Tea plantation and relaxing au lac hotel
Trip Start
Nov 07, 2007
1
8
46
Trip End
Ongoing
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Fianarantsoa,
Madagascar
Friday, November 23, 2007
After a couple of days of lemur spotting and amazing views in the Ranomafana national park, we headed off to a tiny village called Sahambavy near Fianar. We spent a couple of days relaxing in a nice lakeside hotel, playing tennis and table tennis as well as catching up with reading. Dom's better at tennis and I'm better at table tennis.
We also visited the only tea plantation in Madagascar which was nearby. It was interesting to learn how tea grew and how it was made as personally I had no idea... now I do! It was a bit of a struggle to find the place, as once again, there were no signs and no other tourists around. But the wondering around paid off as it was a great visit and we even got to try different types of tea the farm produced.
We meant to take the train from Sahambavy to Fianar today. The line from Manakara to Fianar is the only functioning trainline in Madagascar and it is supposed to be a spectacular journey. The train runs 4 times a week but the services on Sundays are often cancelled. We were told that the train yesterday arrived at the Sahambavy station 10 hours late yesterday so we went to the station to find out if delays could be expected today, too. The answer was yes, at least 4 to 5 hours so we decided to give the train journey a miss and rent a car with a driver instead. Shame, but at least we got here!
Jonna
