Ramartour Madagascar

This file is issued for you to respond to general  questions and get an understanding on how Ramartour works. This document will not give details about  your tour. 

For other questions please contact us  directly on info@ramartour.com or by +261 20 32 133  68 

About us 

We are a group of companies operating as a Travel Agency Tour Operator - Car Rental – Guest House and Lodge, based in the capital of Madagascar called Antananarivo. We are, composed of around 70 people from  Administration range till field team (driver, guide,  pisteur, trainees, speaking English, a part of the local  language Malagasy and French) 

Our 20 years experiences and the will of improvements on  our services are the guarantee that you will get an  unforgettable trip with us (of course each visitor has their  own experiences, expectations and we cannot satisfy all type of  demands) 

Ramartour is a professional and legal company registered  at the Ministry of Tourism, Member of the Tourism  Board (ONTM), Confédération du Tourisme de Madagascar (CTM) active member of the Professional Tour  Operator Association (TOP Madagascar).  Internationally, we are registered in the Netherlands and certified by CBI, Travelife program and Member of ATTA  (Adventure Travel Trade Association) 

As a legal and professional organization, RAMARTOUR  Madagascar is under the '' Responsabilite civile  exploitation insurance '' ARO (www.aro.mg). In spite of  this we strongly encourage and recommend all our  customers traveling to Madagascar with good health and  travel insurance. We promise you that many great  surprises Madagascar will wait for you, but we can never  exclude the possibility of a negative one occurring.  

If you need to apply on extra insurance such as the www.sgr.nl or www.calamiteitenfonds.nl or ATOL please  let us know and our partners in Europe can organize these  with us for you, of course some fees will be applied 

Health 

It depends on your past vaccinations which ones are still  required for your visit to Madagascar. Check your yellow  little vaccine book and ask for advice from your doctor as you  don’t want to catch any tropical diseases. Regarding other topics we always recommend the travelers  to consult the website of Health ministry also  the tourism ministry or  The Tourism board 

Passport, Arrival and Visa 

Make sure that you still have a valid passport 6  months before coming, have sufficient pages on it and do  not forget to bring a pen in your handbag. Before you  touch ground in Madagascar you need to fill in a small form (Entry form should be given by the flight attendants).  This form will grant you a VISA on cost of 10 USD for stay  less than 30 days, in case you stay longer a Visa fee can be  paid on the spot. For more details please consult Visa News Madagascar

Upon arrival at the Airport, you will be in charge of your  own belongings. you are advised not to hand your baggage  to anyone else until you meet RAMARTOUR  Madagascar`s team. We (guide or driver) will be waiting  for you but sometimes other guys will run towards you  with a lot of enthusiasm to guide you out of the airport for  money of course. remember it is not necessary to hire a  porter at the airport.  

Please help us to fight other corruption so whoever  might say to you that he can help you in some cases in strange ways will never get on it easily. Having us as Traveler`s  assistant will help you to solve issues on normal  procedures and you will be informed if extra fees must be  done. 

Exchange  

As soon as you meet our team at the arrival hall, ask  him/her to accompany you to the official office to  get your local currency. Our currency Ariary is only valid in Madagascar and  won’t buy you anything elsewhere in the world. Apart  from the few banknotes or coins you will take as souvenirs, you can have them changed at the airport at a  good rate before you check-in for your flight back home. 

Depending on the fluctuations in the exchange rate  Euro equals 4 800 Ariary, 1 USD equals 4 700 Ariary,  The maximum amount you can draw at once is most of the time 400.000 Ariary. wish to keep as  souvenirs, you can change your excess Ariary back into  Euro or Dollars at change. Late August 2017, Malagasy  government issued new bank notes including the biggest  bank note of 20 000 Ariary, so be sure to have the small  ones in order to do your purchasing.

Visa Charge, Maestro and Master Card 

Maestro works only with a local bank called MCB and this  bank is located only in the capital. 

Traveler Checks are rarely used in Madagascar even if some offices/banks accept this method, it might take you all  day to change.

American Express does not work in Madagascar. As for  MasterCard, only it works to draw cash at the ATM of BNI/CA. The Visa Charge card has now been recognized as the quick solution in most restaurants and hotels. In very local restaurants, you will have to count on cash. 

Pocket Money 

If you book a tour package with us everything is already included apart from tips, lunch, dinner drinks and  personal spending. For this, you can basically count for approximately 70 euro per day per person, depending on  your preference for champagne, imported wine and your  appetite for local Malagasy meals.  

Plugs, mobile and internet connection 

Our typical French plugs supply 220 Volt. In big towns and cities, electricity functions 24/7 but in remote hotels they work in the morning before 7.30 am, lunch time and from 5.00 pm to 10.30 pm only. Take this into account when you need to charge camera batteries & mobile phones etc… 

As for the Wi-Fi connection, this is something you shouldn’t count on too much in Madagascar but it is improving. Most 2 star hotels have Wi-Fi now, although a consistent strong connection is still lacking everywhere.

SIM Card 

As soon as you arrive at the airport you can buy local SIM card with few local networks provider such as YAs,  AIRTEL, ORANGE… they have different offers from just  allow you to make a phone call or getting internet  connection from your devices, to top up your credit you can  get the vouchers from small shops, station, supermarket 

Luggage and suitcase 

If you decide to go on the life-changing river trip with a  traditional wooden pirogue, make sure you bring your  backpack as it can be convenient to lean against but also  to be flexible, for example with a night of camping. For day trips, a backpack with a few necessary items  (such as sun block lotion, camera, water, and raincoat) is  indispensable. Apart from this you are free to choose any  type of suitcases for your main luggage. For every extra kg  you pay 4 500 Ariary (1€) 

Pack list 

• Valid Passport more that 6 months with more than 2  pages available 
• Covid test or vaccines Pass 
• Light clothing if you travel from September till May 
• Light sweater when you travel between June till  August  
• Raincoat if you are sure to go to the rain area (east  part of the Island) 
• Walking boots if you will opt hike such as in  Andringitra, Ranomafana, Tsingy 
• Binoculars  
• Sun`s cream 
• Sleeping bag (if you need your own) 
• Tents (if it is not supplied) 
• Mosquito spray 
• Hat or cap  
• Personal belonging and necessities 

Packages 

On your arrival we reserve always time to make a final  briefing and also, we hand to you on package the following  documents in original versions:  

Final program, vouchers, park`s tickets and entrance  permits, feed-back file, car evaluation report if you opt  self-driving car rental, Madagascar Map and some small  gift from the company 

Visits 

Whenever your guide or driver takes you to visit local  workshops along the road, you have the free choice whether to purchase items or not. Do not feel obliged to  buy the products they make although it will be highly appreciated, you are already supporting the locals by  simply visiting the workshop. There are national parks or reserve which are managed by  the national parks and as well local community reserves,  in all these places the entrance fees are different but all  require local guide that you can have upon arrival at the  entrance 

Beggars and general safety 

Just to be realistic, Madagascar is a poor country so do not make a big difference with the locals and yourself kindly leave your expensive and precious jewelry behind.  Ranging from old beggars to children, pick pocketing  happens very fast and in clever ways. Likewise, it is  prohibited to give something to children in an open place.  The number of children running towards you begging for  that same item you just gave to 1 child will make you  dizzy.  

Whenever you feel like giving common goods or gifts to  children, it is always a wise decision to hand them over to  the adults around and your responsibility will end there. Whenever you would like to go out to enjoy night life be  sure to be accompanied by your guide, driver or take a taxi  back to your hotel. Never walk on your own in strange  places even during the day time. 

Airport check-in

International: 3 hours in advance  

Regional flights: 2 hours in advance 

Domestic flights: 2 hours in advance. For these flights  your luggage allowance is 20 kg.  

Gratuities, tipping 

Tips refer to well-executed services. Apart from the  financial benefit, such confirmation of your satisfaction is  important for the Malagasy society. Nevertheless, tips are  never compulsory. There is no official chart for tipping,  you can think of 15 % as a reference but in general just  calculate according to your happiness.  

The porter kindly carrying your luggage can be given  5 000 Ariary (more or less an 1 Euro). If your restaurant  bill comes to 45 000 you can just pay 50 000 Ariary and  leave the change. In the national parks or reserves, after  the hike with your local guide you can leave a tip of around 35 000 to 60 000 Ariary and if at the small reserves  25 000 to 40 000 Ariary. Your driver will be with you  during your whole holiday and when you are generally  satisfied with him you can calculate 35.000 - 60.000 Ariary  a day.  

Your accompanying guide who will share the time of  your trip can be tipped 60.000 - 100.000 Ariary. 

Please remember again that tipping is not compulsory and  those tourism guys are not working every day. 

Helping Hands 

Dear travelers, please consider all the simple things you  can do to help some of the Malagasy people through easy  gestures such as donating old clothes. But also think twice  before you send other useful materials to the bin the  period prior to your trip to Madagascar. Shoes, baby tools,  kitchen tools, school materials, technology; anything will  be very much appreciated by local organizations we work  with. Or maybe you would like to hand over such gifts  

yourself to a school or orphanage? We encourage such gifts  much rather than giving money and candy to people. You  often have the right to carry more kilos of luggage on your  international flight then you might need. Check with your  airline company.  

How we work 

The moment you send your request by email you should  receive an answer within 24 hours at last, in case you  don't, please kindly check the email address and resend it.  If you are already in Madagascar you can use one of the  phone numbers (cf: contact) to make an appointment with  one of our sales agents.  

As we are specialized tailor-made tour operators, we design  together with you your trip plan until you are satisfied with it. On your confirmation, we send you a general  information file to subscribe to our tour, a bill states the  amount you have to pay if the tour is booked less than a  month before arrival, and a 50% deposit is required if your  arrival time is still more than a month. Payment upon arrival (Cash, VISA & Master credit or  debit card) can be made in specific conditions and we don't  guarantee the service quality for last minute booking. 

Booking and Payment Conditions 

We always give fair prices to our clients whether they are  direct travelers or via our collaborator agencies from  overseas. We have a very simple booking policy: after  having found an agreement on your respective tour with  our sales agents, you will receive some documents  including the final itinerary, a form to fill out with all necessary info such as insurance, and you will receive a  contract/invoice needing your signature. These forms  should be signed, scanned and returned back to us by  email to confirm your booking. 

After the booking we will ask for a front payment of 50% of  the total amount as deposit. The other 50% can be either  paid cash upon arrival or once again transferred a few  weeks before your arrival. Credit card payment will be  free of charge. Fees for any transfer that are made by your  bank remain at your charge. We take care of ours.

Cancellation conditions 

Should there be any unexpected incidents that force you to  cancel your trip; we always try to be as comprehensive as  possible. Refunds will be fairly calculated between the  departure and the cancelling time. There is a 20% tax rate  of our total cost, Air ticket taxes, hotel & tourist taxes are  non-refundable. Also some extra charges as cancellation  fees, bank transfer fees will be deducted on the amount to  be refunded. 

Booked excursion and not consumed services because of  your own decision are not refundable 

Even if you buy a domestic flight with Ramartour we don't  guarantee any schedule, the cancellation refund might take some time and don`t forget to supply to  us your bank information in order to transfer the amount.

Car rental conditions 

Our car rental divides in two Options:  

1st option is Car rental includes a driver mostly bilingual  (En & Fr) a daily briefing with the driver is recommended  to make your trip much more comfortable, Our driver  represents our company and all problems should be solved  locally with him before you judge office`s assistance is  required 

We keep to a daily distance of a maximum of  approximately 450 km a day (06 am till 6.00 pm when it  becomes dark). When renting a car, don’t forget to  calculate the costs for fuel for the car to get back mostly in  the capital 

Unless agreed upon other requirements. Self-driving is not  recommended considering the challenging roads and (lack  of) traffic ‘rules’. 

The type of car is chosen according to the  type of road accessed on your specific itinerary. Only  authorized passengers can come with the car from the  start of the trip.  

Car evaluation report file has to be filled in with our agent  before you start your trip. 

Should there be other people hitchhiking who you would  like to join the trip, you need to ask for the agency’s  permission first, we are not in charge of the matters might  the other passenger produce during your joined trip 

Camping places 

There are few camping places where you can take  overnight close by some parks or reserve, please consult  

the website of the Madagascar National Park to learn  more about those places. 

Wherever you would like to spend some time or overnight  in village, please get in touch with the village chief or  elder person before installing your tent  

Never stay in national parks or reserves without  permission and accompanied by a local guide or your  driver/guide or path finder. 

After your trip 

You are invited to report via the last staff of the company  in whom you will meet about your trip, feel free to write  an email to report some issues or get further  explanation. A feedback form is on your package list to  feel in your remarks. 

Ramartour Madagascar is always available for your trip  so never hesitate to contact us 

Contacts 

Office address:  

Lot 70 E Imerinafovoany Talatamaty Tana 105, close by  Meva Guest House 

9 am to 5 pm:  

+261 32 02 133 68 / +261 34 20 254 97 

Website: ramartour.com 

Email: info@ramartour.com