The TOP Madagascar (Association of Professional Tour Operators of Madagascar) annual party was held at CCI Ivato last 15 December 2018 in partnership with the Polka Event, an event planner. Strategic workshop, animation and recreational activities with distribution of batches  were   among the program of  animation. At lunch, the animation was  festive with the member’s participation to the song contest .The percussion handling  was  made to vibrate the atmosphere. Finally, to refine the atmosphere,dance performance was made to refine the atmosphere while forging links between members.

Like every year,the christmas holiday party of Ramartour Madagascar was held  on December 15, 2018 at Ecole Lodge d’Antananarivo. After a surely challenging year, such a  celebration  is an opportunity to relax and forge the ties between collaborators. For the company leaders, they took this opportunity to take stock of the year in a more relaxed atmosphere.
For staff, this is a way to honour leaders and give  presents to them. As for the leaders, they thanked the team and offered food for the holiday. The party ended in a festive atmosphere with dances and animations of all kinds.

Jessica Nabongo,the first black woman travel blogger who have visited everycountry on earth has come to Madagascar,the 27th african countries in her list and the 144 of 195 in the scheduled visited country in the world..She has taken a road trip to Andasibe Rainforest which promotes the fame of Madagascar as an ecotourism country.  She is passionate of sharing her experiences  in countries that have typically low rates of tourism.She has been grateful to Ramartour Madagascar as the Tour Operator which has supported her and has made her dream of playing with lemurs come true.In Andasibe she has spot lndri ,the largest lemurs in the world.She has been in  handicraft markets between Antsirabe  and Antananarivo where she has shopped and  found herself so excited by finding cheaper items.She has appreciated the view of the Avenue of Baobab,a breathtaking scene according to her. When going to Morondava, traveling more than 12 hours in the car is worth doing though very tiring as it has allowed her to learn so much about the country and to enjoy the variety of landscapes and the lifestyles of Malagasy people.

Called Sonny Side and from his true name William John Sonbuchner, the creator of the food review show and you tube channel « Best Ever Food Review  » has come to Madagascar and has tasted  the unique kind of food of the highlands and the South East of Madagascar.He has chosen Ramarour Madagascar represented by our senior Guide ZAKATINA Joel as the Tour Operator which guided him during his stay in Madagascar. To allow Sonny Side to have as many interesting  experiences as possible,RAMARTOUR Madagascar has done episodes with different food and meals so that he could try them out and find out the way people was preparing and cooking them.

In the highlands,the  episode was focused on the food street.The first one was the « koba » which  is a sweet made by wrapping a batter of  ground peanuts,brown sugar and rice flour in banana leaves and being steamed for 72 hours.For that purpose ,Sonny Side and the Ramartour team have moved to Talata Volonondry  and had made some shooting on this episode.They have visited one family,busy for the preparation.Once koba got ready,Sonny Side could taste it.

Then,there was an episode with «  masikita or grilled beef » brochette that everyone is fond of  in Madagascar.The beef  brochette is both a malagasy  best-seller street food and a family ritual recipe prepared for great opportunities.These beef brochettes are prepared when there is  family or friendly meetings.There was an episode with a duck foie gras too in Behenjy and Sonny Side and his team have shot a movie during the preparation.

To make the videos more entertaining,provoking interesting ideas and reactions,Ramartour Madagascar has brought Sonny side team to the South East Coast of Madagascar.When they came, the people in the village have performed a joro ceremony to honor the ancestors.An ox has been sacrified and the  members of the community  have gathered to sing and praise the ancestral spirits,asking blessing.The ox heart has been prepared as a meal and Sonny Side has tasted it.He wants to show the food in the context of the culture.There was an episode with the seafood like shrimps,lobsters  freshly arrived  from the sea as well.

Called Sonny Side and from his true name William John Sonbuchner, the creator of the food review show and you tube channel « Best Ever Food Review  » has come to Madagascar and has tasted  the unique kind of food of the highlands and the South East of Madagascar.He has chosen Ramarour Madagascar represented by our senior Guide ZAKATINA Joel as the Tour Operator which guided him during his stay in Madagascar. To allow Sonny Side to have as many interesting  experiences as possible,RAMARTOUR Madagascar has done episodes with different food and meals so that he could try them out and find out the way people was preparing and cooking them.

In the highlands,the  episode was focused on the food street.The first one was the « koba » which  is a sweet made by wrapping a batter of  ground peanuts,brown sugar and rice flour in banana leaves and being steamed for 72 hours.For that purpose ,Sonny Side and the Ramartour team have moved to Talata Volonondry  and had made some shooting on this episode.They have visited one family,busy for the preparation.Once koba got ready,Sonny Side could taste it.

Then,there was an episode with «  masikita or grilled beef » brochette that everyone is fond of  in Madagascar.The beef  brochette is both a malagasy  best-seller street food and a family ritual recipe prepared for great opportunities.These beef brochettes are prepared when there is  family or friendly meetings.There was an episode with a duck foie gras too in Behenjy and Sonny Side and his team have shot a movie during the preparation.

To make the videos more entertaining,provoking interesting ideas and reactions,Ramartour Madagascar has brought Sonny side team to the South East Coast of Madagascar.When they came, the people in the village have performed a joro ceremony to honor the ancestors.An ox has been sacrified and the  members of the community  have gathered to sing and praise the ancestral spirits,asking blessing.The ox heart has been prepared as a meal and Sonny Side has tasted it.He wants to show the food in the context of the culture.There was an episode with the seafood like shrimps,lobsters  freshly arrived  from the sea as well.

RAMARTOUR Madagascar had achieved a unique, an inspiring and unforgettable, journey for “team building » and  aimed at answering three defined objectives. The first one was to develop the team cohesion for improving its functioning in the work environment.The second was made for a mission of team coaching split in several sessions and forms. The last one was to mark the10th anniversary celebrations out. This » team building »had lasted 3 days (29-30-31avril 2018).
Our choice for this journey was focused on the ” Réserve Spéciale d’Ambohitantely “, a valuable territory for tourism, rich in biodiversity, arousing curiosity regarding culture and located in the region of Analamanga. For those who do not know, this Reserve of Ambohitantely, presents a dense river system which plays the ecological function of water tank, pouring over the watersheds of Ikopa in the West, and Betsiboka in the East. A waterfall with amazing speed is found in the depths of this reserve and whose RAMARTOUR Madagascar team had the privilege to visit.
Regarding to the vegetation, this reserve is special because it shows a high degree of endemic plants.
As the fauna is concerned, it contains 3 species of lemurs, 17 species of reptiles and 50 species of birds that some of them have been met by our team during the visit in the forest.
To reach this ” Reserve spéciale of Ambohitantely “3 hours’drive from the capitale (140km) westward towards Ankazobe, should be made and once the PK 125 of Firarazana is reached, move to a 15 km of secondary road.
And during this team building, 3 days programs had been planned and took place in the middle of nowhere, far from the professional environment
The 1st day : in the evening of our arrival, a campfire was switched on while the team was drawing up their tents according to the group they are belonging to. Spirit of togetherness and mind of challenging were prevailing because numerous of us had drawn tents for the first time.
The second day: descent in the botanical paths for all the team to convey the spirit of research and sense of discovery while also providing relaxed mind ready to face any challenge.
The 3rd day, recreational activities occupied all day long like role plays and exercises. It was through these games and collective exercises that dysfunctions or blockings was going to appear. Only it was the springboard which favoured the teamwork and the problem resolution helped for uniting the members of the team.
A very particular organization was adopted during this « team building », every group had to participate in the meal preparation and according to a well planned turn. The purpose was to adopt the multi-skilling principle to the staffs. It is supposed that an accountant or an IT specialist of RAMARTOUR in spite of their specialisation would be capable of assuring alternately another task required by the professional environment and feeling responsible for that.
In summary, this team building is a real experience for RAMARTOUR because not only the company can aggregate specific skills like the time management or the leadership, but also, the staff strengthen its sense of belonging to the company.According to the saying : « Strength lies in unity »Ramarour staffs had acted to make this slogan come true.

During the ITM(International Tourism Fair of Madagascar) 7ème edition  was held in the village Voara on 31 May -03 June 2018 whose main theme was the Ecotourism, Ramartour Madagascar took an active part and shared the stand with the inbound Tour operators from the vanilla islands. Several reasons explain the participation of Ramartour as tourism leading player in the Indian Ocean. At first, the company was selected among 2 other inbound companies coming from Madagascar under the expression of interest organized by the UCCOI(Union des Chambres de Commerce de l’Ocean Indien).
Then, the company become more involved in the promotion of the ecotourism by signing “The Charter Commitment for the Ecotourism” in complying the charter objectives and the general principles and the main lines of the charter were summarized in three parts:the objectives and the general principles of the charter in first part, the enumeration of the values to be shared in the second part and the commitments themselves in the last part. More particularly, for Ramartour Madagascar, the company has organised combined circuits with Comoros, Maurice and La Réunion with offer based on the ecotourism services by combining 2 islands for a period of 8 days .Three operators coming from these islands worked closely with Ramartour (Promotour for Maurice, Comoros Tour for Comoros and Reunitour for Reunion. To learn more about the proposed circuits regarding to this combination,the company sent to Maurice, Reunion and Comoros some of its staff to discover on site all the combined circuits to better propose to its clients later.