Antananarivo Tours in November 2026

Madagascar is an extraordinary country facing numerous challenges. Its national parks are excellent and much of the scenery is spectacular. It is, however, very poor and facing many environmental challenges. This makes it all the more creditable that the hotels and food on this trip were both so good.

I have been dreaming of seeing lemurs in the wild since I was young and this trip did not disappoint. I had never done a group tour before and was admittedly very hesitant to sign-up for one, but the itinerary allowed me to see most of what I wanted to, so I thought I'd give it a try. In the two weeks, we were able to see thirteen species of lemurs, which was thrilling and more than I had expected. The itinerary is thoughtfully laid out and even the long days travelling were made better by the many stops and stories from our group leader. I can't describe the feeling of first arriving to our cabins in Andasibe to the sounds of Indri calls in the forest. It was really out of this world. The diversity of landscapes and parks that we visited was excellent and I couldn't have planned it better myself. Having a local guide and engaging (mostly) with local tour operators and businesses was an important aspect of the trip for me as well. Overall, excellent adventure that I wish I could go back in time and do again.

An amazing experience unlike any I've had before. The trip was well organised and led by our guide Liva through the country. I was initially concerned by the considerable driving in the trip but in reality this was great as you see so much on the road and you have to drive far in Madagascar to see the best sights. The accommodation and food was good; the people, scenery and animals amazing!

This was a brilliant trip which covered a huge amount of territory and exposed us to many different types of landscape and countryside. There were some very long drives but they were fascinating and comfortable and there were plenty of opportunities to get out and stretch our legs. The accommodation was better than expected and in places absolutely lovely, and generally the food was very good, although the breakfasts were sometimes less than appealing. It was easy to buy good South African wine almost everywhere for dinner, and cold beer was available everywhere. We saw much more wildlife and far more lemurs of many different varieties than I had expected, and there were many good photo opportunities.

This was an amazing trip using a variety of transport through a culturally diverse country with varied landscapes and incredible flora and fauna much of which is endemic to Madagascar. This is far more than a wildlife spotting trip, it is an active trip with early starts and most days were packed full-every day was an adventure.

The aspects of this trip within Explore's control were generally excellent and our leader, Charles, was one of the best I have ever had. The wildlife viewing parts of the trip were particularly good and we saw animals we would never see elsewhere, some requiring very expert guidance to be spotted at all. The royal palace visit was also interesting. There was, however, a lot of very slow driving which I feel was understated in Explore's pre-trip information (e.g. 100km at an average speed of 20 km/hour). In the very best accommodation (from the room and restaurant facilities viewpoint) I suffered a wound requiring 12 stitches and poor illumination of a tricky kink in a path through the grounds beside a low wall topped by sharp edged rock contributed to this, although I would doubtless have avoided this accident if I had been as careful as is my habit. My companions suffered a loss of baggage left behind by the airline at the start of our internal flight. This was only returned about a month after returning to the UK, although that long delay was probably due to civil unrest which also curtailed the activities of the last two days in Antananarivo.