IS
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Engaged and knowledgeable
The experience was great! The food and accommodation were excellent and unique. The drives in Maasai Mara were splendid and our guide was very considerate of our wants and needs. The only drawback I felt was the off-road driving. It seems to be clear that such activity is strictly forbidden in the park, but most of the drivers seemed to disregard the rule in favour of “enhancing” the experience by seeing more mammals. This is far from being bound to only our guide and company, but rather a negative culture that has developed among the safari community.
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Well run, reasonably priced company offering multiple tours to meet the needs of a diverse clientele
My wife and I went on a 20 day trip starting with a 2 day stay in the capital, Antananarivo, followed by visits to two eastern rainforest areas (Andasibe-Mantadia and Ranamofana) where our guide (Nambinina) not only ensured we saw multiple lemur species, but also many chameleons, geckos, butterflies, and birds unique to Madagascar. We were even fortunate enough to hear and see the largest and critically endangered lemur species, the Indri, thanks to some excellent spotting by our guide. Our visits were both at night and during the day as some lemurs and other wildlife are more active at night or more easily seen then. From the eastern rain forests we headed south and west, stopping in Antsirabe and Ambositra to visit the daily street markets and learn about the local crafts unique to the area including those made with Zebu horn. We then proceeded to the dry forest and grasslands of Madagascar where we had multiple, close up visits from Ringtail Lemurs and were fascinated by the sideways leaps of Verreaux’s Sifaka (another Lemur species) when making their way on the ground. We also enjoyed multiple, unique and colorful birds in both Isalo National Park and Zombitse Vohibasia National Park along with vegetation found only in Madagascar like Elephant’s Foot (Pachypodium) and endemic Aloe plants. The end of our trip was spent on the beach in Anakao where we did some snorkeling, visited Nosey Ve island and saw the endemic population of Tropic Birds who nest there. We also visited Tsimanapetsotsa National Park which has a large salt pond occupied by Flamingos beginning in April and lasting until the rainy season in November. The park has caves with blind fish along with a Baobob tree believed to be more than 1600 years old.
All of our itinerary and the arrangements for transportation, hotels, meals (breakfast and dinner), and water each day was arranged by Madagascar Natural Tours. Our hotels were always clean and comfortable and the food offerings were excellent. With two exceptions, every one of our hotels had a pool should you want or need it.
We were provided with both a driver and a guide (Nambinina, who I mentioned above). We were very happy to have the driver because driving conditions are not the best with both road and traffic conditions being subpar. Our two drivers, Desi and Solo, were excellent.
I should mention that the owner, Harilala, is always available via What’s App and he went out of his way to accommodate us when we decided to change the date of our visit from last October to this past May. He advised us on the next best time to visit and kept in touch with us. He even arranged some additional services for us while we were on the road which included a park visit outside Toliara while we were waiting for our plane back to Antanarivo on our last full day.
Finally, I should mention that Madagascar Natural Tours arranged ATM stops for me when I needed local currency (mostly for driver, guide, and hotel tips, but also for lunches and souvenir purchases). I had read that ATM’s were unreliable and that you could often only draw 200,000 Ariary per visit. That was not the case for me where I could always draw 800,000 if I chose to. The ATM fee is 9500 Ariary (a little less than $2.50). You can decide if that works for you.
I highly recommend Madagascar Natural Tours for anyone wanting to visit Madagascar and wishing to do it on a reasonable budget without sacrificing quality. I also strongly recommend asking for Nambinina as your guide. His English is excellent and his knowledge of the flora and fauna of his country is superb.
AE
35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Professional, hospitable and very accomodating
I availed the services of Meterai Safaris because they had been patient in answering my questions about the tour. They have organized my tours according to my preferences and have given me options and suggestions as well. My contact person is John and I am amazed on how fast he organized my last minute requests. He always follow up if everything is okay and if there is anything I need. The tours are well organized, the drivers and the tour guides are professional and kind. Great shout out to Ian, my Masai Mara driver and guide.
IN
35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Excellent tour with personal care to help enjoy the tour
We had a vey good experience with the Arusha National Park Safari. Abdulla went an extra mile to show us different animals and helped us moving the vehicle to enable us to get good view of the animals. He was able to explain various animals’ behavior and identified birds and explained their habitat in great detail. The picnic lunch was very good and a memorable one.
DE
Geeman was determined to make this experience as amazing as possible and was super helpful.
Service and reliability was really good.
Tour itself was a lot of fun. Our tourguid Geeman was great. He had a lot of knowledge about the park and the animals. We saw so many animals and had an amazing time.
IN
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Perfect
I booked a private day trip to Ol Pejeta with Axis Safari and the experience was incredible. Thanks to Maurine who helped us in booking the trip and setting out the itinerary and our guide Collin. He did a wonderful job. He picked us early in the morning and gave us so much insight about Kenya during the entirety of the trip. Collin drove us around the park and parked the car at the right spot for us to enjoy the sight. We were able to spot a pride of Lions walking right across infront of us along with Rhinos and other animals. It was a great trip overall. We had flights the same evening and Collin had to get us back to the city on time. He skipped his lunch for us to enjoy our trip as well as return back to the city to catch our flight on time. There was some protest in the town we were at and Collin found way to get us out of the town so we would be in the airport on time. Thank you Mr Collin and Axis Africa Safari for making my trip for making me fall in love with Kenya and one to remember for life.
CN
under20 years of age | Experience level: first safari
IS
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good
Very fun seeing the animals and very nice guide. Very sad to see so many of the safari cars drive off road, horrible. Informative and great trip!
IS
20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Good as a whole
Tour was good, we saw lots of animals. Did not like the off road driving, it has a detrimental affect on the environment.