We travelled to the “Andasibe Hotel”:http://www.andasibehotel-resto.com/index.php/fr/ along the Route Nationale 2, or RN2. This road, said to be the lung of the country as it links the main port with the capital, Antananarivo, was featured on a BBC programme, The World’s Most Dangerous Roads. It was easy to see why, as whilst most of the surface was relatively well maintained, it isn’t wide enough to warrant a middle white line and it carried a mixture of zebu carts, bicycles, hand-drawn carts plus the huge articulated lorries and vans, carrying all manner to and from the port.
The row of bungalows all appeared to involve climbing up a very steep flight of steps. Our room, number 4, had a large main bedroom with polished wooden floor, TV, mini bar, safe in the wardrobe, double bed with mosquito net, bedside tables and lights, coffee table and tea and coffee making facilities. There was also a second bedroom with two twin beds and, then up a passage and two steps, a large bathroom with separate loo and shower. It was basic but practical. The room had both a heater and a fan and a stash of blankets in the wardrobe. Hairdryers were available on request.
There was a lovely looking outdoor swimming pool, but not the weather to enjoy it.
The main building housed the reception, bar and restaurant where you could obtain a reasonable Wi-Fi signal.
Breakfast was all self-service and a bit hit and miss. We enjoyed strawberry juice, hot drinks, tinned chopped fruit, banana, yoghurt, cereal but some of the pastries were stale. There was also ham, cheese and hot dishes available. On the second morning, two large groups had beaten us to the buffet which had been decimated and took some time to replenish.
For lunch we chose a light option from the main menu and enjoyed omelette and chips, soup and vegetable gratin.
Although our package included dinner, this was one of the only places during our trip, where dinner was not a fixed time, and where our choices were not limited. From the wide ranging menu we chose starters of zebu carpaccio and salads, and mains of a Mexican zebu, zebu casserole and chicken tandoor dish (just writing this has made me realise how times we ate zebu!). Disappointingly, the Malagasy dish of romazava wasn’t available. Puddings were dishes like chocolate mousse, ice-cream, crepes and flambeed bananas with rum.
Attempting to pay our drinks bill on leaving, two credit cards were declined but we suspected it was the signal rather than our cards. This was disputed initially, but when we returned later to try again, a French couple were having similar problems. As this was the end of our holiday and all our local currency was accounted for, our tour company kindly paid and we reimbursed them on return to the UK.
