We had a great trip to Andasibe back in December! Cactus Tours was very professional, friendly, and easy to work with. I was able to tell them exactly what I was looking for, and they organized a brilliant tour for us. Everyone at the company, as well as the local guides they used, were excellent. Would highly recommend using this company to organize all of your trip needs while in Madagascar!
We had a great time. Our trip up north in Madagascar to three different national parks couldn’t been better. As we had our own guide and driver we could decide how many hours we wanted to stay in the parks. The hotels were well chosen! After spending time up north we spent some time on Nosy Be. Absolute top notch hotels and delicious food. We flew back to Antananarivo, where we spent one night and then went to St Marie for some days. We have been traveling a lot over the years but Cactus tours really delivered. Everything was perfect, the transports, the guides (we were happy that they were English speaking), the hotels and the food. The support from Cactus was all you can wish. A wonderful trip and much more interesting (and cheaper) than going to the Maldives or the Seychelles!
We had a great time touring Madagascar, primarily to see and photograph the wildlife, in particular the lemurs . The organisation by Cactus was very good. We travelled from Antananarivo to Andasibe, back to Antananarivo, flew to Maroantsetra and took a boat to Masoala NP for a week, flew back to Antananarivo, on to Morondava and then a gruelling 4×4 road trip to Kirindy and on to Tsingy de Bemahara, before returning to Morondava to fly back to Antananarivo. At every stage, we were met precisely on time and escorted by knowledgeable and friendly guides. Accommodation was generally good. At Masoala the quality of the food was pretty good but deteriorated slightly towards the end of the week, probably due to shortages in what had been purchased at the beginning of the week since it all had to be transported with us. The Pallisandre in Antananarivo is very comfortable with very friendly and helpful staff, but the quality of food is a bit variable for such an upmarket hotel. The Relais de Kirindy is not up to much. Good food, but the rooms were very hot, with no fans and the mosquito nets were laughable as they didn’t fit round the beds. However it is the best in the area and the discomfort was worth it to visit the Kirindy National Park which was probably our favourite. The trip to Tsingy de Bemahara is a long 7-8 hour, bumpy ride and it would have been good if this had been more explicit in the itinerary. Overall though, it was a fantastic trip and Cactus is a great travel company. This was the second time I have been on a trip with them and both times it was really well organised. A big shout out to Rina Rakotomalala, who looked after us so well. We were delayed leaving the country for 3 days when our return flight was cancelled due to political riots in the capital. Rina personally met us at the airport on our return from Morondava and escorted us back to our hotel, then she transferred us to a hotel near the airport on the day we eventually left, provided a complementary lunch and took us to the airport personally. First class service at a somewhat difficult time.
We had a great time for our 12-day Madagascar trip. Cactus Tours made our Madagascar trip a truly amazing journey. From the planning with Rina, our knowledgeable and reliable guides Nandih (east) and Liantsoa (west), to every detail and request during the trip, we felt we were well taken care of and we enjoyed every moment of experiences.
My 10-day adventure across Madagascar with Cactus Tours was nothing short of unforgettable. The team was not only genuinely warm but very professional, allowing amazing wildlife encounters in Kirindy and Andasibe. Thank you Cactus Tour for making this trip to Madagascar so memorable.
To begin with shout out to Rina from Cactus Tours. She did above and beyond her duties. We traveled in difficult times while there were riots to begin with and then a coup. Our flight to Madagascar via Paris with Air France was cancelled due to curfew. Rina miraculously managed to use her connections and to put us on a later flight via Reunion, even tough Air France customers service told us multiple times that there is no vacancy. (The flight was half empty…) The trip was meticulously arranged to our schedule and interests. Upon arrival, we were fetched by Nandih who became our guide and confidence. Rina was waiting at the hotel in Antananarivo with sun hats as a welcome gift and a complete scheduled itinerary folder. A nice touch and a good beginning. Our itinerary was complicated and involved shuttle flights, private flights and domestic flights. As per weather, things didn’t always worked as planned. Throughout this, both Rina and Nandih were on top of the situation and came up with good solutions. Nandih was the perfect match of a guide for us. Curios, knowledgable and a problem solver. We enjoyed his company and our local and world discussions and point of view. Once we were out of Antananarivo, we didn’t experience any of the chaos that was mainly in the capital. We travelled through many rain forests, saw many lemurs of many sizes, nocturnal and daylight. We had some very good local guides. Shout out to Livah our local guide extraordinaire in Andasibe who did an exceptional job tracking the Indris and the Sifakas. We flew over the Grey tsingy as rain was coming soon and managed to get a glimpse of this marvelous pinacles from above. We had good sighting at Kirindy and a special trip to see the ring tale Lemurs, the diadem sifakas and red ruffed lemurs- thank you Rina for arranging this out of the books special treat. We bumped in the car in the many unpaved roads with some good drivers that succeeded in maneuvering the bad roads and were lucky to experience many new things that only exists in Madagascar. We heard many life and legend stories- thank you Nandih for your insight. The only damper that caught me by surprise and I wish the company should change this practice was that when I decided to go with Cactus and I dropped the other competitors, I discovered to my dismay that some of the accommodations I thought are available were actually not. I think this should be transparent and made known ahead of time that those are only suggested accommodations and that there is NO guarantee to have an availability. As a result, we ended up staying in two accommodations that were not up to our desired level. However silver lining was that in Akiba lodge we walked outside the bungalow to find out to our delight, many lemurs up close and personal. Otherwise, a real good experience. I highly recommend Cactus , Rina and Nandih and all the local guides and drivers. You made our journey a fantastic one. . Thank you.
Firstly we would like to say that the political situation and civil unrest does not make Madagascar an unsafe destination. We did not see any of the demonstrations and protest rallies as it was in the centre of the city. We always felt safe and always felt welcome. Why our governments are advising all but essential travel is an over reaction and we hope that this advice will soon be reversed. All but Airfrance are flying to Madagascar again. Our primary goal for this trip was to see as many species of birds as possible in a 15 day tour. We saw over 160 species. We saw Lemurs, insects and reptiles. We saw and met very friendly people. Madagascar was wonderful. Malagasy and French are the main languages but English is widely spoken. We wanted to see as much of Madagascar as possible and this was achieved though a bit hectic because of our time limitations as we would like to have stayed at a couple of areas longer. Birding was mostly only 5 or 6 hours a day with early starts and because of travelling some days we had no birding. It did get hot during the day so bird activity did go quiet so we did have a lot of down time sometimes longer down time than birding time. If we could change one thing we would want longer birding sessions. The trip was well organised with good communications from our initial inquiry with Rina to our departure. We had a guide, Kantu with us for the entire trip who was great company and she made everything run smoothly, and at every location we had a local bird guide (some were poor to average but two or three were exceptional) we had a different high quality driver and good 4wd vehicle for each location. Accommodation was exceptional and in fantastic locations. They were perfect as was the food, to be honest there was too much food. We are vegetarians and this was never an issue. The food was varied but not enough local dishes. The cost of this trip was high and way above our normal budget but it was a private tour. We looked into doing this independently about 10 years ago and felt because of the lack of infrastructure it would be difficult to achieve so we gave up on the idea. We revisited the idea earlier this year and felt that not much had improved and because of our timescale we would not achieve our goal. We then started to look at organised tours and we found Cactus tours and the rest is history…..we have been to Madagascar. Now that we have seen Madagascar we both think that an organised tour was the best way for us to have visited. We really loved our trip. The only negative for me was the having to tip everyone and everyone expecting a tip. Would we recommend Cactus Tours ?……….Yes we would. Thank you for the memories.
We had a wonderful time in Madagascar. The trip was perfectly organized and everything went smoothly. The contact with Cactus Tours before the trip was very friendly and efficient. Our guide and driver were super friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. They could show and teach us a lot about the amazing culture and nature. We appreciated to be in such good hands and always felt safe. We highly recommend visiting this beautiful country and booking with Cactus Tours Madagascar!
The entire trip from the time I reached out to Catus Tours for quotes to the time we departed after completing the trip was the best I have experienced. Rojo was our point of contact from the start about two years ago before the first day of our trip. Rojo was always attentive to my emails. She was so detailed and provided everything we needed to know for the trip. Every hand off from one tour guide to another and drivers for pick up and drop off was seamless. The guides from west side and east side were wonderful and knowledgeable about everything related to Madagascar. Everyone was quick to adjust when unexpected happened or when we wanted something different from the scheduled itinerary. Madagascar is such a special country with beautiful people. Catus Tours company is highly respected in Madagascar because they take care of their people. I am grateful for Catus Tour’s unwavering attention to our comfort and safety. I highly recommend Catus Tours to anyone who wants to visit this wonderful place.
We have just completed a wonderful tour of northern Madagascar, finishing with 6 relaxing days on Nosy Be. From our first contact with Cactus Tours until our final day, we have received outstanding service. Rojo put together an itinerary that perfectly matched our interests and requests, offering suggestions and recommendations throughout the entire booking process, and her communication was excellent. Our two guides, Ben and Raissa, as well as our drivers were also fantastic and did everything possible to ensure we got the most out of every day. We would highly recommend this company.
Everything arranged and scheduled was delivered and dependable from initial airport pickup and greet to last airport drop off. We were on a customised birding tour (Thank you Rina) and our primary guide (Gildas) and driver (Luva) were truly amazing as well as the secondary guides in other locations. Accomodation was all as initially outlined and there were no surprises. All in all an amazing effort thank you.
My trip was fantastic! The Cactus team was very responsive in planning the trip and they took into consideration my wishes and priorities. The trip was extremely well planned and organized. I was able to see all the areas I was interested in and I did not feel rushed. The timing was excellent. Everything was very well coordinated. The drivers were excellent and they navigated the difficult roads skillfully. I always felt safe. The guides were excellent. They were knowledgable, attentive and responsive. The hotels were lovely. I wanted to use a Malagasi company and I was very, very pleased with Cactus. I highly recommend them and when I return to Madagascar I will definitely use Cactus!! Thanks Cactus for a wonderful experience!
It was amazing both culturally and from wildlife perspective – fascinating and instructional. Housing is mostly rustic, though clean. Travel road days can be long because the infrastructure is not very good. However, travelling through the various portions of the country was incredibly interesting and we learned a lot from it. Our Guides were awesome and super interesting to learn from them. Food excellent everywhere (even in the most remote spots). Getting there from the US takes a long time, so I would book early for optimal itineraries. People very friendly. Cactus Tours did an amazing job. When we had a hiccup, which was stressful, they really came through to fix it (without any extra charges). Would highly recommend and would definitely use again. Also of note – the company is Malagasy owned and uses all Malagasy owned businesses (when feasible) and guides/support.
This trip was absolutely amazing. Beforehand, we worked together with Rojo of Cactus Tours to customize the itinerary, and it was so easy to go back and forth and change things. Then once we were happy with everything, all the arrangements were made for us. All of the hotels were fantastic, even the more “rustic” options that we had for some of the more remote areas. For us, the most important pieces were to do a lot of hiking in various habitats / areas, and then not to have too much scheduled activity packed into each day. There were a couple of times where our planned day was too busy, and it was easy to adjust things so that we could either start later or rest. Overall – we loved the hikes, we saw so many species of lemurs and chameleons and so much plant life, we loved the local restaurants our guides picked, we loved the combination of rustic and resort types of accommodations, we even loved the drives on some areas with very rough roads because we got to drive through many interesting areas and villages. I would recommend a trip like this to anyone, Madagascar is not an easy place to just drop in and wing it – roads are often closed or under repair, routes change, some areas are not accessible, and without Malagasy or at least some French, it would be challenging to figure out trip logistics. I think that the cost of the trip was absolutely worth it to have the details organized by Cactus Tours – they were flexible and accommodating and took care of us the whole way, while still allowing us the time to enjoy the surroundings and venture out a little on our own each day. Five stars in every respect – we LOVED our trip!!!
I had an unforgettable experience exploring Madagascar thanks to the excellent organization and support provided by the agency, namely from Rina :). From start to finish, everything was smoothly coordinated — from transport and accommodation to the diverse and enriching activities that brought me closer to the country’s incredible nature, wildlife, and culture. A special thank you to my guides — Nambi, Nandih, and Zacka (apologize in case of misspelling) — who were all wonderfully welcoming, attentive, and knowledgeable. Their warm presence and insights made every leg of the journey feel personal and safe, whether navigating the wild roads of the west or the lush trails of the east. It was a true adventure — full of lemurs, baobabs, misty rainforests, and vibrant local life — and I’m so grateful for the care and passion that went into every detail. Highly recommend!
Cactus Tours went above and beyond. It was billed as a sort of mid level tour but some of your lodgings were well above that level. They had an excellent itinerary and always provided experiences at allowed us to have a great time in each location. Their guides were absolutely excellent, friendly, well informed and flexible. The company was a pleasure to deal with. They worked very hard to find a way to let us pay our deposit with credit cards so we could use the insurance included with the cards, and did little things, like when I asked about buying a hiking pole for myself, they had the guide get a pair for me to use on the trip. Highest recommendation!
