Relais de la Reine

The lovely French run Relais de la Reine is situated on the edge of Isalo National Park in Ranohira in Madagascar. It has been thoughtfully designed to blend as much as possible into the surrounding mountainous landscape, the blocks of six rooms grouped round a courtyard. The hotel has a large swimming pool and is considered one of the best in Madagascar. Each room is twin bedded and for the bathrooms water is drawn from a stream, heated by solar panels. Fans cool the rooms during the warmer months.

From the hotel you will be taken into the nearby Isalo National Park. Covering over 80,000 hectares, the park is scenically very spectacular with huge sandstone hills eroded over time into unusual formations, impressive gorges and canyons, grassy plains, rare vegetation and fertile river valleys. There are some very attractive pathways providing dramatic views and you can also encounter some rare birdlife, a number of lemur species, and endemic chameleons and frogs. Of particular interest is the Piscine Naturelle, where a stone cave overlooks a crystal-clear waterfall, which then flows into a deep green pool surrounded by leafy trees. The “Cascades de Nymphes” and its large population of frogs, and Maki Canyon, home to two species of lemur, are also well worth visiting, in what is often described as a fairytale setting.

There are also various Malagasy tombs throughout Isalo, which give fascinating insights into the national culture. Some are testimony to the person’s life with large carvings and colourful paintings depicting events that took place. Some are very large and littered with skulls of small animals eaten at the funeral feast, with huge decorated “standing stones” set around the tomb.

Read more about a Madagascar safari