Highlights of Madagascar

Loved the trip, great country, great people, great guide and great wildlife

I have been dreaming of seeing lemurs in the wild since I was young and this trip did not disappoint. I had never done a group tour before and was admittedly very hesitant to sign-up for one, but the itinerary allowed me to see most of what I wanted to, so I thought I'd give it a try. In the two weeks, we were able to see thirteen species of lemurs, which was thrilling and more than I had expected. The itinerary is thoughtfully laid out and even the long days travelling were made better by the many stops and stories from our group leader. I can't describe the feeling of first arriving to our cabins in Andasibe to the sounds of Indri calls in the forest. It was really out of this world. The diversity of landscapes and parks that we visited was excellent and I couldn't have planned it better myself. Having a local guide and engaging (mostly) with local tour operators and businesses was an important aspect of the trip for me as well. Overall, excellent adventure that I wish I could go back in time and do again.

A really varied trip with the opportunity to see several different areas of Madagascar; the gorgeous beaches, some beautiful national parks and delightful lemurs and chameleons!

The trip is rated as leisurely & I would rate it challenging. We had extremely long travel days in the vehicles on winding bumpy roads (5 hr, 6 hr, 11 hr, etc.) The trip notes advise some long days, but we weren’t expecting such challenges just traveling in the van; our muscles were all tensed up by the end of each drive. The hiking to get to the Lemurs requires a person to be very fit in order to scramble up steep banks, cross streams, climbing steps up & down, & bushwhacking for 4 hrs at a time. It would be helpful to put this information in the ‘Is this trip for you’ section

The trip gives a good insight into the exotic fauna and flora of Madgascar and into several of the "cottage" industries that have been set up, mainly to provide items for the tourist trade. The trip involves many hours of travelling on roads that are in many cases badly surfaced, even when classifies as a "Route National" - this is not a trip for those that don't like long coach journeys! The arrangements were very good and the hotels, in the main, excellent though facilities were quite varied.

Lots of different types of Lemurs, which are very cute and fascinating to watch -limited wildlife beyond them though. Broad range of scenery as you progress down the country, long days on the bus but that did have the upside of letting you see a lot of the country and people close up (the downsides of sitting on a bus for 12 hours will be obvious!). Our guide broke the journey every 2 hours or so with a stop at a village, toilet break, or something. We had a good crowd on the bus which helped the time pass. Accommodation was OK, clean everywhere, a bit basic in most hotels, especially the one in Tana (The Belvedere). WiFi was in each hotel but in half of them it was very slow (don’t expect to download or stream anything). Our guide, Claudia, was excellent, I don’t think I’d have gone as high as 4 stars without her being the guide.

Wow where do I start?! I have dreamed of visiting Madagascar for many years now and it didn't disappoint. There were a few unfortunate moments along the way, but I'm so chuffed I got to experience this truly unique destination. I wanted to visit Madagascar due to how biodiverse the country is, animals found nowhere else and bizarre trees and plants, but not only did these astonish me but the people too are also very unique. 18 different ethnic groups listening to different music, living in different houses and dressing really brightly and uniquely. Just watching them as we travelled was captivating. The children were so sweet, not having much but making the most out of playing with stones and making little boats out of wood and plastic, laughing with their friends was heartwarming to see. I’m not going to lie though the poverty was really hard to witness, I have never seen poverty like it, just wishing there was something I could do to help. Witnessing the devastation of slash and burn, loss of wonderful rainforests and with that many of the unique wildlife disappearing too, is utterly devastating. Only 30 years ago was Madagascar called the green Island, its now named the red island due to such a huge area of forest disappearing. No wildlife outside of the national parks, once it would have been abundant with many wonderful species. The trip itself was amazing, however I do think you have to be a hardened traveller. There are some really long days in the van (which I did know about) but it can be quite difficult, due to the fact our van was inadequate, it wasn’t made for those roads and had NO air-con which was unbearable on some of the hotter days! I would suggest reading the trip notes and day to day itinerary THOUROUGLY to make sure you can handle it, not just for yourself but also your fellow travellers. Some of the days i.e the day in Ranomafana was tough, looking for lemurs in thick bushes and on steep ledges, if you’re not fit it would be quite dangerous. Early starts and long days travelling can affect anyone no matter how fit you are. Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. Not only were the long drives tough, all of us on our trip got bad sickness bugs, I think your bound to get one, prepare for it with the correct medication etc. Thankfully I was bedbound on one of the beach days, as not sure what I would have done if it was a ten-hour drive, stopping every ten minutes ha-ha! Please also bare in mind you don't get told what time your internal flight is until the day before, we got told at dinner time we had to get up and ready for our speed boat transfer at 4am. Not ideal and it put a dampener on our final meal together! I mean funny looking back, on a speed boat with no lights, whilst feeling sick! I can laugh now as I’m all comfy and well! ha-ha :).Also, I would like to add on day 8 where is says: Full-day trek in Isalo National Park visiting Monkey Canyon and natural swimming pools. Was very misleading, our guide Claudia got me and my partner aside as she knew we had originally booked the trekking trip (which got cancelled) and said she thinks it would be better if we got a private guide which could take us on a longer hike and visit the swimming pools etc, we went ahead with this chuffed at the time. Had a fabulous day, in fact the best on the trip! But we technically paid for what should have been included anyway, so we were a little annoyed. Upon speaking to the rest of the group, we find out all they did was walked in the park for a few hours and didn’t visit the swimming pools then went back to the hotel before 12pm. We felt like they have been robbed of a fabulous day, I know one of the couples could have managed this hike and they were definitely disappointed. I don’t understand why this happened and I feel like Exodus should provide two guides, one guide for the longer hike and one guide for the people who can’t manage it. All in all, this was a truly amazing adventure of a lifetime. I will never forget it! It was a dream come true. I mean how lucky am I to see sifaka in the wild and spend time with some truly amazing people. Thanks to my group who also made this trip amazing! Great couples and laugher made this trip even better 😊.If you’re up for an adventure of a lifetime with some mad moments thrown in there, Madagascar is waiting for you to explore it!

A lovely trip exploring the highlights of Madagascar, staying in some beautiful hotels with plenty of wildlife seen (13 different species of lemur, many frogs, chemeleons, geckos, kingfishers, flamingos) and beautiful scenery. The local guides are exceptional with their level of knowledge and ability to answer all questions! However for context, I visited Costa Rica with Exodus in 2019 and personally I thought it was better than Madagascar in terms of the amount of wildlife seen, and therefore value for money. Just be aware that not every single day on this trip is jam-packed with wildlife viewing. For the first six days of the trip, four of them (8am til 6pm) were entirely on the bus. The long driving days on difficult roads are not to be underestimated, and can feel frustrating at times but really is the only way that x6 national parks in two weeks can be covered. Perhaps naively, I wasn't prepared for the level of poverty seen, it is extremely sobering and does tug at the heartstrings. All in all a great trip, just with a few unfortunate bits along the way and the only things which let it down for me were the food and the group demographics. With a fitter and more like-minded group, and a less 'beige' diet, this trip would have been absolutely perfect.

This was my second wildlife oriented trip with Exodus and it did not disappoint. There is some long travel days but necessary to include as many wildlife opportunities as possible. The variety of landscapes from one park to the next is diverse and with the help of great guides we were able to see a wide variety of Chameleons ,Lemurs and reptiles and birds. Photography was challenging but still able to come home with a selection of nice images. Madagascar was a bucket list trip for the opportunity to see wildlife that can not be found anywhere else in the world . Ending the trip with some beach time and wildlife was perfect.

This was a really enjoyable trip. Although the group was the maximum (16 people) and the bus could be a bit cramped at times, it worked really well. The trip used a local driver and guide both of whom were excellent (Ritza and Andree) and in particular Ritza was able to inform us about the wildlife and different aspects of the culture of Madagascar. The other guides used in the national parks and at the accommodation were also very good. Madagascar is an amazing place and the range of landscapes and wildlife is extremely varied. I also found the local people to be very friendly.