Garden of Delights

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Ecotourists have turned their gaze on Madagascar and its bounty of lemurs — tourism was up by 21% between 2004 and 2005 — but outside the capital, Antananarivo, there are few decent hotels. Local subsistence farmers don't care much, and thus President Marc Ravalomanana, who is determined to pull the world's fourth largest island out of its economic quagmire, craves outside entrepreneurs to boost the hospitality business.

Which is how Marie-José de Speville and Karl-Heinz Horner moved from the Seychelles to Joffreville, a small mountain village 30 km from the northerly port of Diego Suarez. Joffreville was founded as a retreat for French officers in the early 20th century, and the couple have transformed Le Domaine de Fontenay, a rambling French colonial house with huge verandas, into a relaxed nine-bedroom hotel.

Its restaurant serves such local fare as grilled crayfish and fillet steaks of zebu, or Malagasy cattle, and serves South African wine. The hotel's décor reflects its history: the honeymoon suite's marble bath was salvaged from the captain's quarters of a 19th century French corvette, and the restaurant's stone fireplace bears the official stamp of French architect Gustave Eiffel. But it is the garden, set in a 300-hectare rain-forest nature park, that dazzles. Here you can find 45 species of birds, boa constrictors and a giant tortoise called Galileo. "If I'd told Karl-Heinz I wanted a hotel with waterfalls, lemurs and a view of the sea, he'd have said I was dreaming," says De Speville. "But we've got all of that." lefontenay-madagascar.com