Reports on Tours to Madagascar

We offer several small group tours each year - for wildlife enthusiasts, birders, people with a particular interest in the flora of Madagascar, and for private groups.

Madagascar Discovery TourTour, November 2007
‘OVERALL SATISFACTION: Excellent. Lalaina [tour leader] was superb.
Vakona Forest Lodge: Excellent comfort, location & facilities; good service & meals. Périnet was good introduction.
Arotel (Antsirabe): Hotel a bit run down.
Centrest Sejour: Good service & location; average comfort, meals & facilities. Ranomafana best game reserve.
Lac Hotel: Good comfort, service, meals & facilities.
Jardin du Roy: Superb hotel.
Berenty Lodge: Excellent location; average comfort, service, meals & facilities.
Berenty: Interesting reserve – pity about road to get there!
Anjajavy Excellent comfort, service, meals, location & facilities. Superb end to holiday.’
Mr. B. Dale, Madagascar Discovery Tour, November 2007

Madagascar Wildlife Tour, October 2006
'Chez Robert: By far the simplest of the hotels, but it had great atmosphere & I thought it the most enjoyable! In a third world country, I do not want the comfort & lack of atmosphere of a first world hotel.
Marius was SUPERB – knowledgeable, humorous, informal and FUN. [Local representative] ... always turned up on time (or well before!), organised transport, hotels and meals efficiently, was cheerful and helpful. One could not expect more.'
J. Rhodes

Private Group Tour, October 2006
'SERVICE FROM RAINBOW TOURS: Excellent. Derek was so helpful & always available when we needed him.
SURFACE HANDLING: Excellent. Rija was superb & made sure everything went smoothly.
Vakona Forest Lodge: A very pleasant place to start one’s trip to Madagascar.
Centrest Sejour:: Good. Unfortunately, nowhere very nice to sit in free time.
Relais de la Reine d’Isalo:: A very lovely hotel set in a superb situation.
Le Paradisier:: Another excellent hotel in a lovely setting.
Melodie Beach:: I quite understand why we stayed her, but what a pity the owners don’t upgrade the rooms, etc.
Ampijoroa: A lovely situation with friendly staff and a superb local bird guide who persevered till we finally saw the Van Dam’s Vanga.
Sunny Hotel (Mahajanga):: Nasty small zoo in grounds with several animals in cages. Great lack of water for the animals. Meals appalling when they arrived after ¾ hr wait!
This was an excellent trip, which was well thought-out & planned. Rija was a vital person in our trip – an excellent organiser & bird watcher. As was ‘Jack’, our first excellent driver.’
Mrs. W. Black, October 2006

‘SERVICE FROM RAINBOW TOURS: Excellent. Wonderful guide, driver & vehicle.
Relais de la Reine d’Isalo: Would like to have stayed longer.
Le Paradisier: A beautiful place – helpful & friendly staff.
Melodie Beach: No hot water. The bedrooms were very shabby – beds uncomfortable & showers needed upgrading.
Rija, our guide, was excellent in every way, as was our first driver.’
Ms. J. Tipler, October 2006

Madagascar Natural History Tour, September/October 2006
‘SERVICE FROM RAINBOW TOURS: Excellent. Always helpful on the ‘phone.
SURFACE HANDLING: Excellent. We couldn’t fault [local agents]. Always there to meet us. Good drivers and spotless vehicles. Gersica made it all happen!
We had a lovely group. We learnt a lot about birds, lemurs and photography.
Périnet: Maurice = outstanding guide. It was a good starting point for the tour. Andasibe village walk early evening was good.
Berenty Private Reserve: Breakfast very poor. Toilets outside dining room were disgusting. By contrast, our chalet (33) was lovely – so were the lemurs!
Ankarafantsika (Ampijoroa): Wow! Chalet by lake was wonderful. The hired catering team were brilliant. Guide was excellent. Boat trip on lake good. A real high spot of the trip.
Sunny Hotel: A good comfortable hotel.
Anjajavy: A wonderful place to end the tour. Boat trip, village tour, tea in The Oasis, etc. High on the list for a return visit!
We think that it was certainly value for money with the benefits of expert guides. Lyn was great, so knowledgeable, and very caring. She made every effort to include everyone’s interests, e.g. orchid park, pitcher plants etc – great enthusiasm, but always aware of each person’s capabilities. Also great fun to be with. Gersica made things happen in a charming way. Her cultural and historical explanation were really appreciated.
We are recommending you to our friends and hope one day to travel with you again.’
J. & G. Page, September/October 2006

'SERVICE & OVERALL SATISFACTION: Excellent. Good advice received re which tour to take.
Thanks for a great holiday.'
Mr & Mrs A. Fisher, Madagascar Natural History Tour, September/October 2006

Lawrence Group Tour, September 2005
‘SERVICE FROM RAINBOW TOURS: Excellent. 100%.
DOCUMENTATION: Excellent.
AIR TRAVEL: Good.
OVERALL SATISFACTION: Good. Very enjoyable. Our guide, Rija Ratotonirina, was excellent, knowledgeable and patient with his older guests. Madagascar is a wonderful place.
Vakona Lodge: Excellent comfort, service & location; good meals & facilities.
Hotel du Louvre: Excellent service & location; good comfort, meals & facilities.
Relais de la Reine: Excellent on all counts.
Baobab Cafe: Good comfort & location ; average service, meals & facilities. Staffing insufficient for number of guests.
Dauphin: Getting a bit shabby.
Berenty: Excellent comfort; good service, meals, location & facilities. Idyllic place, little refurbishment needed.
La Croix du Sud:Excellent comfort; good service, meals, location & facilities.
It was a very good holiday, all the local guides tried hard to find lemurs, interesting plants and other wildlife for us. All were justifiably proud of their country and keen to enthuse us. It is a pity the roads are so atrocious! More tourists, more money will, hopefully, improve the situation.’
Mrs. E. Gould, September 2005, Lawrence Group

‘SERVICE FROM RAINBOW TOURS: Good.
OVERALL SATISFACTION: Good. Personally I had a good time, but it could have been so much better if the people I was traveling with had known what they were to expect.
Vakona Forest Lodge: Excellent service, meals & location; good facilities; average comfort. Canoe trip on the river should be recommended. Menu limited to same three choices for lunch & dinner each/every day, but the food standard was excellent, even if it was repetitive.
Hotel du Louvre: Typical city centre hotel. Clean & modern. A warning regarding street sellers would be a good idea.
Le Relais de la Reine: Rooms were disappointingly sparse. Location – BREATHTAKING – made up for all shortfalls.
Baobab Café: Excellent meals; good location; average comfort & facilities; poor service. Poor staff attitude.
Berenty: Excellent service, meals, location & facilites; good comfort. Definitely the right thing to stay here last. It was a magical place, so we finished on a high. Power off at 9:45 is a little early, but not a problem.
La Croix du Sud: Nice, smart & clean. Will be very good when it is finished.
Rija [the guide] coped amazingly well with the problems my ageing companions through at him. … He should be congratulated. His local knowledge was excellent. 10/10.’
J. Doody, September 2005

‘SERVICE FROM RAINBOW TOURS: Excellent.
AIR TRAVEL: Excellent.
SURFACE HANDLING: Excellent. Drivers amazingly good considering the difficulties of the road! Our guide was absolutely exceptional – courteous, patient, knowledgeable, attentive & fun. Never missed a trick. I cannot speak too highly of him, and we were not an easy group, very geriatric.
OVERALL SATISFACTION: I personally had a fabulous time.
Vakona Forest Lodge: Excellent on all counts. Forest guide, Jack, v. patient & knowledgeable. Wonderful first encounters with wild lemurs; and the semi-tame ones by the hotel meant one could inspect toes etc closely.
Hotel du Louvre: Excellent service, location & facilities; good comfort & meals. Excellent breakfasts.
Le Relais de la Reine: Excellent comfort, service, location & facilities ; good meals. Lovely place. Food a bit pretentious, not all that wonderful when it arrived.
Café Baobab: Excellent location; good meals & facilities; average comfort; poor service. There was a perpetual shortage of towels. The impression we got was that M le patron … didn’t supervise his staff enough.
Berenty: Heaven.
Croix du Sud: Excellent comfort, poor facilities.
It was fabulous ! A really good itinerary and we saw a LOT.’
G. Slocock, September 2005