Please use the comments facility below to submit updates to chapter 8 (Highlands South of Tana) of Madagascar (10th ed).
To comment on other chapters visit the main Madagascar Updates page.
Please use the comments facility below to submit updates to chapter 8 (Highlands South of Tana) of Madagascar (10th ed).
To comment on other chapters visit the main Madagascar Updates page.
Bryan Pready said,
9 December 2011 at 12:37 pm
Ranomafana – Chez Gaspard
I can recommend this accommodation, which is at the Catholic mission in the middle of town. Now has 14 bungalows, doubles and twins, the last is a two-bedroom family unit, all en-suite with hot water. Set in very attractive and well-maintained garden. Good breakfasts but no restaurant; however there are other places to eat nearby.
Parisii said,
27 November 2011 at 6:33 pm
Ambositra – restaurant Voajanahary – no longer has a terrace with nice views as it fell down the hillside in a storm however the food is good and next door is a cooperative of silk weavers that train women in local villages in silk weaving and sells a nice array of scarves etc.
Parisii said,
27 November 2011 at 6:29 pm
Manakara – Hotel Les Flamboyants – apparently the hotels generally in Manakara are not of a great standard but this is particularly bad. It’s owned by the French consul but the rooms are badly maintained, dirty and uncomfortable beds. There are also a lot of mosquitos. For a bungalow is 40,000 AR and a room in the main building is 30,000 AR.
Parisii said,
27 November 2011 at 6:26 pm
Current ticket prices for the Fianar-Manakara train: 20,000 AR for first class plus 10,000 for the seat reservation.
Parisii said,
27 November 2011 at 6:25 pm
Ranomafana – Hotel Manja – they’ve added about 10 brick bungalows to the site which are very comfortable and sleep up to 4 with an additional double bed on a mezzanine level (all with mozzie net), bungalow is 45,000 AR per night. Is up several steep flights of steps which is hard on the thighs but porters will take your stuff up and the view is great. Food in the restaurant great too.
Steve C said,
2 September 2011 at 3:49 pm
The taxi brousse from Fianar to Ranomafana can drop you at the national park entrance if you don’t want to go all the way to town. Fare is 4000 Ar. The touts at the taxi brousse station are fairly aggressive and will even write up tickets (marked-up) for you to make it seem legitimate.
Buying from the ticket booth is not a guarantee. I booked a seat for the next day with a company and had a seat assigned (written in the seating diagram book). I turned up the next morning and they apparently had no vans running to Tana that day. The one they had pointed to the day before and whose license plate was written on my ticket was not going to Tana. I was fortunate to get a seat with an alternate company using the same ticket and things worked out.
In Fianar at Tombontsoa, small room with double bed, ensuite hot shower and toilet was 40,000 Ar. Rooms were nice and clean. Keeper spoke English very well.
Daniel Austin said,
9 March 2011 at 11:29 am
Zafimaniry Villages:
The turning for Antoetra is at the village of Ivato on RN7 (near PK 274). Antoetra is at the other end of a reasonable 25km dirt track (1½hrs). The best accommodation in the area is Sous le Soleil de Mada (email souslesoleildemada@gmail.com) situated at the tiny village of Ambalandingana, 11km towards Antoetra from RN7 (turn down a signposted 900m track on the left). Run by a genial Frenchman – a former manager of the Grand Hotel in Ambositra – and his wife, its ten bungalows built in the traditional Zafimaniry style look out across rice paddies. The hotel is building a school in the local village, and will support its running.
Public transport runs to Antoetra only on Wednesdays (market day) when several taxi-brousses depart local towns including Ambositra and Antsirabe around dawn, making the return journey later in the day.
There are 17 Zafimaniry villages, of which most can be visited, although it requires multi-day trekking from Antoetra to see more than one of them. Antoetra is the regional capital and the only one of the villages accessible by vehicle, but the architecture there now uses modern materials so it is necessary to walk to one of the others to experience the original wooden Zafimaniry constructions.
The closest village is Ifasina (population 500) which is 5km away, but the trail is steep so it takes 2 hours. Also close enough for a day trip, so long as the weather is fine, are Sakaivo Nord and Faliarivo – each about 3½ hours’ walk away – of which the route to the latter is the least strenuous. The walk to Sakaivo Nord, however, is more scenic and includes a viewpoint from which the whole region can be seen.
Visit Antoetra town hall to pay the 3,000Ar tourism fee. Guides cost from 15,000Ar/day and porters from 10,000Ar/day. Most of the villages have simple dormitory accommodation costing 2,000–10,000Ar per person depending on group size.
Almost all the trails are shadeless, so taking adequate sun protection is essential. Food and water also need to be organised in advance, as the villages have no shops (Sous le Soleil de Mada and Papavelo can provide picnic lunches for day-trippers). Carved wooden souvenirs are on sale in each village and you are expected to purchase something to support the local craftsmen. With luck sifakas can be seen in some of the few remaining pockets of forest in the area.
Daniel Austin said,
9 March 2011 at 11:28 am
Ambositra Banks:
There is now a branch of BFV bank in Ambositra, located between the market and the Oasis Annexe at the northern end of town.
Daniel Austin said,
16 February 2011 at 5:59 am
Hotel des Thermes, the grandest hotel in Antsirabe – which became rather run-down and eventually closed down a year or so ago – was reopened last Friday following renovations and modernisation.
Rooms: 26 family rooms (4-person) with TV, heater, en-suite bathroom with hot bath or shower, telephone, mini-bar and safe; 4 suites (4-person) larger with same facilities and private lounge.
Prices (per room per night): Depending on season, rooms 87,000-125,000Ar; suites 122,000-256,000Ar.
Tel: 44 487 61/62
Mob: 032 05 262 66 / 033 15 312 92
Fax: 44 497 64
Email: sht@moov.mg
Website: http://www.sofitrans-sa.com/remake/Thermes.htm
Sara Tolliver said,
10 February 2011 at 6:05 am
Ranomafana Arboretum-
Located in SE Madagascar, near Ranomafana National Park, 40 km E of the RN7, 2 km east of Ranomafana town.
Hours 7:30 am 4:30 pm, 7 days/week
Prices 5000 Ar Adult 1000 Ar Student
Just 9 kilometers east of the main entrance to Ranomafana National Park, the Ranomafana Arboretum is a place where tourists, farmers, and students of all ages can learn about Ranomafana’s amazing rainforest trees and see a huge diversity of palms and fruit trees. Signs in 3 languages describe species’ uses, names, and botany. Here one can learn about precious woods, bark for making cloth and rope, medicinal leaves, sap for catching fody birds, food for lemurs, birds, and people, and much more. Take a stroll through a native forest and see one of the best collections of native Malagasy palm trees, all the while keeping an eye out for chameleons, boas, and birds.
After your stroll, wander over to the orchard to see more kinds of exotic fruit trees on public display than anywhere else in the country. Hundreds of fruit trees, from the most tropical mangosteen and breadfruit to temperate apples and nectarines are demonstrating the potential of fruit crops to improve food security and help farmers get out of poverty. See newly introduced species such as abiu, pulasan, and miracle fruit. Enjoy a picnic with a view at the scenic chalet overlooking the Namorona river.
Inaugurated in March 2007, the Arboretum belongs to the Commune of Ranomafana and is operated by a management committee of local volunteer citizens; the Malagasy NGO SAF/FJKM provides technical assistance. Entrance fees contribute to the upkeep of the Arboretum; a percentage goes to the Ranomafana Commune for the commune’s development activities.
Remi Doomernik said,
6 August 2010 at 2:59 pm
Just to inform you that since june this year we opened a Guesthouse called Residence Madalief in a small forest 7 km south of Antsirabe. Rooms are from 55.000 Ariary but fully equiped with hot water and all benefits go to the social projects of association Madalief in Ambositra who takes care of abandoned children and single mothers. Reservations 24 hours in advance for rooms and food and transferts to and from town. Contact us via residence@madalief.nl or 00261 (0) 34 0852103 or 00261 (0) 34 4057889.
We’ll be happy to receive you and tell you more about our projects (our site http://www.madalief.nl is on its way to be translated)
Pablo & Itziar said,
6 August 2010 at 1:53 pm
FIANARANTSOA
Transport by train
Fianarantsoa-Manakara 25.000 first class.
Towards Manakara leaves Tuesday, Thursdays and Saturday
Returns on Monday, Wednesday and Friday
Theoretical departure time 7am. Real: 8:30 am
Theoretical lenght of journey: 8 hrs. Real: 13 hours.
First class is almost occupied by foreigners but huge clear windows allows to see all the way.
Second class is almost as comfortable (though seats can not be booked in advance) but blue tinted windows make it more difficult to enjoy the view.
Try to bring you own food and drinks as if there were no stops where to buy them from. Delays are not uncommon. Relying on eating only the food provided on the 17 stops the staple will be bananas, ocassionaly pine apple, lots of fritters and in one stop soup chinois and in another (yummi) meat balls and sausaces on bread. In one of the last stops you will be able to buy black, green and red pepper.