Antananarivo and Area Looking - Madagascar - page 284

LaTerrasse (10 bungalows) Ampefy; 48 840 28; m 032 07 167 80; e laterrasse. am-
[e-mail] ; www.ampefy.com . This resort-style hotel is on the right as you drive
throughAmpefy.RunbyMash(fromTana)&Claude (fromFrance), ithassimple en-suite
bungalows in a garden & on the lake shore. Activities range from hiking to river-rafting.
Highly praised by all. €€€
Relais de la Vierge (6 rooms & 7 bungalows) Ilot Boisé Antanimarina, Ampefy (on
the way to Soavinandriana); m 032 02 796 20/032 41 085 29. Ping-pong, tennis, billiards
etc; also children's activities. A relaxing & enjoyable place. €€€
LakeItasy Onceyou'vehadyourfillofwatersportsyoucandosomewalking:'FromAm-
pefycontinuesouthand1kmfromthehotelisaturn-off(totheleft)toapeninsula.A5km-
long route takes you along the edge of the lake with beautiful views. But the best view is
ontopofthehillofthepeninsula,whereashrineoftheVirginMaryoverlooksthelake'(R
Mulder & P Janssen).
THE TWO-MAN INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Hilary Bradt
Technology was largely introduced to Madagascar by two remarkable Europeans:
James Cameron, a Scot, and Jean Laborde, a Frenchman.
JAMES CAMERON arrived in Madagascar in 1826 during the country's 'British
phase' when the London Missionary Society (LMS) had attempted to set up local
craftsmen to produce goods in wood, metal, leather and cotton. Cameron was only 26
when he came to Madagascar but was already skilled as a carpenter and weaver, with
a broad knowledge of other subjects which he was later to put to use in his adopted
land: physics, chemistry, mathematics, architecture and astronomy. Cameron seemed
able to turn his hand to almost anything mechanical. Among his achievements were
the successful installation and running of Madagascar's first printing press (by study-
ingthemanual,sincetheprintersentoutwiththepresshaddiedwithunseemlyhaste),
a reservoir (now Lake Anosy), an aqueduct, and the production of bricks.
Cameron's success in making soap from local materials ensured his royal favour
after King Radama died and the xenophobic Queen Ranavalona came to power. But
when Christian practice and teaching were forbidden in 1835, Cameron left with the
other missionaries and went to work in South Africa.
He returned in 1863, when the missionaries were once more welcome in Madagas-
car, to oversee the building of stone churches, a hospital, and the stone exterior to
the original wooden rova or queen's palace built by Jean Laborde in Antananarivo in
1839.