skyward, straining beneath the weight of my camera. A flash of white and black fur leaps across my lens, much closer than anticipated. I drop the camera from my eye and the heavy jungle air erupts with the haunting, whale-like cries of the indri, the largest lemur species on Earth.

Critically endangered, strictly arboreal and the origin of man, according to Malagasy lore, the indri is a wide-eyed, tuft-eared rarity known to few but the most exuberant wildlife enthusiasts. Madagascar's crown jewel of more than 150,000 endemic species is sitting just 3m (10ft) above my head.

Madagascar is the only place on Earth where lemurs survive in the wild, and my husband and I had come here to see how much of that extraordinary wildlife we could encounter on an independent road trip. Over three weeks, our 2,500km (1,553-mile) route would take us from the capital, Antananarivo, through rainforest, rice paddies, prehistoric canyons and spiny desert to the island's west coast, linking eight national parks and reserves along the way. With a rented 4X4 and an ever-changing cast of park guides, the route offered a surprisingly achievable way to encounter species found nowhere else on the planet.

The RN7: Madagascar's lemur highway

We rented a 4x4 for the journey, and with the bustle of Antananarivo fading into our rear-view mirror, we rode the RN7's ribbon of freshly laid tarmac up into the central highlands where two-storey trano gasy homes made of red earthen bricks sat on the fringes of expansive rice paddies. Families watched from behind swinging wooden shutters as we passed by. Rolling green hills and terraced valleys grazed by long-horned zebu punctuated the winding roads between towns.

How to do it: Rent a 4x4 vehicle and camping gear from Roadtrip Africa. If you intend to depart the RN7, you can also organise a pisteur through them for a small fee.

Best time to go: May to October, the island's dry season

Don't-miss stops: Mitsinjo Reserve, Anja Reserve, Ranomafana and Isalo National Park offer the most diverse lemur sightings without venturing far from the tarmac.

Our first wildlife stop was the dense jungle of Ranomafana National Park. Trudging through the rain, I followed a local guide – required in Madagascar's national parks and readily available at every park entrance – up the muddy trail. Walking with a slight limp, acquired while rescuing a traveller from a jungle waterfall years ago, he pointed out clumsy red-bellied lemurs, self-assured greater bamboo lemurs basking in the sun and ultra-rare golden bamboo lemurs. The latter survive largely on giant bamboo, consuming quantities of cyanide that would be lethal to most other mammals.

The sheer variety is partly a........

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