The hills give way here to infinite rows of tea plants, which give a certain harmony to the landscape. Kenyan seedlings were imported to the island around forty years ago, the humid climate and altitude of around 1200 metres being favourable for tea growing.
Today, there are over 300 hectares of plantations on the flanks of Sahambavy, the "women's field". Approximately 20 tonnes of leaves are handpicked daily by 250 people. It takes 5 kg of fresh leaves to obtain 1 kg of dried tea.
The visit of the only tea processing plant of the island is a must during any visit to this region of Madagascar. You can observe all the stages of tea processing, including drying, fermentation (which gives the factory its heady fragrance), roasting, sieving and filtering, using very beautiful machines made of wood and steel. The visit ends with a tasting!