Malagasya Travel
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $74 to $105 per person per day (USD, excl. int'l flights)
Reviews
Email Nick Vale | 65+ years of age | Experience level: first safari
Excellent service, wonderful trip
I contacted Malagasya Travel along with a few other operators in November to arrange a three week tour for the following March. Riantsoa from Malagasya Travel quickly arranged a detailed itinerary covering everything I was looking for, patiently answered all my questions and provided useful hints and tips to make the most of my visit. Malagasya Travel were definitely the most responsive of the operators I contacted, their overall price was clearly broken down and there were no hidden extras. Once we'd agreed the itinerary they needed a 20% deposit with the balance on arrival, and the only glitches in the booking process were at my end. I had no idea that Mastercard wasn't widely accepted in Madagascar so had to get myself a Visa card, and it was more difficult than I'd expected to find an operator who could wire the deposit, in euros from the UK, to their local bank.
On arrival my driver, Romy, met me at the hectic airport as arranged, and dealt with all the driving and administration on the tour. We spent the first day on a trip westwards to Ankafobe to a small forest where I saw my first lemurs, and the next few days travelling eastwards, staying at the Palmarium Hotel on the east coast for three nights, to see a lot of lemurs close up and a great nighttime trip to see some aye-ayes. And then we headed south, covering a lot of ground and different types of scenery, ending up at a beach resort in Ifaty.
The roads are pretty bad in Madagascar, with more potholes than I've ever seen, but Romy's driving was confident and unfazed by the sometimes very challenging conditions. We had a lot of ground to cover, but almost every day there was at least one stop at something interesting to see, ranging from national parks (with guides arranged), to Madagascar's most important aluminium foundry (which has to be seen to be believed!), to wonderful little craft workshops. The hotels were all good quality, in come cases luxurious, and often close to tourist attractions with excursions laid on.
Everything originally promised was delivered and overall I was very impressed. My only regret was that three weeks wasn't enough time to see all the island - it really is huge, but I had no time to see the north. Next time - and I will go again with Malagasya Travel.
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Email Brendan | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Good tour but several days bored without activities on program.
I booked a tour with Malagasya travels for 14 days throughout southern Madagascar. We hit some of the major national parks as well as the beach on both sides of the country. The tour was pretty good. I would generally recommend Malagasya travels. I really like that Malagasya travels is a local company, and that's one of the reasons I went with them instead of one of the European companies operating in Madagascar with tours throughout Africa. However the reason I gave them four stars instead of five is because of the following. When booking the trip I was looking at several different companies. I had to make a decision of which company to go with and Malagasya travels would promise to send me an itinerary on a particular day and then send it several days later. By doing this they delayed my decision process on picking a tour company to go with and made the process more stressful. Malagasya travels was not my first choice of tour company to use. In addition to this there were several days on their tour which finished in the middle of the day and for the rest of the day you are left at the hotel. This may be desirable for some travelers who wish to just relax, however for me it was frustrating as I wished to do more activities and not just sit around for the day. To pay thousands of dollars for a trip in a wonderful and beautiful country just to lounge around the hotel was not attractive at all to me and was quite frustrating. However, I am younger and I noticed that a larger portion of the tourists in Madagascar are older and retirees, so to travel in the morning and then have the rest of the day free to relax at the hotel, may be quite desirable. I brought both these issues up with Malagasya travels. So good luck with your search for a tour company to use. Malagasya travels was pretty good but less active then some of the other companies in their trips and have delayed responses when communicating with them. But they work hard and you will see and experience many great things if you go with them! Safe travels!
ES
Email Elena | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Extensive tour: Malagasy Travel
Since initial contact, Malagasy Travel were extremely helpful, efficient and prompt with all replies. They adapted their offering to my needs and finally I opted for a group tour of Madagascar, offering an extensive visit of the Island. It was a 15 day tour covering South, East and West.
We were given an itinerary and were warned that there would be some long days driving. However many of the highlights of the island were covered and the trip offered good value for money compared to other tours I saw offered by other companies. While the tour was enjoyable, the reality was that we spent much longer in the tour bus than anticipated (three days over 12 hours a day, and most days at least six hours!) Admittedly this was due to deterioration of the roads during lockdown, and beyond Malagasy Travel control. Malagasy Travel listened and tried to take on board our concerns and slightly adapted the itinerary to try and make the travelling less arduous. However it was still unavoidable and way too long to spend on the road in a bus which was far from comfortable! Overall I feel that I saw most of Madagascar through the van window. On hindsight I would opt to see less of the island but spend longer in each destination. Madagascar is a beautiful island, the people are warm hearted and friendly and I shall definitely be back.
Email Lee H | 65+ years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent service
From the day I arrived Malagasya Travel were tops ! The accommodation I was booked into was relative to the area . I found the food at most places average as it seemed everywhere there was a shortage due to poverty and road transportation. The Malagasya Travel provided THE BEST drivers and guide. My guide Lova actually made the trip - patient, kind, caring, thoughtful and very considerate with a wonderful sense of humour ! It made all the difference with some of the sightseeing in places extreme. Alicia, the booking agent also excelled in all that I asked for.
Thank you Malagasya Travel.
Email Louise | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very friendly and helpful
Great tour, be aware that it takes hours to drive short distances in Madagascar due to the roads, however the untouched scenery is unbelievable.
Tour guide and driver were impeccable
NL
Email Michael | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Amazing touroperator!
First of all a special thanks to Hery and Riantsao. Thank you Riantsao for the communication before the trip. You reacted really fast and everything was clear. Thank you Hery for guiding me during the trip. You have such an extensive knowledge about the culture, nature, and wildlife of your country. You made the trip so good together with the driver. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Madagascar thanks to you guys. I did the tired of staying at home tour with Malagasya. It has been an amazing trip and it took me to some of the best national parks in madagascar. My only point of feedback is that some of the days were quite extensive travel days with a lot of hours in the car. I do understand it because the country is really extensive and the tour tried to cover as much as possible of the country. All in all an amazing trip guided by amazing people. Thanks you so much.
I also made video about the trip. If you're interested to see what the trip covered please feel free to watch it :).
https://youtu.be/LET7usNIuik
DE
Email Steffi | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Very well organised - I felt well looked after all the time
It was my first time travelling to Madagascar and with Malasya Travel.
Since I wanted to travel the western part in November I did some intensive research and was very lucky to find Nary and his team. I could dicsuss all my ideas and wishes and I ended up with a program that included everything I wanted to see. Even before and during the trip they were always flexible and I really felt the Malagasya team wanted me to be happy and enjoy Madagascar.
In addition, the hotels were excellent, my guide Coco was very knowledgable (especially about birds) and the driver Christian was very experienced and a reliable and fun guy on top of that. Even when we had a problem with a tire and an early flooding crossing our path - everything was taken care of in a relaxed but efficient manner, allowing me to enjoy every mile of the journey.
On the last night of my trip, Nary and Riantsoa even invited me to a nice restaurant in Antananarivo, ensuring a perfect end to a fantastic adventure.
While it was not a cheap vacation, I can only thank the great people I met along the way and can definitely recommend a Madagascar trip with Malagasya travel.
IN
Email Zuber Ahmed | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent tour
I used Malagasya travel for my trip to Madagascar in October 2022. I contacted them via their website and I received a response very quickly. At first, they gave me a custom itinerary but it was too long for me as I didn't have that much time in hand. So I gave them my requirements and the locations that I wanted to visit. They immediately reverted with a customized itinerary based on my needs. Their service was impeccable right from the start. The driver they assigned me spoke excellent English and the whole tour was a breeze. They even organized a dinner for me on the last night of my tour. Last but not the least, they helped me with the postcards that I wanted to send to my friends across Europe, North America, and Asia. I'd highly recommend that you book your tour of Madagascar with them whenever you're planning to visit it.
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Email Tyler Hulsey and Alison Mittelstaedt | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Our tour operator Harry was incredible and loved the tour.
Highly recommend this tour to anyone wanting an adventure through Madagascar. Harry and our driver were incredible and very informative. They made sure we were comfortable and made us feel very safe. The overall tour was setup very well and made geographical sense. Riantsoa was also readily available whenever we needed to get in contact with her.
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Email Jean and Paul | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Everyone at Malagasya worked so hard to make our customized trip FANTASTIC
We highly recommend Malagasya Travel who helped us customize an amazing 10 day trip in Madagascar that included our wonderful English speaking driver/guide Christian Berthin (who was safe, knowledgeable, friendly, and very professional), hotels, guided park visits, airport transfers, and loads of information. Riantsoa was our trip planner and was fantastic about answering so many questions we had, which we did all via email. This is definitely a reliable company! They did everything they said they would, plus they were all so nice!