Blog Archives

Last week the cultivators of the rural community Fetraomby gathered to display their products, produced with recently introduced agricultural methods. Methods that will render the slash-and-burn practices superfluous, and thus help to conserve the forest.Corn, rice, manioc, and sugarcane could be admired, as were several kinds of fruit like tangerines, papaya, pineapple, banana, rambutan. Also spices were brought to the festival: pepper, cloves, ginger, and curcuma, and of course coffee and coconuts.The children enjoyed themselves with the merry-go-round, the adults with the speeches and the traditional songs and dances performed by the different groups the community boasts.

The hamlet Ambodiriana is one of the villages included in the Milay and Monttour Plus Treks as it is situated near a 120 metres high waterfall.
Until a few years, Ambodiriana had a primary school for its children. It was destroyed by a cyclone and never rebuild. The aid agencies did not reach this remote village and the villagers didn’t have the money or means to rebuild it themselves. Tourists having a good time at the waterfall and being hospitably received by the inhabitants of Ambodiriana came to the rescue. With their money and the labour of the villagers a new school is being erected. Next school year (Septembre 2016) the teachers will return and the children of Ambodiriana can continue their education.

The parents of the chilldren in Ambodiriana would like to thank the ecotourists at Lambahoany and those organisations that support the project in the Netherlands  !!!

Les orphelins de la Terre des Enfants avaient une grande fête au Centre Lambahoany !

From 13 to 15 November the Toamasina Lychee festival took place. It was organised by the youth federation of Toamasina, ‘Ino Mareseka’. The highlights were a carnival and a demonstration of martial arts. Many of the Toamasina schools participated in the carnival, one group even more originally dressed up than the other, all inspired by the lychees, that are ripening now and will soon be shipped to cheer up Christmas dinners in Europe. Nicest was of course the whole town was making merry.

If you visit Fetraomby with us and the hospitable population offers you a cup of coffee, they don’t just hit a button and a machine will do the work. No, they plant, tend, and harvest the coffee themselves.

Coffee plantation

They wash and dry the beans, roast them on a charcoal fire, and grind them manually with a pestle and mortar.

Coffee drying

The water for your coffee comes from a reservoir in the hills, via a pipeline to the communal taps in the village. The water needs to be carried home in a jerry can and heated on a charcoal fire. And if you take your coffee with sugar they’ll squeeze the juice from a sugarcane with a specially designed instrument (the pigs’ beak). But then, you do have a very special cup of coffee!

In the heart of Toamasina city we let 7 bungalows for 2 to 4 persons each.

Our centre is the ideal spot to start your round trip in East Madagascar.

The treks are by all considered the highlight of their journey in Madagascar. It ís a unique offer: only Centre Lambahoany works with the local population to organise treks in the rural community Fetraomby and adjoining communes.

Last week the national championship basketball juniors and seniors was played in Toamasina. The entire week the town saw groups of youngsters and seniors dressed in team colours roaming the streets between matches.

Centre Lambahoany

The junior boys team A.S.A. – Association Sportife d’Antananarivo – from, you guessed it, Antananarivo had chosen Centre Lambahoany as their home. Centre Lambahoany being at walking distance from the sports hall and with plenty of space to practice.

Cup

And they won the cup! In an exciting finals the A.S.A. team had the upper hand. Still, the winning goal was only made in the very last second.

Only on Mondays the train leaves Moramanga for Toamasina. Centre Lambahoany’s clients use it for their journey from Andasibe to Andranokoditra. In Andasibe they visit the Mitsinjo Park to spot the Indri-indri, the black and white lemur locally knowns as Babakoto.

Andranokoditra is situated on the strip of land between the Indian Ocean and the Pangalanes Canal. Apart from the train once a week, this fishing-village-cum-seaside-resort can only be reached by boat. It is also the operating base for several outings.

Taking the train is an experience in itself, not reaching the destination is the goal but the journey itself. Relax and enjoy the company of the other rail passengers, the changing landscape, the bustle at the railway station where local women have all kind of mouth-watering snacks on offer.

It takes some planning, but it is an experience not to be missed.