Sahambavy Tea Estate

Sahambavy is the only tea estate in Madagascar, planted in the 1970s on hills at around 1,200 metres where the climate suits the crop, and it covers several hundred hectares of clipped green terraces above a small lake. Tours walk through the fields, where picking is done by hand, and then through the factory to see withering, rolling, oxidation and drying, ending with a tasting; the estate produces mostly black tea for export and the domestic market. A hotel sits on the lake below with chalets on the water. The estate is also a stop on the Fianarantsoa to Manakara railway, and arriving by train makes a better story than arriving by road. The landscape of green terraces is unlike anything else in the country.

What you actually see

• Tea terraces - clipped green rows across the hillsides.
• Hand picking - workers taking two leaves and a bud.
• The factory - withering, rolling and drying under one roof.
• The lake - still water below the plantation with lodge chalets.

When to go

April to November for the roads and for comfortable walking. Picking runs through much of the year. The factory works on weekdays, so a weekend visit may see the fields but not the machinery.

Honest expectations

The estate is a working farm and the tour is short and simple rather than polished. Factory access depends on whether processing is running that day. Wages and conditions on plantations are a fair thing to ask about. The train from Fianarantsoa is unreliable and often many hours late.

Nearby

Fianarantsoa lies west; Ranomafana is northeast.