Madagascar Honeymoon
 

Hello everyone,

I'm thinking about going to Madagascar for my Honeymoon in September 2009 and have 2 weeks to play with.

I've seen some old posts where people have mentioned that it's best to hire a tour guide for a trip there. Can anyone confirm if this is the best way to go? Does anyone have any suggestions for tour guides?

I'm planning on "touring" around for the first 10 days or so, and then staying at a luxury resort for the last few days to relax. From all that I've read, we'll have to stick to one or two regions of Madagascar with this amount of time. What region would you suggest? And does anyone have any recommendations for a great luxury resort to stay at for the last couple days?

Any and all Madagascar related tips would be much appreciated.

I live in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada....which means I can fly from Toronto (YYZ), or Buffalo, NY (BUF) with equal ease. Does anyone have any flight tips?

Thank you all very much for your kind help.

I've not been there, but have always wanted to, which is why this caught my attention:

http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travelling-...ica/madagascar

As at 7 Feb, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office is currently advising against all travel to Madagascar. September's a long time away, and I really hope that everything will be fine for your honeymoon, but thought that you would want to be aware.

A

Welcome to Flyertalk, Doomaise
I am moving your thread to the FT Africa Forum for discussion. I might also add that you may want to consider a luxury resort in the Seychelles following your Madagascar experience.
Congratulations on your upcoming marriage.
Obscure2k
TravelBuzz Moderator

Thanks for the info! Good to know. Looks like things have really escalated there.

Well, with that in mind....does anyone have any recommendations similar to Madagascar? I've looked at the Maldives and Seychelles but the seemed to be a lot more expensive. I'm looking to spend around $10,000 including flights from Toronto, for two people.

sounds like a romantic idea, here a few thoughts
 

Despite the cautions from the UK Foreign Office and no doubt the US State Department as well, I think you will have a blast and I will try to offer a few ideas based on my trip. I never heard of the power struggles in Madagascar impacting any tourists. I don't think tourists actually tour the presidential palace, although you can see it from a road and it is huge, supposedly with an entire zoo back there. (could be a rumor) But to my knowledge the very occasional demonstrations or riots or whatever you like to call them would not affect the traveler. Madagascar has one of the weakest currencies in the world and is protective of its tourists. People are friendly. The only issue I had with walking to the store or post office or wherever in the capital was people trying to sell me stuff. Crime etc. was not a concern.

While we did have a tour guide, it was because of the specialized nature of our trip. Dr. "Lily" of the Madagascar Peregrine Fund took us into areas where we could find specialized species, such as the Madagascar Serpent-Eagle In addition to specialized bird tours, offered by many companies, the other popular type of tour I saw was the photo tour, mostly filled with Japanese tourists carrying special equipment for photographing the unusual lemur species. I could find out if the Peregrine Fund is doing any more of these trips, but I think that November would always be the month, not September.

However, I got the impression that most of the younger visitors just "showed up" and booked the tours of their choice once they arrived in Madagascar. I didn't see individuals renting cars, what I saw was, people joining groups of 4 or 6 in a van with a driver. There are VERY frequent road checks of the driver's credentials and license to transport tourists, so I think you can feel easy about that.

At the national parks, even if you bring your OWN guide/driver, you are generally ALSO required to stay with the guide that they assign to you. This is not a bad idea, as it guarantees that locals get and keep jobs and are invested in the protection of the wildlife. Also, some of these local guides develop deep knowledge of some of the species, how they live and how they can be found.

As a honeymooner, I'm sure you will want to arrange for a visit to Tritriva, the Lake of the Lovers. The story is the Madagascar version of Romeo and Juliet, and when you see the cliffs of the lake, there will be few questions about how the lovers tragically ended their story. Many tours will bring you to this area for the glorious sunsets.

I have a very long diary about my visit to Madagascar, if you go to this page:

http://peachfront.diaryland.com/madapt1.html

and scroll down to November 13, then you will see photos of Tritriva (that do not do the place justice) and get some idea. At the time we visited the Madagascar Kestrels were engaged in feeding displays and other breeding/bonding activity there, which added to the atmospheric and romantic nature of the scene.

If you speak both English and French, you have a decided advantage if you do any independent travel around Madagascar, however even if you don't hire a "guide" per se, then if you rent a car, I think it will come with the driver who will also speak Malagasy. This is something you should double-check for yourself, as Dr. Lily always made these kind of arrangements for us. Your hotel or hostel will help you book tours and probably at a very reasonable price, if you have no specialized interests that you need to book in advance.

The other poster's comment about arranging for a luxury stay in the Seychelles is a kind way of saying that, as far as we know, there are no true 4 star accommodations in Madagascar. This is a destination for the nature lover and the adventurous person. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with one of the weakest currencies, so it is a DIFFICULT destination for the person with a picky, specialized diet or some other high maintenance lifestyle. There is a French influence on the food, but not in a good way. Rather, in a way where it's coffee and cold French bread with butter and jam, and that's breakfast. Also, at the time of my visit, November 2007, most parks had electricity in the cabins for 2 hours in the evening.

On the other side, though, people are friendly, prices are low, and you will see wildlife and settings that you simply can't see anywhere else.

I did not go a very efficient way, as I used miles to fly WBC on KLM to JNB and spent a few days either side of my tour there. To book my flight from JNB to Tana, I had to go to the Air Mad website and order my tickets from Paris. They were paper tickets and were delivered by DHL exactly when I was told they would arrive. But I had to wrestle with the webform a little, because it was mostly in French, which I don't know. You could buy the same ticket from South African Airways, and it was on the same plane, but it was $300 more, so I was willing to just go slow and use the French form. They may have an English webform by now. Maybe they even did then and I just couldn't find it.

Air France goes straight from Paris to Tana, and the other people on my tour took this flight. With only 2 weeks to work with, however you go, I would strongly suggest traveling from North America business class rather than trying to make this very wearying journey in coach.


The other parts of my diary are Part 2:
http://peachfront.diaryland.com/madapt2aaa.html
Part 3:
http://peachfront.diaryland.com/mada3maso.html
Part 4:
http://peachfront.diaryland.com/beranda4.html


This is more of a Lonely Planet destination in some ways, than a Flyertalker destination. You can read the Lonely Planet forum about Madagascar and get more ideas. It's also a gemstone destination, and I don't know the ins and outs of leaving the country with gemstones as I didn't visit the mining areas nor did I buy any gemstones. You should check on this before you buy anything, to make sure you are taking the gems out of the country legally. There used to be a gemstone buyer who sometimes posted on the Thorn tree at the Lonely Planet. I *think* his name is Rory, so you might look out for him if you think you might be buying a special gem there. I think the Ocean Jasper may be mined out, as I was surprised at how little "quality" Ocean Jasper I saw in the market at Tana.

Thanks for such a thoughtful post, peachfront ^

What about Mauritius?

I've been to Seychelles and the Maldives and to Madagascar, and the 1st two have little in common with the latter.

If you are the type of people attracted to Madagascar, you might find yourselves bored in the Maldives. I was ready to move on after a week at the Four Seasons. It's beautiful & the over-water bungalows are romantic, but I found the diving somewhat disappointing and there was nowhere to go out "on our own" to go exploring.

Madagascar is worthwhile, but do you really want to deal with potentially challenging conditions on your honeymoon? When I was there a few years ago, we found several romantic, but rustic, places to stay. Even in these places, the food options were very limited. After a couple of weeks of eating toast for breakfast & "chicken" and a (nicely presented!) rice mold for dinner, I did lose my appetite and some weight! Camping in a couple of the lemur reserves didn't go well; issues with the locally provided, falling-apart, equipment & we bailed on one place that was absolutely filthy. An organized tour would probably give you more consistency, but do you want to spend your honeymoon tagging along with a group?

I've always wanted to spend more time in the Seychelles; lots of different islands with different focuses & types of activities. It seems like a natural if you want to spend some time in a laidback, romantic place & also do a little exploration.

I actually went to Madagascar for a honeymoon in October 2007! It was a fun place to visit, but it completely exhausted us. We did the RN7 route by private car from Andasibe down to Tulear, then flew to Fort Dauphin for a short bit, and left the country. So we obviously didn't do the beach thing, just the chasing lemurs thing.

We stayed in some really nasty places, but also some extraordinary places (like Jardin du Roy). I've gotta say the one thing that really wore us down was the food. After a long day, it was always a bummer to eat a crumby dinner!

Our last night in Madagascar, we stayed at Lavasoa in Fort Dauphin. This place was a real gem. A nice (cheap!) bungalow looking right onto the ocean. And down on the beach is this little restaurant called George's where you can eat some very freshly caught fish and crabs while lounging on the sand. It's just a crazy location for a restaurant--you can only get there by foot. It was really amazing--hands down the most romantic part about our honeymoon! (especially considering there were some nights we had separate single beds in certain places)

To the OP - read today's (09 Feb 2009) Globe and Mail front section, page A11. There's an article which (lightly) explains the Madagascar political situation and the effects on the capital city.

Given your budget of $10K, I too would recommend you look into Mauritius. You'll find things to do there and if you're into it, you'll find some rather nice beach properties too. (Recommend Le Sait Geran, Four Seasons or Hilton but there are many more.) Mauritius is also close enough to Madagascar that you can take an Air Mauritius flight there if the political situation calms down a touch.

Mauritius is served by Air Mautirius, Air France (I think) and British Airways. You can consider picking up a Royal Bank British Airways Visa card which offers buy 1 get one free if you pop for full fare Economy Plus, Business or First Class.

I've taken 2 trips to Madagascar-one in 2005 and the other in 2007. GO!!!! It is a fascinating, wonderful, unique destination. I travelled the "southern route" the first time from Tana to Tulear through the highlands visiting Antirabe, Fianarantsoa, Isalo park, and Ramonafana park. The second trip was primarily to the north- Montagne D'Ambre park, Diego Suarez, Anakarana special reserve and Isle Ste Marie - a gem of an island and we were there at the right time July/Aug to see humpback whale migration. I will take exception to the statement that there are no luxury accomodations on the island- perhaps not to the standard of Seychelles/ Mauritius but very good nonetheless. Princess Bora Lodge on Isle Ste Marie, Anjajavy on the northwest coast amongst others. If you love nature and want to visit a relatively non touristed country, then by all means go. The easiest way to get there is via Paris on AF direct to Tana five times weekly, which is usually expensive. Other less expensive but not as direct options are to fly to Reunion island from France.They often have good deals as it is a very popular destination for the French. There is reasonably good service connecting Reunion island to Madagascar and it is relatively inexpensive. I combined this trip with a side trip to Mauritius for five days. Lovely as well. Beautiful resorts but heavily touristed and worlds apart from Madagascar. PM me if you want some more details.

Thanks to all of you for your very informative and helpful posts!

While Madagascar is certainly a place that I'd like to visit at some point in my life, after reading your posts I think I may look into something else for my honeymoon. It may be a just a little too "rough" for a honeymoon.

I've looked into Mauritius, but it seemed a little boring, and I didn't think there'd be enought things to do. A poster here seems to have confirmed this.

I'll look into Seychelles again. I took a cursory look at them and they seemed very cool, but expensive. I think I'll do some more digging and see if it's do-able.

Thanks again to everyone, you've been a great help and it is much appreciated!

For a more balanced blend of the touristy with nature/real world, you may also want to look into Senegal (which also happens to be a lot better-connected with Europe and even America).

I read on Thorntree the Visa Fee has been dropped,
trying to encourage more tourism.

I and 3 friends will be there Aug 18-Sep 8.
Staying at new Ibis in Tana on arrival.

Seychelles is very expensive and can get boring if you're not into lounging around the beach, etc.