Name: Blue Vanga Lodge
Address: 4 Andranofasika, Madiromiongana, Marovoay, Marovoay, Marovoay, 501, Madagascar
Rating: 6

24-hour reception

Smoking areas

Ticket assistance

Garden

Terrace

Outdoor furniture

General

Laundry

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Breakfast

Restaurant

Meals

Airport transportation

Transfer

Multi-language staff

Languages Spoken

Tour assistance

Tourist services

Picnic area

Recreation

Free parking

Parking

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the cottage

Blue Vanga Lodge

Marovoay

My reviews for accommodation in Mada are rated against each other and not against Western hotels. 

I found it hard to rate Blue Vanga as it seems to be the best in the area but it was the most basic place in which I stayed. It is fairly peaceful as there are only 4 bungalows. It is set alongside a local village which  means noise starts early as the locals set about their daily lives. There are also animals walking on the tin roof. 

Given the location do not expect too much in terms of facilities ( no WiFi) but what is provided is the best that can be hoped for, I think, in the area. If you don’t set expectations too high you won’t be disappointed. 

Go prepared. It is hot and the worst place I encountered for mosquitos. No Mosi coils are provided but luckily I also had a plug in though electricity is not 24 hours.

The room is large and there is a fan over the beds but not that effective. Water is scarce here but the shower was good enough. A cold shower after a hot day out was welcome but there is a need to conserve water. The rooms need a bit of TLC. The screws were coming out of the bed head which was disconcerting as it detached itself from the wall onto the pillow . The Door handle also came unscrewed . Given how dry the area is I definitely don’t expect a dust free environment but the cobwebs on the fan were extensive. 

The only place to eat is in the guest house. The lady in charge checked guests were ok with what was being offered but there was no choice of food. I am sure she would have tried to compromise but if you are vegan or vegetarian try to let them know in advance I suggest. The food was not the best and meat was quite tough. The food was Malagasy and ingredients were explained which was good touch. 
 
The lodge seemed to be managed by a family unit. They were all charming though  English was limited but the lady in charge made a big effort. 

All in all enjoyed my stay here.  

Best in the area 

Stayed here as couldn't find much near the parc natural I intended to visit.
NO wifi, no hot water , electricity only at night, dinner usually tough but delivered nicely,
rooms basic but adequate, isolated and  thus quiet.  only 4 lodges so not busy.
We enjoyed the peace and locale though it wasn't luxurious.

Has its good points

We knew there was no hot water but at times there was no water. For most of the day no electricity. No wifi and almost no signal, only the vodaphone associate. As in all Madagascar the staff were nice and friendly. Condensed milk with ones coffee at Breakfast was a shock. OK ommellettes though.a dinner of the worlds toughest chicken and fried carrots and green beans was a first.  There is not much accommodation around so despite the very basic nature of Blue Vanga Lodge its just OK

ared for shocks

This was the most basic of all the places we stayed, and it's hard to compare accommodations in Madagascar by a standard scale as the country is so diverse in landscape and resources.

This region was the hottest we visited in October time and as such the lack of air con/ decent fans meant that sleeping here was quite uncomfortable. That said the area in general had much less infrastructure than other cities/ tourist hubs so it is perhaps unreasonable to compare or expect something to be of the same standards when there are much less opportunities for this....

The staff were very friendly, the food was nice, and as a base to explore the national park/ break up our 3 day drive from ankify to Tana it was fine.

The bungalow, although basic was clean and my mosquito net was adequate. If you're looking for luxury this definitely isn't it, but it was a pleasant enough stay and actually in some ways a nice change to be somewhere a bit more traditional and local.

We ended up playing chess in the evenings until lights out, early to rise/ early to bed. 

I echo what others have said about security, the main fence is brick and secure but not that high, and the outer fence is otherwise just sticks so I perhaps wouldn't feet as comfortable being here alone, but I think in general the village is actually pretty safe..

Overall an enjoyable stay for a few days 

Back to basics 

Our biggest issues with this property were comfort and safety.  On the comfort issue, the bungalows are extremely hot.  There are no trees tall enough around to provide any sort of shade on the bungalows, thus leaving them to bake in the sun all day.  Long after the sun has gone down, the walls continue to release heat into the bungalow.  While this is a minor issue when you can have your windows open, it is unbearable when you close them and your bungalow literally becomes a brick oven.  Unfortunately, because the windows do not have screens or bars on them, leaving them open during the day while you are not there or open overnight is just not a reasonable solution due to security issues.  As mentioned, this property sits right in the middle of the village (or at least the village is on all sides of it).  There is a 1.5 meter stone wall on the east side where the gate is located, but the other three sides are built with a 'stick' fence that is so porous the neighbors chickens/dogs come and go as they please.  The back of each bungalow sits just 2 meters from this stick fence, which could easily allow a person to sneak through the fence, enter the back window of your bungalow and out again and nobody would see them. 

The location also creates noise issues.  During the day, the school is located on the other side of the stick fence to the south and they seem to have lots of outside time in the afternoon.  Dogs bark at all hours.  Roosters began calling at 1:00 am (and I know the precise time as I sat awake one night to keep watch in order to keep the windows and even door open to allow cooler air in).  

The bungalows do have a small wall mounted fan that can be used during the hours they turn on the electricity, but that is only between roughly 6:00 pm and 10:00 pm (they shut it off earlier if all of the overnight guests have left the lounge area).  On the first night, at around midnight, the electricity came back on thus allowing us to use the fan all night which made for decent sleeping.  The 2nd night, they didn't turn the electricity back on until after 1:00 am (probably because they heard us banging around opening windows and doors to let cooler air in).  The 3rd night, they never did turn it back on, thus resulting in no sleep as I stayed awake since the door and windows were open.  

Though this next comment is not the fault of the lodge, I bring it up because of the relevance of the location, but our first afternoon there, we could hear this dog screaming in pain up the hill from the lodge.  Concerned, we went to investigate what was going on and we soon saw about a half dozen children running down the hill with sticks and dragging a dead puppy behind them.  Mortified, we yelled at the children to stop and the only English speaking staff member of the lodge came out to see what was going on.  She indicated that the children said the dog had rabies so they killed it.  Whether or not the dog was infected, we do not know but to have to hear this killing was not something I wish on anyone (we heard them doing it again on another morning before we left for the park).  Again, this isn't the fault of the lodge, but because you are in the middle of the village, you hear everything that is going on, including these uncomfortable situations.

I must point out though in regards to rabies, we did hear from our park guide that rabies is a big problem with dogs in the village.  In fact two days before we arrived, he and several children were bitten by a dog they suspect had rabies, requiring him to go through the rabies vaccination protocol.  Assuming this to be accurate, the fact that dogs can come and go onto the property is a problem for guests who might also be bitten.

We stayed at 12 different properties during our 24 nights on the island ranging from plush to camping and this was hands down the worst place we stayed.   While food, cleanliness, friendliness of the staff, location, etc all matter, the most important thing of your overnight location is sleep, after all that is the point.  So if you can't sleep, the rest is irrelevant, thus we can't recommend this location at all.

If you value sleep, try somewhere else

This location came as a bit of a surprise to us as we went to a village along a road and then closed gate. Village was all around this location, but may not have been many years ago when it was built. From previous locations we had been we were in a forest surrounding. This was the location where you had barking dogs, not severe but can get annoying.
There are 6 rooms at the location, they are basic, small number of visitors there during our two night stay.
The food is good, and is ordered earlier and times set, service very good.
Basic but in transit ok.

A place to stay with access to National Park

Very simple, insects everywhere in the lodge.
No elektricity, no wifi. Restaurant too simple, only one dish and very expensive! We got zebu (like always) with a lot of bones and a bit rice. Price:2500 ariary (6,30€). No nice atmosphere. We moved quickly to the Gîtes in the park, which was great! 

Do not recommend

The Lodge is basic but the rooms were clean and comfy.  The people who work there are very kind.  Food was good.  Overall, the accommodation was fine.  The biggest issue we had was with whoever handles the reservations.  We had reserved three nights, but when we got there we were told we could only stay for two and had to move to a sketchy looking place in the middle of town for the third night.  We chose to leave the area instead.  Another group staying there at the same time was told the same thing and also left early.  My guess is they had a large group coming in so bumped us.  Not a good way to do business.

A mixed bag...

We stayed here for two nights. The staff were terrific. Rm basic but clean. Effective mosquito net.Shower cold and power very limited. Dogs barking early. I felt this was a better option than Forest Lodge which although in the National park was pretty disgusting.

Blue Vanga Lodge

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