Malagasya Travel
- Office In:
- Size:
- 10-20 employees (Founded in 2013)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $1,392 to $1,989 per person per day (MXN, excl. int'l flights)
for a custom tour
Your request will be sent directly to the operator
If preferred, you can contact the operator directly
Reviews
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 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.
Email Matthew David Victor Norris | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
An amazing time with a helpful tour operator and great value for money!
My wife and I did a 2.5 week tour with Malagasya travel from mid-August to September 2022. The help and communication from our tour rep Riantsoa was incredible! It’s the best communication, advice and service we have ever received from a tour operator. The service prior to the trip was so good that I even wrote a review of the company before we had gone on holiday! Which, I know is crazy, but it just goes to highlight the level of customer care they had already delivered. Safe to say, now we have been on the trip I can write a proper review of the adventure itself, and it was just as good as the service we had received before we had boarded the plane.
The itinerary we originally chose was the 15 day tour “Tired of staying home, visit Madagascar”. We ended up adding 3 extra days as we had the time, and as other people have noted, there is a lot of ground to cover and we thought the few extra days would allow more time to relax in certain areas before the longer driving days. All in all though the itinerary allows you to explore a large and diverse portion of the country, from the tropical rainforests in the east, to the highlands and rock formations in the middle, and dry-forests and beaches in the south-west. All the hotels we went to were top-notch, with great service and friendly staff. And our driver Roamihaja (Roami) was a true gentlemen and great driver-guide for our entire trip! If you want to see a lot of Madagascar in 2 weeks then this is the tour for you. If however, you have the money, and time to take 3 extra days then I would advise it as it would allow…
1 extra day in Palmarium Reserve or Ranomafana (tropical rainforests where there are many beautiful animals to see).
1 extra day in Isalo national park to do more hiking in the beautiful mountainous terrain.
And 1 more day to relax by the beach in Ifaty.
But for those with just 2 weeks to explore this unique island I highly recommend going with Malagasya Travel. You’ll be in safe hands with their brilliant staff!
BR
Email Roberta Martins Da Costa e Silva | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Wonderful experience
When contacting Malagasya Travel, I was surprised by their friendliness and agility. I entered the Safari Booking website, filled out a form and in less than 24 hours the Riantsoa travel agent contacted me to understand in detail what I wanted. We put together a wonderful personalized itinerary that fully met my expectations! On the day of my arrival, I was greeted by them with an invitation to have dinner to get to know each other. It was a pleasant surprise for me.
During the whole trip I was very well assisted by all the places I went! The trip was wonderful and everything went according to plan.
Without a doubt, I highly recommend the company and will certainly make new trips with them!
FR
Email Patricia Bibens | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfection
Everything was perfect, guide and driver. The program was well-planned, the guide was sensational, and the driver was very professional. Competent from beginning to end. I highly recommend it! 👏😍😀
(automatic translation from French)
Email Roxie | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Ria was Great and always available!
When we landed in Tana, we really didn't know if anybody would be there or not too meet us. It is a little unnerving these days when you book things on the internet and aren't quite sure what you are getting. But Malagasy agents were right there to meet us there, and every place else we went. We changed our plans many, many times and Ria went along with it and made the changes without complaining.
When I first started looking into madagascar trips, I contacted a few different companies, but no other companies were able to take us to all of the places we wanted to go. Ria replied right away and accommodated all of our requests.
We went to Andasibe, Toliara and Ifaty, Kirindry and the Tsingys, and Noisy Be. We flew around a lot instead of driving and I'm glad we did that because the roads are somewhat brutal.
Whenever we had a hiccup of any sort, I would call Ria, and she would get it fixed within minutes. They weren't big things, but things like being locked out of my room, and other little things.
We stayed in nice accommodations. We really loved everything we did, but since we are snorkelers, nosy be was our favorite. We added on a day of snorkeling, and it was a little unorganized, but that was due to the tour company in Nosy Be. Again, Ria was right on top of getting it straightened out.
Our favorite lemur encounter was up in Andesibe. It was beautiful. It's really hard to get to the tsingys, but I think it was worth it as long as you do it. The Avenue of the baobobs was nice. Kirindy was our least favorite, but at least it gave us a break on the brutal drive to the tsingys.
We had hoped to go out to the reef in ifaty, but weather conditions prevented it. We did go in a zebu cart to the spiny forest there. We went to three different islands in Nosy Be snorkeling. We returned to one of them for a 4th day. Fabulous lunches every day on the beach. Great fish. Nosy Be was or favorite place.
I guess it was good value for the money. I don't really have anything to compare it with.
I would definitely recommend Ria at malagasy travel!!!
Also, please allow plenty of time in Madagascar, because the infrastructure makes it difficult to get around.
Email Mohan C | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Prompt, professional, courteous service. Highly recommend.
After submitting a request for a quote, within 2 hours, I received a response from Malagasya Travel (Ria). She was highly professional, immediately customized the tour according to our stated goals, came up with a revised quote no later than a day. It was a multi-day tour, with a number hotels to book and tours to organize. There was absolutely no delay on her part, and this made our job of selecting the company very easy. I felt very comfortable doing business with the company, especially because of Ms. Ria.
From the time we were picked up at the airport in Tana, and until we departed, their team, our tour guide and driver, became our second family in Madagascar. There were no problems along the way. Our driver was especially skillful in navigating challenging Madagascar roads. We felt very safe traveling with this team.
I would highly recommend them.
Email Catherine Ostick | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Excellent support and planning
From start to finish our trip to Madagascar was handled with professionalism and care. They selected wonderful lodges, worked with us to plan the itinerary, assisted on payment methods, and provided excellent guides and drivers. Many thanks!!
DE
Email Anne Steinbach | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Amazing trip with lots of expertise!
We went on a 2-week-trip with Malagasya Travel and got to see a huge part of beautiful Madagascar. The whole trip has been organised perfectly with nice hotels, a great mix of local restaurants and the best activities we could wish for. A huge shout-out goes to our guides Luciano and Love who have been perfect! Definitely a recommendation!