Madagascar: The Lost Continent

Great trip and the Guide and drivers were excellent.

Fantastic trip! As with most trips, a good guide makes all the difference and Charles was one of the best we've had. He's on top of everything, is very knowledgeable about the culture, history and wildlife of Madagascar. We traveled at the end of August and it is quite chilly and sometimes rainy in the highlands, so bring warm clothes! The second half of the trip was in the lowlands and was much warmer, we were wearing t-shirts and shorts and spending time in the pool.

Fantastic trip! Charles was among the best guides we have ever had - knowledgable about the culture and wildlife, organized, a great communicator, and incredibly patient. We saw 18 different lemur species! Our group of 10 was fun and easy-going. Madagascar is a beautiful country with fascinating history and culture. In the winter months (June, July, August), bring warm layers! We were happy to have rain pants and rain jackets. A headlamp or flashlight and hiking boots are musts.

Good itinerary. Tour leader very helpful.

Madagascar's treasures are unique and close to extinction, and so definitely deserve serious consideration when planning a holiday. But the infrastructure for travel - roads and airlines, can quite challenging. Explore organizes and delivers a wonderful itinerary, but be prepared for long journeys across very bumpy roads for even short distances

Fantastic trip. Varied and interesting itinerary with plenty of amazing fauna and flora in abundance. I would definitely recommend this trip for anyone with a passion for the great outdoors.

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.