Eden Lodge

a beautiful and gentle retreat

Eden Lodge is located in the Nosy Be area to the northwest of Madagascar.

This property has been a great pioneer of environmentally responsible tourism. It was the first hotel in the world to be completely solar-powered, it has developed all kinds of ways to be sensitive to its environment and has partnered with the people who live in the neighbouring villages. It has won many awards, including being recognised as being one of the top ten eco-lodges in the world.

The fact that a lot of these good characteristics are now commonplace amongst lodges in Africa and elsewhere is much due to places like this who pioneered the way.

Eden Lodge is centred on a large open-sided building which serves as the main dining area.

The area around the lodge is packed with beautiful tropical flora and fauna, including some ancient baobab trees and some cheeky lemurs.

Rooms

Guest accommodation at Eden Lodge is in eight large safari tents under thatched roofs, with extensive outdoor bathrooms to the rear.

There is also a visiting massage service that comes to your room, there is a special massage table beyond each bathroom.

All the rooms are at the back of the beach, so you can sit on your private verandah and watch the occasional pirogue, dolphin or whale go by.

Activities

Eden Lodge provides access to the following very wide range of activities, most of which are not usually included in the room rate …

• Nature walks
• Forest hiking
• Marine safari
• Beach picnics on remote islands
• Kayaking
• Snorkelling
• Diving
• Whale sharks
• Whale-watching
• Cultural visits

It is perhaps worth pointing out that the lodge is quite remote and many of these activities involve quite long boat journeys. It might be more rewarding to do less and stay local, possibly in combination with nights at a lodge closer to Nosy Be itself.

Nosy Be is the most popular beach location in Madagascar, initially because it is such a beautiful and diverse area, but latterly because it has an international airport. It therefore tends to feature in a high proportion of trips.

The usual stay duration is 3-7 nights.

Seasonality

The best time of year to visit the Nosy Be area is generally considered to be during the May-Oct cool dry season.

The May-Oct period represents a cool dry winter season, when daytime temperatures may reach 22C/72F, whilst nighttime temperatures manage to drop to around 18C/64F (which is still a little bit on the warm side given the high humidities). The relatively infrequent rainfall tends to come in the form of occasional showers, with the prevailing conditions being hot and sunny.

The Nov-Apr period represents a warm wet summer season, when daytime temperatures may reach 28C/82F, whilst nighttime temperatures struggle to get below 22C/72F, which can be quite uncomfortable in the potentially very high humidities. Rainfall can be extremely heavy and persistent, possibly exceeding 500mm/20″ per month during Jan-Feb.

Getting there

If you are not planning to visit other parts of Madagascar, then you can arrive on the direct charter flights from Europe or on the scheduled air service from Johannesburg (notably when connecting from the safari areas) into the main airport on Nosy Be.

If you are planning to visit other parts of Madagascar beyond this northern corner, then most likely you will enter and exit the country via the capital Antananarivo, connecting north by air from there, directly to the main airport on Nosy Be.

From the main airport on Nosy Be it is a motorboat transfer of around 20 minutes to the lodge.

If your trip around Madagascar includes visiting the Montagne d’Ambre and Ankarana and conservation areas on the mainland nearby, then you will most likely fly from Antananarivo to Diego Suarez, travelling down overland to arrive at the harbour at Ankify.

From Ankify it is a 45 minute motorboat ride out to the lodge.

the island is home to an international airport