About Madagascar Travel

The leading specialists for wildlife holidays, unique honeymoons and special vacations in Madagascar

Madagascar Travel is the international website of Rainbow Tours Ltd, 'Best Tour Operator' in The Guardian/Observer Travel Awards 2004 and 2005 and 'Best Specialist Tour Operator 2006'. The company offers the widest range of destination in Madagascar and caters for most special interests. Tailor-made or customised tours for independent-minded travellers are our speciality, and we also offer small group and specialist wildlife, birding and cultural trips. We organise unique honeymoons, special family holidays, trips for groups and for the media. We have enjoyed arranging trips for people with old family connections in Madagascar, usually missionaries or through the World War II campaign, and for people who support different projects in Madagascar.

Whether you want to relax in one of Madagascar's small, remote and intimate resorts, take in the highlights of the island or go on a real adventure, we aim to create the best possible trip embodying your personal choices and tastes,. All of our itineraries specify the hotel used, by the correct name, so you can make independent checks; and there are no hidden costs. We will advise you about the standard of accommodation, the state of the roads, the condition of the reserves and weather conditions so that you can make an informed choice.

Our staff are university-educated travel professionals with unusually extensive experience of the countries we promote. Derek Schuurman has travelled to Madagascar more than 20 times, worked for Madagascar specialists for the past 16 years, and written extensively about the island and its wildlife. Judith De Witt launched the company's Madagascar programme, regularly travels in Madagascar, and contributes to guidebooks about the island, and arranges journalists' trips to the island. According to Hilary Bradt, author of the definitive English-language travel guide, 'The Madagascar specialist in Britain is Rainbow Tours.'

Our local representatives and guides in Madagascar are mostly university-educated English majors. They speak English well, in addition to French and Malagasy. You will find them invaluable for their knowledge, for the opportunity they provide to learn about modern and historical Madagascar - and as translators. They take most of the hassle out of travelling in an undeveloped country - and many people have written to say how much they enjoyed their company.

We can cater for Francophone - all our guides have a baccalaureat - and Italian-speaking travellers. French-speaking travellers may be particularly interested in our private birding tours and our cultural offerings and we will provide Italian-speaking professional guides on any of our sample itineraries or tailor-made tours.

Madagascar is a poor country with limited infrastructure and new to international tourism. Even with the best organisation, things go wrong. Our representatives in Madagascar are distinguished by their meticulous planning and by their ability and willingness to make whatever arrangements are necessary to ensure you have an enjoyable holiday.

We support a number of projects in Madagascar:

Akany Avoko (Patron: Joanna Lumley) cares for children and is a pioneer in self-sufficiency, low-tech conservation, childcare education, community tourism and tourism education.
MOSS, the Madagascan Organisation for Saving Sight, provides ophthalmological training, health and eye-care education - and an ophthalmic laser machine.
Madagascar Development Fund, formerly The President of Madagascar's Small Grants Scheme (FAP), concentrates on primary education and primary health care, including the fundamental requirement for clean water. We provided the funds for a new classroom for the primary school at Ambavaniasy, between Moramanga and Andasibe, which was inaugurated in 2007. This year, our ambition is to raise £6400 to build a gravity-flow water supply in the village of Antongombato, about 180km east of Antananarivo. Eventually, we hope that our clients will stop in the village to see the project.
Ny Tanintsika trains reninzaza, traditional birth assistants, to promote improved health throughout the poorest communities; and has established silk projects to enable rural women to learn a skill and escape poverty.
CCD Namana is an established, independent NGO administering the Ambalavao Training Centre and the Ambohimahamasina reforestation project.
Valiha High, the brainchild of the group Tarika, seeks to preserve the musical heritage of Madagascar by teaching traditional Malagasy music and instruments to the young.

If you would like to visit, please let us know. Foreign visitors are more than welcome.

'COQUEREL'S SIFAKA AT ANJAJAVY' by courtesy of RICHARD HIRSON; BEACH AT ANJAJAVY by courtesy of DAVID ROGERS & ANJAJAVY L'HOTEL.

The air holidays and flights shown are ATOL Protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Our ATOL number is 4563. ATOL protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the United Kingdom. Click on the ATOL logo if you want to know more.

12 April, 2008