Top Travel Deals in Madagascar

This was an excellent holiday which happily we returned from some days before the UK advised against all travel to Madagascar. Hopefully problems will be resolved enough for people to go in the future. Our tour leader Armand was truly excellent. Our bus driver and assistant did a great job on awful roads. Our group was a lovely group of 9 guests and worked well together. I was amazed how many lemurs we got to see and how close. The forests, reserves and parks are very good and the guides excellent. The evening walks were good as well as the daytime ones. The Tritriva crater lake and the Ranohira canyon area are spectacular and not to be missed. There were chances to experience local culture and see some dancing. The cultural evening at Ambositra was particularly good. I chose the optional snorkelling trip followed by lunch on the beach and can recommend these highly. The hotels are typical of Explore, pretty good on the whole but not top of the range. Minor niggles occur in the odd place such as only one towel for a couple, poor bar service etc. but mostly very good. The best hotel was Relais de la Reine near Ranohira, both for location and service. Most of the others very good too. But Artisan hotel at Ambositra had a very pokey little room and Feon'ny Ala Bungalows at Andasibe was truly awful with leaky plumbing. I would recommend taking a head torch with plenty of batteries and not just for evening walks. Most of the hotels have their own generators but don't always run them the whole time the electricity is off. Even when the electricity is on the lighting is often poor so the head torch helps. The food I found was generally excellent quality but often the portion size was rather big for me. I used a watertogo filter bottle to drink tap water from and bottled water for cleaning teeth and used regular hand sanitiser especially after handling money and I didn't suffer any stomach bug, though a few people did. A unique holiday - put it on your bucket list!

This was a fantastic experience. We saw so much amazing wild life particularly lemurs and chameleons. Charles our tour leader was inciteful, a true gentleman and took great care of the group. There were some uncomfortable long road trips due to the poor state of the roads with many pot holes. The hotels with the exception of Relais de la Reine were not luxurious but served their purpose. However, the wildlife we saw made it all worthwhile.

This was a fantastic trip through Madagascar, great people and a wonderful itinerary. Our guide Charles was an excellent tour leader, full of information about his country and the wildlife. You need to prepare for long journeys! Some days are many hours on a bus across bumpy roads but these are all worth it to see a variety of landscapes and wildlife..We had a fab driver who kept us safe on these roads! This is a fascinating country to visit but be prepared for the widespread poverty you will see, more so than other developing countries. It can be upsetting at times. All that said you will not regret this trip. We saw lots of wildlife, lemurs, birds, chameleons and so many beautiful places and hikes. I few tips- take some warm clothes and waterproof layers if going in winter as the first few days are cold and can be wet. Take cash with you to exchange! Don’t rely on ATMs as a lot of them run out of money or swallow your card! You can exchange money at the first hotel as it’s usually a better rate than at the airport. (Not sure if they exchanged pounds but definitely USD and euros can be exchanged) Only 2 hotels will except payment by card! The rest of the trip you have to use cash. It’s not that expensive for meals - most of the time meals cost between £2-4 and you do have a lot of meals included in this trip. Any left over money change back at the airport before you go through security etc as you can’t use the local currency once you’re through. ( only usd or euros!) crazy!

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.

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.