Surf: Lavanono Lefts are reminiscent of St-Leu on Reunion Island, as the reef starts with long racing walls, usually ruffled by side-shores, before bending into a hollow, dead offshore, end bowl section, offering the odd barrel for tail stomping stall masters! The bowl can be shallow but it’s mostly flat, dead coral and covered with kelp. Despite being better at higher tides, on very low tides and small swell, the reef actually holds longish rights, zipping inside the reef if the trades are low. Further inside where the village sits, a reform left breaks, where the village kids take turns on a couple of beat-up boards, while the group sitting on the beach yell a warning whenever a set approaches. Environment: Most surfers only go to Lavanono, often travelling the long road from Fort-Dauphin and staying for as long as they can. Crowds are almost non-existent and the left is a long wave so this middle of nowhere village has become the region’s No1 spot. A Reunion-based surfer, Jean-Jacques Arnouilh, aka Gigi, has set-up Sorona surf camp and helped the village install a crucial 3000 litre tank. After a very slow start, the camp has become a reliable stopover for all passing travellers and a must-stop for travelling surfers because Lavanono epitomizes the Malagasy experience.