discover
Madagascar
Unknown for most of the seasoned travelers, with 200 000 species of animals and plants which are found nowhere else, and 600 news species found during the last decades, Madagascar is unique, when the big island splintered from Africa, then from India, from 165 million years ago, it took with it the ancestral stock of what would evolve into the most remarkable assemblage of animals and plants in existence.
who
we are?
We are specialized in the design and organization of tailor made holidays and luxury tours in Madagascar. We serve a clientele of outbound tour operators and independent travellers requiring some private tours, luxury holidays and specialty travel through Madagascar. Our team is made of well experienced tour guide and driver. We are all Malagasy, we are owned and operated only by Madagascar nationals.
Our repeated business with the best service providers helps us secure the best prices, allows us to pass the savings along to you.
We deal directly with hotels, guides, drivers and other service providers without incurring the additional costs of agents and middlemen, keeping administrative costs to a minimum and ensuring too quality.
We put our experience to work for you and recommend experiences that match your interests, activities that you probably would not find on your own. We smooth out the inevitable bumps that come with travel in Madagascar, taking the worries out of dealing with internal fight changes, challenging road conditions and other concerns along the way. We expect and know how to handle the unexpected and will help to make it part of the adventure.
We provide time-tested advice before the trip and during the trip to help you to stay safe and healthy, so that you will get the most out of the unique daily experiences. The main way that Zina-Go stands out is by having the top service providers in the country, all of whom have years of experience going above and beyond what is expected.
Because of our experience and efficiency, we can normally provide custom tours for small groups at a fraction of the costs changed for large pre-packaged tours with other agencies (many of whom aren’t even located here which means multiple layers of additional costs).
CEO
In the year 2000, Zina RAHERITSIFERANA started as a driver and he run his own car rental company. He deal with many local tour operator before becoming an English tour guide. Zina was ignited by his passion of sharing the treasure of Madagascar to visitors. Finally, 15 years later, the idea to start Zina-Go was born from a partnership with foreign companies.
TRIP
REPORT
Thomas Carlberg
Photos
© All photos in this report: Tomas Carlberg.
Participants
Tomas Carlberg (Tour leader), Jonas Nordin, Sweden; Rolf Nordin, Sweden; Olof Persson, Sweden; Jesper Hornskov, Denmark; Eric Schaumburg, Denmark; Hans Harrestrup Andersen, Denmark; Hans Wulffsberg, Denmark; Ian Fryer, UK
Serge “Zina” Raheritsiferana (organizer and driver), Fidson “Fidy” Albert Alberto (guide), and Lala.
Tour organizers
Serge “Zina” Raheritsiferana (Zina-Go Travel), Stig Holmstedt.
Skevington
Wildlife
Our experience fully lived up to our expectations. In the end, we tallied 27 species of lemurs, 2 tenrec species (34 mammal species in total), 176 bird species, 12 chameleon species, 12 snakes (47 reptile species) and 16 amphibians.
Guides
The guides were almost universally excellent at bird finding although only a few were also good communicators.
Accommodations
Note that Zina can arrange virtually any type of accommodation you want. We went with fairly basic to mid-range places for the most part. Talk to Zina if you want to pay more for higher end places, if air conditioning is important to you, etc.
Thomas Carlberg
Photos
© Tomas Carlberg (TC), Jan Wendeby (JW), Karin
Lundquist (KL).
Participants
Tomas Carlberg (Tour leader;
dendroica95@gmail.com), Håkan Pohlstrand, Sonja
Pohlstrand, Inger Marie Jaavall, Torun Haakaas
Jaavall, Jan Wendeby, Karin Lundquist, Lena Krogh,
Karin Zakrisson, Karin Hellkvist, Elisabeth Nyström.
Fidson “Fidy” Albert Alberto (guide), Maurice
(driver) and several local guides including
Fenodavy Gildas (Ankarafantsika), Diamondra
(Ranomafana) and Cris & Agati (Andasibe).
Tour organizers
Serge “Zina” Raheritsiferana (Zina-Go Travel), Stig Holmstedt.
Testimonials
Alain
Madagascar trip with Zinago Travel October 18 to November 8 , 2024.
Two weeks before I was to take the Madagascar trip, I suddenly developed a problem with my left leg and was I some pain and needed a walking pole to get around. I was in some doubt about the trip as I knew it would involve a lot of walking and some difficult trails. I decided to come anyway and arriving in Madagascar I immediately went to Alain and described my problem to him. His reaction was excellent. For one thing he always put me in the front seat of the bus where I could stretch out my legs. For another, he and the driver and or the driver’s assistant were always beside the door when I got in our out of the bus to lend a hand to make sure I did not fall.
On several occasions Alain suggested that I might find the trail walk too difficult and I followed his advice. On a few occasions I decided not to walk the trail because I felt it might damage my leg and make walking future trails difficult. I always let him know of my intent.
On the trail walks I often lagged the others, although I know that once they found a bird the photographers would spend a lot of time on it, and I could catch up. On these occasions Alain often would stay with me and keep an eye on the trail and possible spots where I could get in trouble. He is also a very good birder, and we got to see a few good birds before we caught up with the others.
Finally on two of the walks he asked one of the guides to accompany me so I could go at my own speed.
I must say that his attention to my problems made the trip a most memorable (and comfortable) experience. Yet, somehow, he seemed to make all his activities on my behalf look natural! I cannot imagine a leader doing a better job!
John Black
OUR
PARTNER
