Why does someone leave life in the city of love for a hotel on the remote coast of Madagascar, the land where evolution ran wild?
Cédric de Foucault, General Manager at Anjajavy l’Hôtel, explains his journey here, his visions of hope for the Indian Ocean island and his love for the Relais & Châteaux family.
“Ever since I can remember, I have been the nature lover of my family. When I was a kid I wanted to be a bush veterinarian, probably because of my early contact with Madagascar’s marvelous nature. My family has been in Madagascar for the past 120 years. I was a bit of an exception being born in Paris and raised near Versailles in France. At age 15, I followed my father back to Madagascar and was profoundly touched by the beauty of the country, the kindness in spite of the poverty of the people.”“After my Baccalaureate, I left for elite classes in Paris, with the wish to come back one day. I did military service in the alpine troopers of Chamonix in the French Alps and Management Studies in Montreal, Canada.”“Next, I returned home, to Madagascar. Lodge management was the best way for me to simultaneously help preserve the nature, develop the local villages and share the joys of the island with guests.”“Years later, I met the owner of the first hotel group in Madagascar, Amirali Rajabali, and his son, Sameer. I knew right away that we would be embarking on a long road together. After managing four of their hotels on Sainte-Marie island, I was offered a position as Manager at Anjajavy l’Hôtel, by Dominique Prat, founder and owner of the hotel. I was enchanted and grabbed the opportunity. Eventually the Rajabali family acquired the hotel from Prat… and we reunited.”“For me, Relais & Châteaux represents French hospitality at its best. It is a brilliant way to express your love for a destination. Since the lodge was far from any towns or roads, there were many challenges at first, such as transport, quality management, forest conservation and social development. But we acquired two Cessna Caravan airplanes to help us along.”“In 2011, the BBC series, ‘Madagascar: The land where evolution ran wild,’ with David Attenborough, brought us much deserved exposure, as it showed off our beaches and baobab trees. Since then we have welcomed several celebrated nature enthusiasts, such as Bill Gates and Sir Richard Branson, whose son, Sam proposed on one of our private inlets.”“Anjajavy l’Hôtel has many ongoing projects on the peninsula – such as the replanting of millions of indigenous trees, increasing the reserve to cover 1 000 hectares, developing a research centre and building new social infrastructures for the villages, like a secondary school.”“Because of an urgent need for resources, our dry deciduous forests are disappearing very fast. Seeing the happy villages of the peninsula, with wells, clinics, solar stations, the children going to school and an sustainable economic and social environment is not only blissful to behold, it is a necessity.”“Anjajavy’s forests possess exceptional rare and endemic species. New animals and plants are regularly discovered here; the biodiversity is an exceptional treasure, and, for me, a keystone of the future of mankind.”“We live in nature here. We care for the destiny of the wildlife of Madagascar and its people and want to share it with visitors.”“Sometimes I imagine people gathered and praying around an ancient tree of a beautiful and endemic forest like the one we have here in Anjajavy and my heart beams with hope…”
Discover Cedric’s dream for Anjajavy l’Hôtel and Madagascar, the land where evolution ran wild, for yourself…
