Madagascar Customer Reviews

 

We are so glad we went with Rainbow Tours. Fantastic organisation, great advice and peace of mind – especially when Air Madagascar changed the flights schedules close to our date of departure. It could have really impacted our trip, but Rainbow Tours were able to rearrange all our transport and accommodation so it wasn’t an issue. Thank you Rachel, for organising such a fantastic honeymoon. We would highly recommend Rainbow Tours for the perfect holiday in Madagascar. 

Derek provided us with a fantastic itinerary based on our interests. It was perfect. The local guides were brilliant - excellent ecological knowledge and enthusiasm....Rainbow Tours succeeded in making this a holiday of a lifetime.

We really just wanted to say thank you for the perfect holiday combination.

Our guides - Clement and driver Sian for the tour and Marisol at Eden Lodge were all fantastic and so incredibly knowledgeable - just adding to the rich experience we had. We are keen to start planning our second leg of the south.

While we were travelling we bumped into a lady who holidays there frequently and she was shocked to hear that we had not included a tour of the Red Tsingy - apparently a new discovery and very remote but an absolute must. I'm not sure if this is some thing that is unknown by the UK office or not well published, so if not - is definitely should be promoted. In talking to our guide he also confirmed this as an amazing sight and a must on any tour of the north.

But honestly, I can't tell you enough what an amazing time we had. Often not seeing anyone else for two days at a time, allowing us total solitude in exploring the forests, caves and lakes. I'm really pleased too that we did not stay on the Island of Nosy Be - Eden Lodge is something very special and the island is noisy and busy by comparison so it is definitely worth the extra money to stay is such private and tranquil surroundings. In fact you absolutely nailed all the lodges to perfection for our holiday and suited us down to the ground. As is was also low season - we were at a couple places on our own for a night or two too.

I understand that Lokanga Lodge is new to the listings too - what a brilliant little spot and the sundowners from the deck with wine and home made duck pate was a treat after the heat of the city that day. We were also lucky with a magic sunset to end our holiday.

So again, thank you for a wonderful holiday.

We returned from Madagascar early this week & just writing to say what a marvellous trip!
 
We saw all the wildlife we wanted ,the service provided by your ground handler was exemplary & the hotels were very good indeed. Particularly worthy of note was the quality of the local guides both on the tour & in the national parks. Our main guide,Bella, was absolutely terrific & highly recommended.
 
Looking forward to our next adventure!!
 

Just a short email to thank you for arranging such a memorable trip to Madagascar for us. Everything went off absolutely as we would have wished: the accommodation, catering and service in all three places – Andasibe, Antananarivo and Ste Marie – was excellent (especial thanks for finding the Lokanga Boutique Hotel which was just stunning), the balance between the wildlife in the forests and lazing on the beach exactly what we wanted and the travel almost all went to plan. I’d like to commend especially our guide and driver for the forests section – Michel and Daniel – and, in particular our forest guide Dibo (or Diba – never did get the spelling) who was knowledgeable, hawk-eyed and indefatigable. A truly great holiday. We loved Madagascar and its courteous, gentle, friendly people.

Madagascar is an extraordinary place and we had such a fantastic holiday. Vaokna Lodge was perfect and the excursions were very good. Our local guide Zac was excellent. Anjajvay Hotel exceeded all our expectations and was a perfectway to end our holiday. 

 

Thank you we have had a wonderful, exciting, interesting trip, competent, well informed guides, helping us with the understanding of the flora, fauna, countryside and it's people. Unique places to stay, interesting roads, not to be hurried over! We had a good time and exceeded our expectations.

Derek Schuurman of Rainbow Tours did a fine job of planning our trip to Madagascar. The excursions and hotels were great. Special highlights included Petit Masoala on the Masoala Peninsula and Iharana in Ankarana. Would definitely stay in these lodges again. 

Just a short e-mail from me personally to say how overwhelmingly wonderful my Madagascar experience was - of course I was privileged to have my sister as "tour organiser", determined that I should see as much as possible and share with her a passion for this amazing country.  I have found it impossible to answer the question "What was it like?" from friends and family - I find no adequate words - sorry everyone, you´ll have to go yourselves!!
 
I have to say, I enjoyed the company of Lin, Silvia and Kevin - they made me feel very much at home in the group. The ground agents, tour guides and drivers were fantastic, endlessly patient, informative with wonderful English. 

Thank you Rainbow Tours.

Rainbow tours are exceptionally good. Just came back from a two week trip to Madagascar organised by Rainbow and it was really well planned and executed. Every logistics item worked perfectly and given that we are a family with four children that was asking a lot. The people at Rainbow are great; Derek had the patience of a saint in answering my idiotic questions often multiple time, while Rachel was really helpful with advice having stayed in the country. You will be in good hands with Rainbow.

I just wanted to thank you for the fantastic private tour of Madagascar that you arranged for our family.

We were thrilled with all aspects of it - the accommodations, the food, the itinerary, particularly the guides, who really went out of their way, all three of them - Harry, Tsu and Mialy. While all the accommodations were unique and comfortable, the Manafiafy Lodge was our favorite - Ed Tucker made us feel so welcome, and the setting was so breathtakingly beautiful.

We were even able to tour the sapphire mine, which we understand could be difficult to arrange. My only regret was that the trip was so short relative to everything we wanted to see and do. What an intriguing destination! This was the absolute right way to see Madagascar.

I am hoping to use you and your company again next year. I am interested in taking my four children and their families to South Africa or Tanzania - and a private tour would be my first choice.

Thank you again for handling all the details and for making this such a memorable trip!

Dear Derek, on behalf of the four of us, we would like to compliment you on your organisation of our tour… (based on the Lemurs of Madagasacar itinerary). We were especially impressed by your representatives in country who were always there regardless of the idiosyncrasies of the Air Madagascar timetable! We would recommend you as the only way to go!

We had an absolutely fabulous time in Madagascar. Toky (our guide) certainly is the best of the best. He has such a great sense of humor and was so knowledgable and patient… Thank you, Rachel, again for everything. The poverty in the south is mindblowing and so sad but the lemurs seemed happy and I fulfilled my lifelong dream.

We were bowled over by the landscapes, people and wildlife, and the itinerary that you arranged for us allowed for an amazing variety in a relatively short space of time. We were particularly impressed with [our local team’s] handling of the Southern part of the trip. Our guide - Diary was his name - was quite exceptional. He gave us copious amounts of background information, cracked the whip so that we made full use of the time, co-ordinated park guides perfectly and always made sure that things worked well at hotels. He consistently worked above and beyond expectations, and was supported well by our driver. We were surprised by the amount of walking involved (in a good way - we loved it and the guides responded by taking us a fair distance each day). It's possible that a day less at Isalo could have become one day more in Ifaty (we needed a rest by then!) but the whole expedition through the South was quite wonderful.

We had a wonderful time [in Madagascar]. The organisation was great, and I would definitely recommend doing the RN7 route from south to north – it was so nice to get some beach and boating (as well as Spiny Forest) to relax and recover from the long journey out. The sailing canoes were a particular unexpected bonus as we are both keen on sailing! It was also good to be going straight from nice hotel to international airport on the last day, rather than having to take an internal flight. We were extremely well looked after by our guide and driver... We also had very good local guides which meant we could go at our own paces on the walks (I like to go slowly and take lots of photos!) All of the hotels were good, the first two excellent. Of course the star of the show is Madagascar itself, with its variety of scenery, flora, fauna and people. Thank you so much for organising such a good trip.

We had a wonderful time and everything was well organised and ran to schedule. Thank you. We were particularly impressed by our guide Jessica who made all the difference to our trip with her pleasant manner, helpfulness and informative guiding.

We saw lots and lots of wildlife - 27 types of lemur for example - and our enthusiasm for Madagascar is undimmed. Since our last visit in 2007 there has been a coup of course and one senses a lot of frustration amongst Malagasies but one hopes that a new government might be able to stop the slide. There are some definite improvements for visitors since 2007 too.

…This was the best trip to Madagascar of our three - but it won't be the last. We had a great time; the itinerary was largely just what we would have wanted and well paced. [Our ground handler] again provided a really good service and we were fortunate to have one of their best people with us for the bulk of our trip.
 

I would recommend a visit to Ambohimanga to people interested in Malagasy history and culture; it's a World Heritage Site and, while there is little on site interpretation, Miahy gave us a very knowledgeable tour. The views across the highland plateau to Tana are stunning too.

Our Transfer driver was superb and such a lovely guy and enjoyed the diversity of the trip e.g. History, Culture, wild life and just how much was packed in.

Great Holiday in Madagascar

Thanks so much for organising such a fabulous trip – we saw and experienced all that we had hoped for and a bit more. The two local tour companies, in Rwanda and Madagascar were magnificent. Most went according to plan and the guides and drivers were exemplary. I would like to make special mention of Aimable (our guide) in Rwanda. He is a thoroughly nice man, extremely knowledgeable and very accommodating. Similarly our guides and driver made our trip to Mantadia National Park in Madagascar forever memorable. Marc and Charles, guide and driver respectively, are such good company and we laughed our way around. Maurice, the local guide there, really did know his stuff.

Our Transfer driver was excellent, very careful, patient & hard working. Our guide was very conscientious, hard working, intelligent & aware, quickly picked up on what we were like.

An excellent holiday, full of interest and enjoyment, this is our second holiday with Rainbow Tours and the service is just as good as it was in 1999!

The service from Rainbow tours was great - a fantastic holiday.  [Our consultant’s] assistance was invaluable and the car hire went smoothly. Our guides were excellent they were helpful and provided superb expertise. I’ll be sure to recommend Rainbow Tours to all my friends. 

Obviously we were bowled over by the landscapes, people and wildlife, and the itinerary that you arranged for us allowed for an amazing variety in a relatively short space of time. We were particularly impressed with [our local team’s] handling of the Sounthern part of the trip. Our guide - 'Diary' was his name - was quite exceptional. He gave us copious amounts of background information, cracked the whip so that we made full use of the time, co-ordinated park guides perfectly and always made sure that things worked well at hotels. He consistently worked above and beyond expectations, and was supported well by our driver. We were surprised by the amount of walking involved (in a good way - we loved it and the guides responded by taking us a fair distance each day). It's possible that a day less at Isalo could have become one day more in Ifaty (we needed a rest by then!), but the whole expedition through the South was quite wonderful.

Just back and had a wonderful trip - thank you! Everything went like clockwork, much to our amazement-we heard stories of breakdowns and air problems but ours was all fine. So we saw dancing lemurs, heard indri and had a great time at the beach-thanks so much.

[Rainbow tours] were very responsive, great communications, all arrangements (worked) like clockwork. The documentation was very informative, clear documents. Air Travel went very well, and the itinerary easily accommodated the occasional slight delay. Can’t wait to do it all over again. Thank you so much for putting together an excellent trip.

Our Rainbow Tours consultants were amazing. They were prompt, informative and very willing to work with us. [Our ground handler] was excellent. Our first guide, Kenny Andriamaronjaka, was superb. He was kind, informative, truly wonderful. Along the way we had 3 guides, 1 forest guide, and 3 drivers. All were terrific.

… I just wanted to let you know that we had a fantastic three weeks. The country certainly lived up to all my expectations, and indeed surpassed them. The service we received from [the Rainbow Tours ground handlers] was exceptional and we were particularly impressed with our guide and driver who gave us such a good insight into the country. I think that we were particularly lucky with our wildlife spotting, which kept me very happy and we were fascinated with learning the language which [we] grasped with annoying ease, and delighted all on whom we tried it out! … thank you very much for putting together such a wonderful itinerary which ran without a hitch. I shall definitely be recommending Rainbow Tours and indeed Madagascar to all my friends.

We returned from our Madagascar holiday … and I would just like to say what an absolutely fantastic time we had. The experiences were totally amazing and it is going to be one of those holidays we will never forget. [The Rainbow Tours team in Madagascar] were extremely efficient. We were so well looked after every minute of the way, eg helping us check in to the hotels, making sure we had a table by the fire and even as far as making sure we got through the check in desk ok through the airport. Their attention was superb, as was the guides’ knowledge, we learnt an awful lot about every aspect of Madagascar. We had Fabrice on the main part of our holiday in Vakona. We had a different guide for the last day after Anjajavy… I the guides and drivers and also the Forest guide, Julian were so friendly and made the holiday for us.

The holiday surpassed our expectations and everything went like clockwork; which we really did not expect in Madagascar.  [The Rainbow Tours representatives] were superb as well and we had 3 guides who were all excellent. All transfers were fantastic we were always met as advised.  Rainbow was excellent with all documentation arriving in good time and very accurate. 

A well thought out tour – we visited 3 very different reserves.  The tour guides Harry and Stephen were excellent, they ensured we had the best available accommodation at each stop, answered all our questions, were knowledgeable about the wildlife, and were pleasant company.  They often stopped en-route to allow us to take photos or just to walk about.  Despite out late arrival at Antananarivo, Harry was there to welcome us – a very welcome sight! 

All the guides were excellent and certainly knew their stuff! Out trip wouldn’t have been anywhere near as good without them.