Tsangajoly Lodge

We chose this lodge as an alternative to the medium-worst rated lodges at Kirindy as a stopover to Tsingy. We arrived late because we did the nocturnal walk at Kirindy. The time from Kirindy to the lodge however took longer than the estimated 1.5 hours. The road to get there is bumpy and we thought it never ends ;-) But all employees waited patiently for us and we could even have dinner which was small but tasty. The rooms have everything you need but don’t expect something nice and chic. As we arrived late we couldn’t cool down our hot room long enough before electricity was shut down. That meant limited charging and unfortunately even no ventilator what I cannot understand because they have solar panels. In the rooms they provided mosquito coil but without electricity it only worked a few hours. Bathroom could have been a bit cleaner or maybe it was cleaned but the „older“ materials couldn’t represent it properly. Shower pressure was ok. The area is beautiful and the birding walk was ok. It was high tide so the guide said there are not a lot of birds. I would have liked to know that earlier because tides are not a surprise. However we saw flamingos, cestrals, ducks, storks…

We visited the Lodge de la Saline in late October 2019. It was extremely hot, but our room had air conditioning, which was a big relief. We appeared to be the only guests at the time, so it was very peaceful. We really appreciated the beauty of the grounds, which were very well maintained. ||All of the staff was very nice and accommodating. We enjoyed the nature walks, especially the night walk where it seemed like there was a mouse lemur in every tree! We also enjoyed kayaking, which enables you to get closer to some of the birds without spooking them. We saw some beautiful malachite kingfishers, among many other species. ||The food here was also excellent. The meals were some of the best vegetarian meals that we had during our entire trip. ||I would definitely come back!

Hidden gem in the salines area. I came there by moto, road is a bit tricky especially after the rain as it gets very muddy in the salines. The lodge is very nice, though a bit run down at some places, extremely quiet (obviously). Bungalow was clean and well maintained. Good dinner as well. No credit card accepted but I was able to pay online after they had sent me a link.

We spent just a day and night at the Lodge de la Saline outside of Belo-sur-Tsiribihiana and wish we could have stayed for days. The resort is one of the most beautiful places we stayed and the food was definitely the best and the freshest we had. Other than relaxing around their lovely pool or strolling along their quiet beach, the resort offers birding trips, tours of their salt mining/making process, kayaking through their waterways, and a visit to their own grove of Baobob trees at sunset (which we did without another tourist in sight). The staff there is great and took very good care of us. We would highly recommend a stay there; the Lodge is conveniently located off the road from Kirindy and Tsingy, outside of Belo-sur-Tsirbihina, and is a lovely, quiet, relaxing place to stay after hiking or sifaka/lemur/fosa viewing in the heat and dust at Kirindy.||||As we were leaving I forgot my daypack at the front desk. The owner chased after us on his quad to return it! Kudos to him and his staff.

The room (cottage) was clean and nice, diner was excellent, staff superfriendly and there are multiple nice activities to do. For example: eveningwalk to spot mouse lemurs, birdwatchingwalks and kayaking through the mangroves. Great place to do a stopover between Tsingy and the Avenue of the Baobabs.

We stayed here for 2 nights after our tour to Tsingy was cancelled. It is truly the worst accommodation we stayed in throughout Madagascar (and it’s not cheap). In fact, I have stayed in $1 dollar a night hostels that are better than this. ||||First up and this is unforgivable in my view, the water is turned off for many hours of the day. This means you can’t shower, wash your hands or even flush the toilet! There is no alternative option and (which I’ll come to) when 4/7 of a group gets stomach upsets, not being able to flush the toilet becomes a really big issue! ||||There are many many other issues with this place, including the following: ||||- you are in the middle of nowhere so there are no other options but to eat at the hotel. The dinner included as half board options. was a bowl of soup and some flambé pineapple. This is far out of line with the other half board options in Madagascar, where soup is a starter and then there is a main. After our tour guide asked them to prepare some additional food (at extra cost), they did make some but then lots of us got stomach upsets. Breakfast is also very basic - tea and bread. ||||- the tours were terrible and lots of things seemed to be cancelled - no quad bikes, boat tour etc. The nocturnal guide and bird watching guide could barely find the wildlife and didn’t speak English in any event. ||||- no electricity for large portions of the day, which meant no fan in the rooms for those who were sick (even though we specially asked if electricity could be turned on a bit earlier due to this) ||||- no Wifi at all (despite this being advertised) ||||- some members of staff were very rude and the owner seems to be just a massive cheapskate trying to run for as big as profit as possible.||||- last straw was when we checked out and they were charging us for dishes that we hadn’t ordered. After lunch, they had brought some more flambé pineapple (which was not great) which was not ordered so we assumed it was part of lunch meal. However, they then tried to charge us for it and when we protested that we hadn’t ordered it; their response - ‘well why didn’t you refuse it!’ ||||||The garden and pool are quite nice but there is only 1 sunbed by the pool so you can’t chill around the pool as a group. ||||Might be ok for one night if you are leaving early the next day but I would strongly advise against giving this establishment your money.

We stayed overnight at the the lodge - met by a very bruseque owner. Our stay was marred by the abusive behaviour of the owner over extra bar of soap by one the members of our group. he was initially refused and told that there was no obligation for him to stay at the hotel. Additionally we were all charged for a meal that was included in our stay. Unfortunately, we didn't realise until we had left but when the lodge was contacted by the guide, we were told that we hadn't paid but fortunately 2 of us were given receipts and then reluctantly a refund was paid but for only 4 out of six members of the group.||This was unacceptable behaviour from the hotel owner. ||On a positive side,the setting of the hotel, the facilities in the room were excellent.

After a long and dusty drive towards the Tsingy we were welcomed by the friendly and helpful staff at this wonderful oasis.||We were shown to our clean and spacious bungalow that had been designed and prepared impeccably.||Our meals were created and well presented by the chef and wait staff, catering well for our vegetarian dietary needs.||We enjoyed time in the pool during the day and on the evening guided night walk to spot some tiny mouse lemurs.||A great place to break your journey between the Avenue of Baobabs and the Tsingy.