What an amazing trip!

Having started to work with the Mountain Lodge of Peru because it sounded like a really good alternative to the normal trek done by nearly all the usual tourists I really wanted to try the 7 day trek to Machu Picchu. The added value of combining it with time in the beautiful Sacred Valley & Cusco was an absolute bonus.

What an amazing experience – I was so impressed with how friendly and clean everywhere was in Peru right from the time we arrived in Lima. We spent our first night at the beautiful colonial Country Club Hotel as we arrived late in the evening and took an early morning flight to Cusco the next day.

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The next morning we had an early flight back to Antananarivo – called Tana for short- for obvious reasons! On arrival we were met by our lovely driver / guide Honoré & headed off on the drive to Andasibe – which is a fabulous area for National parks, wildlife, birds & walking. 

After a few hotel / lodge inspections we only just got to Vakona’s private lemur sanctuary island before it closed for the day. This was the first place we visited where the lemurs actually come onto our shoulders to get the banana the guide had given us. It was amazing to be so close to them & they were so gentle. I had a brown lemur on my shoulder & he put his hand (or is it a paw, I don’t know!!) under mine & gently pulled it to his mouth to get the banana. It is probably wrong to be feeding them but it is a great way to get close to them. It was an amazing experience & wonderful to get so close. There was absolutely nothing to worry about.          

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We flew with Air Madagascar from Marseille & back to Paris. The flights were very good & the aircraft was very comfortable- they now have an ex Air France aircraft with individual TV screens, good legroom etc. There are no direct flights to Madagascar & with the French history with the Island, the better connections go via Paris. Air France has the best timetable & offer connections for UK regional airports as well. Air Madagascar only fly 2 -3 times a week but the big advantage in flying with Air Mad is that the domestic flights are half price- so if your trip involves a number of flight transfers it really helps keep the cost down. 

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We have been specialising in travel to Madagascar for 6 years but I had not been myself- & therefore did not sell it to clients. Our motto is that we only sell destinations that we have been to & know.

I have heard colleagues talk about this country & it sounded fascinating so I am really glad that I finally visited this amazing island. As usual, the itinerary was jammed packed – & was probably the most hectic schedule I have had for any inspection trip. In 14 nights we stayed in 12 hotels, inspected about 25, took 5 domestic flights & several boat transfers. Yes, it was hectic & would take a client 5 weeks to do the same @ a leisurely pace, but it was a fantastic trip & we saw a lot of this islands diversity.

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