Flexible company and great tour guide and driver

Mar 2018 • Couples My wife Lauren and I visited Madagascar in March 2018. We booked our tour with Helinirina Raharomanana Tours Guide, largely because of their pricing and their fantastic (English) descriptions of every aspect of the trip. When we landed our guide, Niaina, and our driver, Raoul, met us with signs at the airport and brought us to our hotel in Antananarivo. Nirina (the owner) and Niaina (our guide) met with us the first night, and we asked to make some big last minute changes to our itinerary–the night before our trip started. They were unbelievably accommodating and helped us work out a new plan on the spot. The trip itself was incredible. Niaina was knowledgeable, enthusiastic, funny, and fluent in English and Raoul was a fantastic driver throughout, including on the roughest of roads. It was obvious that both were excited to share Madagascar with us. We saw beautiful nature every day, and Niaina did a fantastic job explaining so many aspects of the Malagasy people, places, and culture. These two were the absolute best and I can’t recommend them enough. We were so sad to say goodbye. Overall, we couldn’t have asked for a better experience.One last tip for those who haven’t traveled much: come prepared with cash or plan to withdraw from the ATM. Bank wires were a bit expensive for us and difficult to coordinate abroad, so we paid for the trip in cash, and in general few places in Madagascar accept card.