Soul of Madagascar tours head office
Soul Of Madagascar Tours
- Office In:
- Size:
- 5-10 employees (Founded in 2019)
- Tour Types:
- Customizable private tours and fixed group tours
- Destinations:
- Price Range:
- $60 to $350 per person per day (USD, 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
PT
Email Carlos | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Perfect trip!
We have spent 6 days with Soul of Madagascar through the south of Madagascar and it couldn’t have been more perfect! Enock was always very helpful while planning the tour, answering us very quickly and giving his thoughts regarding our plans, providing all the information we needed and being able to accommodate everything we wanted. Unfortunately we had a flight cancellation shortly before our trip which could’ve put it in danger but Enock was very creative to find solution and miraculously arranged everything so we wouldn’t miss our days at Ile aux Nattes. He knows Madagáscar like the palm of his hands, will teach you a lot about the country’s culture, take you to the most perfect spots and arrange you the most interesting and dedicated guide at the national parks you are going to visit. Everything was fantastic: the places where we ate, the stays and, of course, our brilliant driver: “Lanteau” (probably this isn’t the way to spell; I’m sorry!). Plus, he is a magnificent English speaker, which is hard to find since the majority of the guides only speak French. More than a guide and a trip, with Soul of Madagascar we got a friend and we can’t wait to come back to let him show us the rest of this beautiful country! Thank you, Enock!
Email Valentin C. | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
The best tour of my life !
I booked a 10-days tour in Madagascar with Soul of Madagascar Tours because I wanted to go on an solo adventure in the west of the country and I figured out it was safer and easier with a tourguide. I contacted Enock and told him what I wanted to visit (the Baobab alley, the Tsingy of Bemaraha National Park and see some lemurs in the wild). Then, he designed the perfect program for a reasonable budget.
Once I arrived, I really had the time of my life : my guide Enock and our driver Fifi were very kind, friendly and generous with me, always giving interesting facts about the country, helpful assistance and very good vibes during the whole trip ! Enock even invited me to have the best local experience at his place for a dinner and an overnight when we stopped in Antsirabe on our way back. I spent time with him and his friends and it was amazing ! Also, he organized the distribution of second-hand clothes I brought from home to people in need we met along the way.
I will never forget when we passed by the rice terraces in the highlands, when we had beers watching the sunset in Morondava, when I first saw lemurs 2 meters aways from me in the Kirindy Forest, when I crossed the hanging bridges in the tsingy, or when I tasted ravitoto for the first time. So many great memories in such a beautiful and underrated country that I will never forget !
If you want to discover Madagascar, you should go with Soul Of Madagascar Tours, it is worth every penny. You will be in trusting hands and they actually offer the best prices from what I have seen. When you are there, it is not about counting money but about making sure you enjoy every second of it !
Thank you Enock and Fifi for everything, and maybe see you next time in Mada ! :D
IL
Email Miki Badt | 65+ years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Outstanding guide (Mananjara Enock), organized a once in a lifetime tour foe us
We (2 couples i) had the luck to find Mr. Mananjara Enock (via the Internet after reading former positive reviews) .
At the planning phase, he helped up "fine-tune" our special (18 days!) tour in Madagascar per our specific preferences, while keeping the cost attractive.
Since he met us at the airport, till dropping us there 18 days later Enock took care of ALL our needs (replacing hotels, assistance with food, demonstrating various Chameleons and lemors) and even helping me downhill after I've fainted (not his fault..).
Enock also arranged a professional driver who drove us safely during all these long days.
As said, thus has been once in lifetime tour for us.
With great pleasure I (on behalf of my wife too) HIGHLY RECOMMEND Mr. Mananjara Enock and his company - Soul Of Madagascar.
DE
Email Marina | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Soul of Madagascar Tours is well-organized, reliable and a expert for tours through Madagascar
Enock was our tour guide on our 25days-trip through Madagascar in October 2022.
What should we say? We love this guy! He is polite, funny, well-organized and has a big knowledge about his country.
During the drive he often told us some tales and interesting facts about the regions and the culture. And also taught us a few words Malagasy.
He speaks fluent English, French and of course Malagasy.
He always helped us with everything we needed, e.g. translating, spontaneous itinerary changes, booking a snorkeling trip and many more.
The satisfaction of his client is very important for him and he did everything to make us happy.
You can notice that he likes his job a lot.
We had an amazing time in Madagascar and can definitely recommend Enock and his expertise as tour guide. We got a new friend now!
Thank you Enock!
US
Email M and C | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
terrible vehicle
We had worked for months with Soul of Madagascar for this holiday. We had quick and efficient responses from the office employees of Soul of Madagascar. We especially were impressed with Theresia. She was quick and efficient with her responses. We were expecting a wonderful holiday because of Theresia’s thoroughness. She sent us a picture of the Soul of Madagascar rep that was meeting us at the airport and a picture of the vehicle we would be using.
The lodges we requested were reserved by Soul of Madagascar. All were what we expected and met our needs. A few of the lodges exceeded our expectations. Bakuba Lodge was absolutely wonderful. It is a very unique lodge and would recommend this lodge. Bakuba Lodge and Le Soleil de Tsingy were the best lodges we stayed. We would not recommend Radisson Waterfront rooms 19, 20 or 21. They are in the basement. We would not recommend Gaspard Hotel in Ranomafana, the food was not good at all.
Our guide, Joushia, and the original driver, Rivo, were not very punctual. In fact, they were late over 95% of the time. We had to contact Theresia midway through our holiday because of Joushia’s attitude and the vehicle issues we had.
Oh, the vehicle issues we had!! Not one, not two, not even three, but five issues with the original vehicle. Then the second vehicle was a bit better but we still had no working air conditioning and ROACHES in the vehicle. We booked higher end hotels as we expected great service and a quality experience. Because of the service we received from Theresia, we thought we would receive excellent service from everyone at Soul of Madagascar. We also thought we would have had a higher end vehicle because of the higher end hotel choices we had made. Well, that was not the case. We had never experienced such bad service between the guide, driver and the vehicle like this. The best vehicle was the one that transported us to/from the hotel/airport and the one from Bekopaka to Morandava, which was not from Soul of Madagascar. Out of 14 days we have been with a vehicle, we had air condition for 4 days. Two of these days were transfer to/from the International Airport. Taking the total time we spent in a vehicle without air conditioning, it would be over 95% that we had NO air conditioning. We understand things happen. Maybe even twice, but five different things happened with the same vehicle. The first time, on the way to Kirindy Forest, the fan belt broke. It took about 2.5 hours to get back to where the fan belt broke. The next day, driving to Bekopa the air conditioner broke. We had to drive 5 hours on the dirt road with the windows down. It was SO hot and SO dusty. Our luggage, ourselves and everything was DIRTY. I mean DIRTY. Joushia and Rivo did not even seem to care that we were filthy. The next time the vehicle had an issue was on the way to Antsirabe. We stopped once for 15 minutes, then another time for 20 minutes and then an extra hour at lunch because the power steering pipe had a hole. And the air conditioning was not working. We had told Joushia we needed a different vehicle in Antsirabe. But he did NOT listen to us.
We were heading to Ranomafana the day after Antsirabe. We had told Joushia we absolutely wanted to do a night walk in Ranomafana as this was planned on our itinerary. Joushia said we had to insure we were on the road very early to arrive in Ranomafana for the night walk. We opted to not do Antsirabe city tour and the zebu factory to insure we had enough time to get to Ranomafana. We ended up paying the price for not getting a different vehicle in Antsirable as the vehicle broke down on the side of the road. We also noticed the power steering wasn't working, even though we were told everything was fine with the vehicle and of course the air conditioning was not work. That day the fan belt broke again, the same fan belt. We sat at least two hours at the side of the road while the vehicle was repaired. We repeated that we wanted to do one tonight but because of the vehicle breaking down for the fourth time, we could not. Rivo's reply was "This is life in Madagascar." WOW, what customer service is this?!?! We have not seen any other tourist's vehicles broken down on the side of the road. Obviously, it isn't life in Madagascar. We also have not seen any other tourist vehicles with their windows down! So many lies! Joushia lied to us! Finally, we got a different vehicle, but again, it had no air conditioning, and it had roaches crawling on the floor and on us!! This whole situation was unacceptable.
We travel the world as we have visited 95 different countries. Most of these travels has been on induvial tours such as this one. Never have had anything like this. We talked to other tourists while on our holiday in Madagascar; French, Hungarian, Dutch, English, Australian, Canadian, South African and Americans. None have experienced even one issue like we had. All we ever heard from Theresia was “Thank you for understanding”. Well, that is one thing, but it does not make the facts change. If we experienced any small issue on a previous holiday, we would have been compensated for any issues. It would have been a nice gesture, indicating these issues were understood, if a small refund or possibly including meals at several of the hotels. But no compensation was ever made. We paid a lot of money for this holiday and expected great service. Other than Theresia, we did not receive good service from Soul of Madagascar. We felt as if we were a nuisance and not a client.
We had communicated with Theresia during the trip for her to try to understand our situation. Her response was “my apologies” and she was grateful for our understanding. She also stated she did not know about all the issues with the vehicle until we had told her. Joushia did not tell her about the vehicle?? Upon our arrived home, we sent a lengthy email detailing all our issues we experienced on our trip to Theresia. This is her response, “I would like to apologize for the inconvenience you experienced during your trip. As a representative of our agency, I will take all your feedback seriously. I will take the time to carefully observe the people I will work with in the future. Once again, I offer you my most sincere apologies.” Apologies are one thing, but it is as if no one from Soul of Madagascar understood that we paid good money for a tour that was far below satisfactory conditions. We honestly cannot recommend Soul of Madagascar.
DE
Email Peter Wutherich | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Super friendly and reliable
I highly recommend this agency. Staff is super friendly, competent, reliable, and they speak excellent English. We asked them to arrange a train trip for us with the public Madarail train from Tamatave to Moramanga. These first class tickets are very hard to get. Theresia from Soul of Madagascar queued up several hours at the ticket counter and then, after some negotiations with the manager, she managed to get the tickets for us, even though the train was officially sold out. —- The train trip was a pretty unique and authentic experience, running through magnificent landscapes and remote villages. We were the only tourists on board. With just 25,000 Ar it was cheap as well. Big thanks to Theresia!
BE
Email Lessi Becker | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Paradise with Soul of Madagascar
Thank you to the whole team for this adventure, great southern loop of Madagascar You assured.
I underline the professionalism of Mrs THERESIA, the owner manager of the tour operator.
I recommend
BE
Email Eliane | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: first safari
I highly recommend this agency.
Professional Tour Operator
A wonderful experience in the south-west of Madagascar (Ambatomilo). We spent 7 days with Soul of Madagasca, visiting the Mikea people, the white sand dune, the baobab forest and the island of Manjaboaky.) The guide and driver were extremely professional and I really had the time of my life. They were fantastic and always gave interesting information about the country. A special mention to Thérèsia, the manager, who is an extremely kind woman, always looking after you and her team and doing everything possible to make your stay extraordinary. I highly recommend this agency. Here are some of my photos.
JP
Email Rinako | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
The best travel in my life
I’ve communicated with Theresia from Soul of Madagascar Tours and always gave me quick and clear response. It was great help for us before travel.
During the trip, tour guide and driver are everyone professional and perfect time management.
We had 7 days trip this time but definitely I would like to come back to Madagascar with Soul of Madagascar tour and explore more adventure!
US
Email Jakhan | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Reliable and Professional Tour Operator
I recently took a 13-day private tour with Soul of Madagascar in April 2024, after hearing positive reviews online about their guide and founder, Enock. He was very helpful and quickly responsive in planning our trip itinerary with private car for a reasonable price. Unfortunately, Mr. Enock passed away before our arrival and we were uncertain as to what would become of our trip. Despite this unforeseen tragedy, Soul of Madagascar maintained good professionalism and reached out to us multiple times to assure us that our trip would still be possible with some reorganization. We arrived in Antananarivo and were served by Mr. Anjara as our new guide and Mr. Rivo as our driver. The services these two provided were exceptional and every care was made to ensure that we were both safe and satisfied. SOM booked fine accommodations/lodges for us, as well as set up a fantastic Tsiribihina River cruise with an amazing boat crew. Special thanks to the boat chef of La Sirene, based in Masiakampy, who prepared restaurant quality meals all from a small boat kitchen! We did receive a flat tire on one section of the trip, which is expected from such long drives on Madagascar's difficult roads, but this was quickly resolved. My only suggestion is that the cars which are contracted by SOM be inspected and serviced regularly to make sure they are in good working order, and that the repair kits in the cars have the necessary tools. Aside from this, our itinerary that also included Alley des Baobabs and Ranomafana National Park was carried out without any problems. I would also like to thank SOM for working around our schedule and for providing us with airport transfer two days after our itinerary finished. I would recommend SOM Tours to anyone looking for a reliable agency, since traveling independently in Madagascar can be extremely complicated and stressful. Thank you!