Malagasy Tours

I could not fault this tour company. I dealt with them directly from Australia and felt very confident. The guides were excellent, good understanding of English and well informed. Every effort was made to make our trip to Madagascar a memorable one. Thoroughly recommend using them .

September 10 through December 2, 2019, we visited Madagascar. One month was spent volunteering at the Sainte Luce Reserve. (Highly recommended!) All total, we spent 51 days touring cross country, much of it in a rig we nicknamed “the Beast” (a very rugged Toyota Landcruiser, specially modified for the journey we were to undertake). Our itinerary, designed with the assistance of Malagasy Tours, was 4x4 cross-country, through all kinds of terrain, river crossings and the like. (We took a couple internal flights, but only as required to facilitate our itinerary. We prefer to travel land-based where possible. Hard to meet and interact with local folks if you’re flying above them…) The itinerary for our discovery of this island nation—our travel both before and after the volunteerism—was designed with our agent Zo. She became a dear friend, and we were delighted when we learned upon arrival she was to accompany us (as our guide) to the northeast, our final segment. We want to take this opportunity to provide future travelers our comments: (And to invite anyone wishing more information to PM us on TripAdvisor.) First: GO! This is an utterly amazing and wonderful country to visit—particularly if you have the services of an excellent travel agency. Our agency provided stellar service. Our agent, Zo, proved to be a very competent advocate for us when we ran into a problem about a month before traveling. Without her help, we would have faced a nightmare when we showed up at the airport to get our VISAs. Our travel was in the planning stages two years before we actually departed. I had checked (and rechecked) the VISA requirements. No problem, a 90-day VISA was available on arrival. Everyone said so—consistently! So, I quit checking when we were about 6 months out. That was a HUGE mistake. By coincidence, about a month out, I was browsing the TripAdvisor Madagascar forum and started to have a hunch something was wrong. Bingo! No more 90-day VISAs available on arrival—or even through the eVISA system the country had recently adopted. I notified the Agency and my agent immediately. She got to work on the problem so it did not impact our itinerary—we were set to head out with our driver within two days of arrival. We did not have time to arrive, and hang around waiting for a resolution. In addition, our travel was fast-paced—we were covering much of the country before and after our volunteerism. It had to be resolved fast. Her colleague, Mirantsoa, went in person to the Ministry responsible for granting tourist VISAs to ask questions on our behalf. She and Zo worked as a team to resolve the requirements of the Ministry. Zo fielded all the information required—which felt like we were emigrating (not just spending three months as tourists). Mirantsoa hand-carried our documents to the Ministry. On the appointed interview day (one day after we arrived after a 35-hour flight…), she and a driver accompanied us to the meeting with the “Responsible.” She acted as interpreter and liaison during our interview. (We don’t speak French. Her assistance was critical.) Given the good work of Zo and Mirantsoa, our VISA was expedited. We returned that afternoon and were given our VISA’s. The Ministry officer explained if the VISA extension request had not been handled in the manner it was by Malagasy Travel—we would have been obliged to wait in Tana for nearly a week! That was just one instance of the stellar service we received. And though we requested to reimburse the agency for the extra time and travel on our behalf—they wouldn’t accept a dime. (Yes, there still are people who are willing to help, without asking a thing in return.). In short, our experiences with this agency was phenomenal. Wonderful caring people, great network, always able to solve problems. All lodgings met or exceeded expectations--I vetted all beforehand with Zo. Our local guides were highly skilled. Never rushed us. Highly recommend this agency--they'll work to your satisfaction to craft a perfect itinerary!

Thoroughly recommend Malagasy Tours. Their communication (we dealt with Zo) via email and even WhatsApp in the lead-up to the trip was fantastic and super helpful in planning our itinerary. When we arrived, our guide/driver Fano was highly professional and good fun throughout the 11-day trip. If you're planning a trip to Madagascar, go with these guys!

Ok

Great tour operator. Carefully prepared circuits, an attentive team and great impeccable equipment. I highly recommend.