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This hotel is a beautiful old country house. It and itsformer stables that have been transformed into a small luxurious hotel. The garden, with its pathways, tropical plants and sweet-smelling shrubs, will delight the visitors. At an altitude of 760 m above sea level, the climate is both healthy and temperate - a welcome contrast to the heat of Diego and the coast. Since April 2001, the restaurant, Le Fontenay, welcomes amateurs of authentic and refined cuisine, as well as succulent grills on the outdoor barbecue. Le Domaine de Fontenay has four luxury rooms and a suite for its discerning guests. Le Domaine de Fontenay has8 luxury rooms and a suite for its discerning guests.

On the immediate outskirts of Joffre-Ville and almost bordering the Amber Mountain, lies the 300 hectare Le Fontenay Nature Park (LFNP). It is a recent private initiative which aims to provide nature and birding lovers with a complementary nature park in the region. The park is part riverine and montaine forest. Forested areas are mixed primary and secondary. There is also degraded forest, interspersed with cultivated and abandoned agriculture. For the time being, the owners are not systematically destroying abandoned agricultural patches, but allowing the forest to re-claim this naturally. Until the proposed re-forestation programme is complete and forest trees are sustaining the fauna, letchis, mangoes, bananas and papayas provide a good food source. Finally, the park also has hilly grasslands and small plateaus. There are several river/stream systems and about 15 waterfalls of varying height (highest about 35m) and intensity of flow. The park has good paths/trails and circuits to suit most abilities. Many of these are on hillsides and ridges which give both panoramic and specific birding views over the existing canopy. In brief, LFNP is an excellent park for birding and panorama/aesthetics. Of the two species of diurnal lemurs common to the region, Sanford 's Brown is seen more often. Crowned Lemurs are more easily seen during the letchi and mango season in Dec/Jan/Feb. Nocturnal varieties such as the Greater Dwarf, Grey Mouse & Northern Sportive are found all year round with peaks in the summer. Ring-tailed Mongoose is fairly common as is the nocturnal Civet. There are a variety of Tenrecs during the summer.

The owners are in the process of launching a project to re-forest parts of the park with endemic and other appropriate flora. In this respect, a project memorandum has been compiled for prospective patrons.

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