Madagascar with kids: a family trip that works

Madagascar works well for a family holiday, best with children from about six or seven, on a trip built around short drives, two nights in most places and a beach at the end. Private reserves and short night walks can suit children who find a long forest hike harder. What's hard is the distance: parks are hours apart by road. The prescribed malaria tablets and some simple lodges need planning too. For school holidays, July and August are dry in the highlands, the west and the south, and the October half-term is quieter and usually dry.

Our trips are private, with your own vehicle and driver-guide, any start date and groups from two people. You set departure times. The 2-day Andasibe trip, from €320 per adult, is the easiest way to try it. For longer, the 10-day Eastern Madagascar trip suits most families best: rainforest and lemurs first, then boats on the Pangalanes Canal and three nights on Île Sainte-Marie.

Is Madagascar good for kids, and from what age?

Six or seven can be a useful starting point for planning a gentle route, but it isn't a medical or park-entry rule. Walking ability and tolerance for driving matter more than a birthday. Ask the clinic about the health decision and the park about any circuit restrictions.

• Under five. Possible, but hard work. Malaria tablets are dosed by weight and taste bitter, most days mean hours on the road, and medical care outside Antananarivo is basic. Keep it short: Andasibe, then the sea.
• Six to eleven. Old enough to walk a forest trail for a couple of hours, keep still when a lemur is close and swallow a tablet. Choose the route around the individual child.
• Teenagers. Some enjoy the more active routes, up to the Grand Tsingy's ladders and hanging bridges on a western trip, four to seven hours of them.

What children love: lemurs that come close

In the national parks the lemurs are wild. Give them space and let the guide choose a place to watch.

Younger children tend to remember the private reserves. At Vakona, near Andasibe, and the Palmarium, reached by boat on the Pangalanes Canal, generations of habituated lemurs come down to meet visitors, and that's where most of our guests get the photograph they take home. These are habituated encounters, which are different from watching wild lemurs in a national park. More in where to see lemurs.

Agree the rules before you go in:

• Look, don't touch. Touching and feeding the lemurs is forbidden on Vakona's Lemur Island, and the guides discourage them from jumping on shoulders. The CDC says not to touch or feed any animal you don't know.
• Bites happen. Even a habituated lemur can bite or scratch. Wash any bite with soap and water and seek medical care immediately, because of rabies.
• No pet lemur photos. Lemur conservationists count them among the harm tourism does, so say no at any hotel or roadside stall.

Confirm reserve rules before promising a particular encounter.

What's hard with children

• The drives. Andasibe is three to four hours from Antananarivo. Ranomafana is 10 to 12 hours by road from the capital, which is why the Classic South breaks the drive at Antsirabe. The UK and Canada advise against driving after dark, so long days start straight after breakfast. Bring whatever works for car sickness.
• Child seats. The CDC advises a seat or booster that fits the child, in the back. If you need one, ask us before you book, or bring your own.
• Cold nights. July nights average about 11 °C in Antananarivo and 7 °C in Antsirabe, so pack fleeces as well as sun hats.
• Simple lodges. Away from the towns, hot water isn't a given. We know which lodge has it, so ask us about any night on the route, and about family rooms.
• Medical care. The UK government says hospitals in Antananarivo can only handle routine operations, and complex surgery means a flight to Mauritius, South Africa or Réunion. Insure everyone for medical evacuation.

Madagascar is two hours ahead of the UK in summer, which keeps the time difference small.

How to build a family trip

A child who has spent seven hours in the car won't enjoy the best night walk on the island. What works:

• Short legs. Three or four hours on the road most days, with stops, arriving with daylight to spare.
• Two nights in most places. Choose fewer overnight stops rather than repacking daily.
• One region. Every extra region usually means a domestic flight and a travel day.
• A beach at the end. Three or four days of very little, after the forests.
• A spare day. Every trip we run can be reshaped: made longer, slowed down, or given an extra night where the children are happiest.

More on fitting regions together in our itinerary guide.

When to go: school holidays and the seasons

• July and August. Usually drier in the highlands, west and south, with cold nights. The east coast can still be wet, including Sainte-Marie, where whale watching is possible from July to September. Book the rooms early.
• October half-term. Check your own school's dates. October is often a useful road-trip month, with hotter days in the south and a chance of young lemurs. A half-term week needs a short route.
• Christmas and New Year. The rains reach the highlands and the west, and cyclones can come as early as December. Keep it short: the Andasibe trip runs all year.

Month by month, see the best time to visit Madagascar.

Malaria tablets and repellent for children

The CDC describes malaria transmission as rare in Antananarivo and present elsewhere in Madagascar, and the CDC recommends preventive tablets for the rest of the country, so even the 2-day Andasibe trip calls for them. See a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly, and take the children.

• A prescription for each child. Doses depend on weight and some medicines aren't suitable at particular ages. Ask the clinic to write down the start and finish dates.
• A practical plan. Ask the pharmacist how the medicine can be taken if swallowing tablets is difficult, and bring the complete course.
• Locked away. Store medicines out of children's reach.
• Fever afterwards. Seek urgent medical advice for fever during or after the trip, and explain the travel history.

Use repellent too. The UK's travel health service says DEET at up to 50 percent is fine from two months old, put on after sun cream. The CDC adds: keep it off the hands of under-twos, and no lemon eucalyptus oil under three. Sleep under a net unless the room is screened or air-conditioned, with one over a baby's cot. The UK's insect bite advice has more, and so does our guide to vaccinations and malaria.

Jabs, water, food and sun

• Jabs. The CDC gives age-specific advice for hepatitis A, including infants, typhoid for most travellers, and an early measles jab for babies from six months. Ask about rabies too: rabid dogs are common here, rabies is more common in children than adults worldwide, and after a bite the vaccine may only be available in the bigger towns.
• Water. Bottled or boiled only, for brushing teeth too, and no ice. Young children are more at risk from travellers' diarrhoea, so pack oral rehydration salts.
• Food. Malagasy cooking isn't usually hot. The chilli comes separately as sakay, and tourist restaurants often offer chips instead of rice, which helps with fussy eaters.
• Fresh water. The CDC says children shouldn't swim or paddle in lakes, rivers or ponds, because of schistosomiasis. That advice applies to natural pools too. Plan a version of the walk without freshwater swimming and discuss any exposure with a clinician.
• Sun. Hats and sun cream. Babies under six months need shade and covering clothes instead.

Tell us your children's ages, your dates and how much driving they'll take, on the booking page or WhatsApp. A real person in Antananarivo replies, usually within 24 hours, with a written itinerary and a firm price.

Photo: iAko Randrianarivelo on Unsplash.