Isalo National Park

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.

Robert Anderson Highlights of Madagascar

Incredible adventure through Madagascar. While there is a lot of travel, it allows you to see all the different cultures and landscapes of the country – from the highlands to the western coast, cities and rural villages, national parks etc. There were plenty of stops along the way for toilet breaks, and culture stops. We were never uncomfortable but you do have to go with an open mind and just go with the flow. We went for the wildlife and this didn’t disappoint – we saw so many different lemurs up close and all of the guides were fantastic to point out all the different animals Our tour guide, Claudia, was amazing and so helpful throughout the entire tour. Our group was very enjoyable and we all had a similar mindset.

Hannah Marks Madagascan Discoverer

In general the trip was good. I enjoyed the scenery. We had a small group, only 7 people which was good. If there had been the full 16 guests, the bus would have been far too small. I loved seeing the Lemurs and the various treks that we did, especially the Tsingy. The hotels were very basic, quite disappointing in many places. The hotel at Ifaty Beach (La Plage) was the worst that we experienced. It is neglected, dirty, very poor quality beds, my room was musty, the fans didn’t work, the bedside lights didn’t work, we were there for two days and had no hot water. There was a smelly dog in the public area. The covers on the sun loungers were dirty. As a solo traveller, as usual with Exodus, I got the worst room, that is compared to what the couples in the group get. One hotel we stayed in, (Les chambers du Voyageur) the room was so small, I couldn’t open my suitcase inside the room, unless I put it right up to the entrance door of the room! There was no wardrobe, no place to put anything, so I had to put my rucksack on the bed beside me, I didn’t want to put it on the floor. The breakfasts were also very poor, quite often stale bread and an omelette made with just one egg! There was no toiletries in any of these hotels, just soap! The other big negative for me, was the extremely long drives on such poor roads. We had breakfast each morning and within minutes of eating, we were on these really bumpy roads. As a result, we all had stomach problems throughout the trip. One day we were on the bus for 13 hours and for the final five hours, we never stopped, neither to stretch our legs nor for a comfort stop! If the bus was full with 16 people, it would have been close to torture!

mary dunne Madagascan Discoverer