Has anyone been to Madagascar?

[Bananajam]

I am looking for a holiday of a lifetime after turning 50 in April this year and all plans having been cancelled, including our safari holiday booked for October. We could still go on the safari holiday next year but I have options to change to something else and Madagascar is one of the choices! The flights however from Manchester are horrific, two stops and around 20+ hours of travel. Have you been? Is it worth it? Would you go back?

Thanks everyone!

Just saw your post while looking at the holidays section. I've been and it's amazing but lots of poverty now made worse by Covid as the travel industry has been put on hold. But it's well worth a visit and I'd love to go back. I went on a small group tour and we travelled around a lot - long distances on the bus but it passes quickly and lots of stops. Saw a lot of lemurs and other wildlife. The culture and beliefs that the people have is very interesting and different from other places I've visited. I was told I was cursed after I did one innocent thing a couple of times!

If I had the money (and prices have increased quite a bit since I was there) I'd love to go back and visit the Tsingy de Bemaraha and Nosy Be. Oh and the Avenue of the Baobabs. I saw some baobabs elsewhere from the bus window but missed out on visiting another NP that had baobabs as I was chucking my guts up all morning. All of our group were sick at various points but I still regret opting to stay at the hotel and missing seeing the baobabs up close but was told after that the terrain was very bad (they had to push the bus for a while as it got stuck). It's not a particularly relaxing holiday (although we did get some beach time) but is one of the best, most interesting countries I'd ever visited. Go! :)