The text is an e-mail to Reefrain. The first three paragraphs (only) were quoted in their 2001 brochure.
To: "Reef & Rainforest Tours"
From: Gordon Murray
Subject: Re: Nov 2000 Silky Safaka
I thought it was about time I got round to thanking you for the Silky Sifaka trip. It was very good indeed.
The whole trip got us to the places we really wanted to reach and spent a sensible amount of time seeing them in detail, with no holds barred in getting to grips with our targets. Nick Garbutt certainly knows what he is doing and has a good attitude to his clients.
The accommodation was good throughout, indeed after all we had read about Madagascar, it came well above our expectations. We particularly enjoyed the transport which linked up well using internal flights and, on the ground, used comfortable and suitable vehicles: we wish we could have said the same about some previous trips we have had with another company!
There was a problem in our case and I am sure you would like to know about it in detail. I have only just got back on my feet properly after a very bad attack of food poisoning (campylobacter). This started the morning after arrival in les Paradisiers and surely came from the first night's meal (I think I was the only one in the group to order zebu, but I am not certain). There was something wrong by breakfast time and it got worse as the day progressed. My total time affected has been about 16 days (over average for camplylobacter). In a discussion with some of the others near the end of the trip we realised that several others had problems to a greater or lesser degree that dated from the stay at les Paradisiers. Certainly there were several instances of obvious bad practice there, apart form a tendency to go for over-elaborate dishes for tropical conditions. If you want a good example, there were Lychees served for desert one evening. Instead of being sterile in their natural cases they had been partially cut open so they were "artistically" displayed on the plate. They had obviously been prepared some time earlier and were slightly dried-out on their exposed surfaces. Les Paradisiers had hordes of flies in the dining area: more than the total number of flies in all the other places we visited put together, I estimate. Case made and proven?
It is obviously going to be a problem for you since les Paradisiers has good accommodation and a good atmosphere and is in the right location. However you may have some difficulty convincing the proprietor he is in the wrong on his food handling.
Before I finish, they camping seems to have gone well enough and certainly running water was provided at each site. In the past we and some of your other clients have often camped with a bowl of disinfectant provided at each meal for clients to wash their hands. I am reluctant to draw inferences from 8 or so camping sessions but to date the all trips that used a disinfectant bowl had near-zero infection rates and the others had moderate to high rates. Apart from direct action I suspect that the effect on camp staff is quite profound. Worth thinking about?
As I write this I can well imagine the effect it will be having on you - I would feel the same if something I had put a lot of effort into was drawing criticism. Cheer up; we would still recommend Reefrain to any friends and I am sure you can work up something to minimise such problems in the future.
Best wishes and thanks for a (mostly) enjoyable holiday.
Gordon.