Central Madagascar - Madagascar - page 123

Lazani Betsileo Winery WINERY
( 75 901 27, 032 02 313 75; www.lazanibetsileo-vin.com ; admission Ar3000) There are
several vineyards in the Fianarantsoa area, but this is the most popular to tour. We don't
vouchforthefinishedproduct,butwineaficionados willundoubtedlyfindthisintelligently
laid-out tour interesting. The vineyard is about 15km north of Fianarantsoa. Ring in ad-
vance, or else hunt down the man in the white coat.
SLEEPING
Lac Hôtel HOTEL €€€
( 75 959 06; www.lachotel.com ; bungalows Ar70,000-130,000) One of Madagascar's
many surprises, this well-executed boutique hotel just steps from the Sahambavy train sta-
tion is a common stop for passengers coming back from the coast. It has extensive gardens,
a winning French menu (set meals Ar25,000) and a variety of accommodation, including
some real show-stoppers. The mini safari lodges perch on stilts over a lake, affording great
views. Most interestingly, they are furnished with fantastic local carvings and fabrics to
form a refined Malagasy style. In a country full of bungalows, these are some of the very
best.
THE BETSILEO
The Betsileo, Madagascar's third-largest tribe, inhabit the hauts plateaux area
around Fianarantsoa and Ambalavao. They only began viewing themselves as a
nation after being invaded and conquered by the Merina in the early 19th cen-
tury.
The Betsileo are renowned throughout Madagascar for their rice-cultivation
techniques - they manage three harvests a year instead of the usual two, and
their lands are marked by beautiful terracing and vivid shades of green in the
rice paddy fields. Betsileo herdsmen are famous for their trilby hats and the
blankets they wear slung in a debonair fashion around their shoulders. Betsileo
houses are distinctively tall and square, constructed from bricks as red as the
earth of the roads.
As well as the famadihana , which was adopted from the Merina after the uni-
fication of Madagascar, an important Betsileo belief centres on hasina , a force
that is believed to flow from the land through the ancestors into the society of
the living. Skilled traditional practitioners are thought to be able to manipulate