Antananarivo Tours in August 2026

Armand was an excellent Explore Leader always conscientious, caring and full of information about his country and the amazing wildlife. He is highly experienced and this showed. The trip is very busy, there is very little downtime and the long days on the terrible roads are tiring. I would make the following suggestions: In July/August you need warm clothes, waterproofs and walking boots, trainers won't do it. Don't stay at the Feony Ala Bungalows in Andasibe in July/Aug. There is no heat anywhere, it was 7C in the morning and everything was damp/wet. This trip needs an additional day in Hotel Relais de la Reine Isola. There is so much to see and do there and it's beautiful. The last day in Tana wasn't good. We spent 2 hours driving to the countryside to see an average "palace" we had a BBQ meal that no one really wanted then spent 2 hours driving back to Tana to go to a gift shop. It would be better to drop the palace in the countryside. Spend half a day exploring Haute Ville in Tana then give people time back at the hotel to rest to restbefore the last dinner.

My husband and I recently returned from the Lost Continent trip to Madagascar. It was an amazing experience that will live in our memories for a long time. Our guide Armand was fantastic, a genuinely caring, knowledgeable, conscientious person, with a deep love for his country, it's people and its wildlife. He looked after us brilliantly and we learnt so much from him. The itinerary was full but we saw a lot. Some of the days involved many hours in the bus but given the size of the country and the state of its roads this was inevitable. The poverty was confronting, more so than in any of the other developing countries we have visited. The accommodation was mostly excellent, the one exception being the lodge at Andasibe Reserve (Feon'ny Ala Bungalows) where the rooms were dark, cold and rather damp. I think Explore could consider alternative places if available in the area. We all would have liked an extra day at the extraordinary Isalo National Park, and could have traded this off with one less day at the beach at the end (though we all enjoyed the snorkeling trip, whale watching, and the opportunity to relax). The local guides were excellent, though there were a couple of occasions when their desire to help us get good photos resulted in disturbance to the wildlife (though Armand did his best to limit this). Another suggestion would be to have a water reservoir on the bus with a filter (so as to be able to use tap water), so that we could fill water bottles without the need to buy so much plastic. I note that Explore did recommend taking a filter bottle (which some of us had but not everyone). Finally, one of the most distressing manifestations of poverty was children running beside the bus in some of the villages in the south begging for water. We would like to donate to reputable charities that are addressing this need and guidance from Explore as to which charities are likely to be the most effective would be appreciated, though I understand you may not be able to do this. This was out first Explore trip and I'm sure won't be our last.

We were lucky to have been taken through the incredible sights of Madagascar with the most wonderful tour leader, Armand. His knowledge, his energy and his enthusiasm knew no bounds. Despite being very full-on, he kept us feeling positive and we knew, without such a tightly packed and varied itinerary, we wouldn't have seen so much. Highly recommended.

Excellent tour very well managed by our tour leader. Most of the accommodation was good or excellent. Included meals were either good or excellent. The guide was excellent. Transport was by way of a clean & comfortable small coach with an experienced driver. The itenerary was quite full on with early starts and some long days but we saw some amazing sights including multiple types of birds, lemurs, lizard and many others. We also made use of local guides with specialist local knowledge in many of the national parks and they brought everything into sharper focus. This was our first trip with Explore. We will definitely do future trips with them and would not hesitate to recommend this tour.

Our Culture and Wildlife of Madagascar tour was terrific. We thoroughly enjoyed our day and night walks to see lemurs, chameleons and more. We also experienced many aspects of the local culture, and we especially enjoyed the coastal lakes area of the Pangalanes, a tropical paradise. Our guide was informative and keen, and our accomodation was very comfortable.

"Madagascan Discoverer" was a truly wonderful, very enjoyable, multi-faceted trip with a really excellent guide, Rija. I am writing this review to inform future customers about 1 less-than-good aspect because it might be a safety issue for some people booking this holiday. In addition, Exodus has failed to respond to the comments I made in my on-line post-holiday evaluation about this, so I do not know if Exodus has read the evaluation and is going to do anything to improve the situation. My criticism relates to the harnesses provided for the walk in the Grands Tsingy. Mine was too big for me, even when the smallest harness the company had was adjusted to the smallest possible size. This same problem also affected another person in the group. Both of us are slimmer than most other British adults. Fortunately, neither of us fell and came to any harm. If we had fallen and had had to rely on the harnesses to keep us safe, there would have been the potential for an accident or injury. If you are slim or if you have children who are intending to do the Via Ferrata in the Grands Tsingy, please consider bringing your or their own harness(es) that fits you/them. A harness that does not fit the wearer is of little use. I climb regularly and know how important this piece of equipment is and how a proper fit is necessary for safety. This deficiency on the part of Exodus is made worse because I had actually queried with Exodus BEFORE the trip whether I should bring my own harness to Madagascar. The reply that the Exodus rep gave me was that we would not be doing Via Ferrata and there was no need for the harness. This reveals that the Exodus representative does not know her product: we definitely did a Via Ferrata and we used climbing equipment. Other than this failing, and one or two things which were beyond the control of Exodus, the holiday was very good, hugely interesting and varied and I had a great time. I fully recommend this holiday and in particular, commend Rija for her excellent guiding.