Kanto Raomiala

Born and raised in Madagascar, Kanto is fully bilingual in both English and French. She has a vast wealth of knowledge of African leisure travel, having worked in South Africa for many years as a specialist in destination management prior to making her big leap across the Atlantic and joining Forbes Travel on our leisure team. 

Kanto’s love of travel started early, and there have been many memorable adventures along the way. One of those early memories involved a trip to Ambila on the east coast of her birth country with her uncle by taxi and train. However, the train broke down, and they had to walk the last 22km to reach their destination. She was only 8 years old at the time. 

Not one to shy away from a challenge, she once drove a solo roundtrip of nearly 6500km from South Africa to Mozambique over a two-week period. Her favourite hidden gem is Moramba Bay, only accessible after a few days of sailing the wild Northwest coast of Madagascar.

Instilled with the firm belief that travel is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and perhaps possessing a bit of a mischievous spirit, she and her younger brother once randomly stopped while on safari, intensely staring into the distance as though they had spotted an amazing sighting. It wasn’t long before they had a multitude of vehicles stopping alongside, binoculars scanning the horizon in vain.

Kanto enjoys reading books about adventure, discovery and self-help. One of her favourite reads was “Dream of a Lifetime: Crossing Antarctica” by Mike Horn, while her favourite author remains Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho.