Anjajavy le Lodge

Anjajavy is the rare lodge that gives you genuine wilderness and a white-sand beach at once. Set inside a 750-hectare private nature reserve on Madagascar's north-west coast, it draws lemurs to the rosewood villas, counts around 130 bird species and 2,000 plant species, and runs a 200-metre infinity pool above the sea. The kitchen is Relais & Châteaux, French and Malagasy — it is the only Relais & Châteaux in Madagascar — with beach barbecues and long lunches on the sand, and the whole stay is all-inclusive, covering meals, snacks, local rum cocktails, table wine and the airstrip transfer. Around two dozen two-storey rosewood Seaview villas, some in family configurations, look out to sea with lemur-viewing from the room; the four Premium villas take the most private positions with near-private beach access. Reached only by air, about an hour and a quarter from Antananarivo to a private airstrip, it suits couples, families and wildlife travellers who want nature and beach in one.