Private Madagascar tour

Tailor made two week tour of Madagascar. Travel by train, boat and chauffeur driven 4x4 as you meet the local people and experience the exotic landscapes, lemur-filled rainforests and Indian Ocean beaches.

Antananarivo Antsirabe Betafo farming village Lake Tritriva Sahambavy rural highlands Ambositra Malagasy cultural insight Train ride to Manakara Boat tour of Canal des Pangalanes Ranomafana National Park Nocturnal nature walk Ambalavao Tsaranoro Valley Fianarantsoa wine tasting tour Andringtra National Park Isalo National Park Two full days at Anakao beach

Price

£3670 excluding flights

Duration

16 Days

Type

Tailor made

Reviews

More info

Very good value for money! - Domestic flight included Tulear - Tana. - Hotels and meals as stated - Private driver with all transfers. - Guides - Tickets and entrance fees as stated.

Description of Private Madagascar tour

Price information

£3670 excluding flights

Very good value for money! - Domestic flight included Tulear - Tana. - Hotels and meals as stated - Private driver with all transfers. - Guides - Tickets and entrance fees as stated.

Contact Us

If you'd like to chat about this vacation or need help finding one, we're very happy to help

1-866-821-6866

Call toll free

Calling from outside the USA rosy@responsibletravel.com

Departure information

Tailor made: Available all year where everything is tweak-able, giving you the freedom to build a unique and personal trip for your chosen date. Upgrade your accommodation for all - or just part - of your trip, slow down the pace with few extra nights here and there or add a few more active adventures along the way.

Contact Us

If you'd like to chat about this vacation or need help finding one, we're very happy to help

1-866-821-6866

Call toll free

Calling from outside the USA rosy@responsibletravel.com

Travel guides

2 minute summary Best time to go

Every country is unique, but Madagascar is more unique than most.

2 minute summary Best time to go

The perfect introduction to getting your head around the extraordinary life on earth, and where to go to find it.

Reviews

1 Reviews of Private Madagascar tour

2 out of 5 stars

SHOW

Reviewed on 22 Oct 2023 by Mike Staples

1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your vacation?

The wildlife we were able to see (especially baby lemurs), albeit much less than advertised.

2. What tips would you give other travelers booking this vacation?

Ignore the itinerary and advertising. Although Madagascar has some amazing wildlife, nothing is as advertised. The infrastructure is challenging, so often the
time quoted to get from A to B is inaccurate, as often along bumpy dirt tracks.

3. Did you feel that your vacation benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?

We assume the cost of the vacation and tips required would have benefited local people, but environmental impact, have you been to Madagascar (silly question)?! Not to mention the fuel and emissions of our trip.

4. Finally, how would you rate your vacation overall?

We will not book via this tour operator again. We had reservations during the booking process that turned out to be valid. The guidance supplied was out of date by a number of years (2016!), elements of the itinerary were not possible, we paid for an English speaking driver guide but did not receive one, the travel time was much longer than quoted (double in some cases), and the wildlife quoted to be seen was vastly inaccurate (to see birds you have to get up early but none of our tours included early park visits). All said we felt safe throughout, and our accommodation and food were good. The local team did their best, and the second half of the trip was better, but we can't help feeling we overpaid for we we received.

Read the operator's response here:

Hi Mike,
Thank you for your feedback about your vacation in Madagascar. We really appreciate your feedback and taking the time to write it. We are extremely sorry for the inconveniences.

Thank you for visiting Madagascar. Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world with very poor infrastructure. Your visit to Madagascar has helped many families depend on tourism for their livelihood and conservation. Traveling between A to B in Madagascar can change one day to other due to poor road infrastructure. We have notified in detail in our travel documents.

We are sorry for the inconveniences due to technical failure of your 4x4 in the middle of nowhere in the dirt track. At this point our local team did their best get to your next place in safely. This had a knock-on effect with our guides and replacement off road 4x4. But we are pleased that we did mange to fix the issue after few days mostly for your second part. Our local office informed us that they did arrange sundowners and massages for the inconveniences.

The airlines schedule changes by Air France are beyond our control. Domestic flights in Madagascar known for delays and schedule changes. We did our level best to adjusted to the changes.

Thank you for your understanding and we are sorry for the inconveniences. We will be improving some of logistics and timing of the itineraries.

I hope to that you will consider booking your next vacation with us, as we have been prompting with our responses with WhatsApp and emails throughout the time during your vacation. And we have managed to resolve the issues with our excellent local support networks in Madagascar.

Once again thank you for traveling with us to Madagascar.

Best regards

Responsible Travel

As the pioneers of responsible tourism, we've screened this (and every) vacation so that you can travel knowing we've worked to maximise the benefits of your vacation to local people and places, and minimise any negative impacts.

Planet

The environment and sustainability is high on our list of concerns. We take pride in the achievement of a healthy balance between environment, local people and YOU, the tourist.

We do not encourage or promote any unethical business or wildlife activities. As an example, Madagascar is a place where people may want to visit places where people can touch lemurs – we never include this in any of the tours we offer as we learned that these lemurs are not always treated well and that they will never be released into the wild. Moreover, their babies will also remain captive for their whole lives. We tell our clients that they should not touch animals as it is not ethical practice.

Our wildlife safaris or tours are run by experienced locals who rely on the National Parks for their livelihoods, and operate in the respect of local and international wildlife standards. Visits to nature reserves and national parks are popular among vacationmakers to Madagascar. We give instructions to both our clients and guides on how to minimise impact on environment disturbance to the wildlife.

We ask people to travel light and not to take plastic material with them if possible. We also encourage them to eat at least once a day outside their hotel in order to support local businesses.

We ensure that the hotels that we choosing for our vacations are doing something good for the environment, from recycling through growing their own fruits and vegetables to using solar power.

To ensure environmental awareness of our clients we provide them with detailed environmental information about places they visit, and how they can help.

People

Responsible tourism satisfies these social needs through contact with local people, and takes us further up the ladder to self-actualisation and realisation through creative activities, knowledge and exploration.

Our mission is to bring tourists closer to local people, their traditions, customs and beliefs. We provide many opportunities for our clients to experience what is the ‘real’ country.

We encourage and include many local projects in our itineraries. For example, in Madagascar we offer the chance to be part of a locally run project to stay in the village with locals and help them with their everyday activities.

As James Beard once said “Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” Therefore, we encourage our clients to try to learn how to cook local dishes by interacting with local people. While touring, we suggest to them that they can visit local art museums, see local performances and respect local people and they beliefs.

Ambalavoa visit: Ambalavoa is a fascinating little town in the central highlands, south of Fianarantsoa. The town is known for its paper-making, silk making and wines. When visiting this places we encourage that you buy local products to support local comunities.

Private Madagascar tour