A couple months ago I started emailing local companies to arrange an unique itinerary on the Manambolo River. Remote Rivers Expedition was the obvious choice. From my first contact with Gary it was evident that he really understood what we were trying to accomplish and was able to accommodate our specific needs. Gary was responsive in email and was able to answer my many questions.
The actual trip down the Manambolo went off without a hitch and was perhaps one of the best experiences (and we are seasoned travelers) that we have had. Being on the river with the sounds of the birds and the water, the boatmen talking and singing while paddling and the 360 degree views just could not be beat. Our guide Alex arranged everything for us and provided a lot of additional insight into local culture and customs.

Upon arriving in Morondava, we met Gary and Chez Maggie and had great conversations over a delicious rhum arrange (the ginger was tasty). We had not booked in advance, and Chez Maggie was full, but still they helped us find a room down the road. We will be in Morondava for a couple more days and are hoping to stay at Chez Maggie, enjoy the pool and get a look at one of the eclectic rooms.

I strongly recommend working with Remote Rivera Expeditions for excursions in Madagascar and would definitely recommend checking out Chez Maggie in Morondava.

June 2017 - The rooms are overpriced for the level of accommodation and service:
- no separate bathroom (they use a screen separator) which mean the toilet is basically in the bedroom so this is not really hygienic.
- no electricity at night until 7am, whereas the other hotels with the same standard in the area have a group generator to cover this period of time.
- the pool's water was never clean so we did not even tried to get into it.
- They advertise that they have wifi but it is not working on other areas than the lobby. We had to ask the neighbour hotel (Renala hotel) to kindly provide us with their access.

The food is very basic and prices are high for what is proposed. I would recommend going to the other restaurants in the area if you want good seafood and fish.

Finally, the staff was not trained to provide a good customer service. Just an example: we were given incorrect information about breakfast being included in our reservation. As a result, we were charged without our consent for this. The manager seemed very disorganized and not willing to make an effort to improve our experience, so this was reflected in the overall staff service.

I would not have below standard expectations if the price was accurately reflecting the level of service, but since they position themselves in the "Above average" price category, I think it is good to provide an accurate review of it.

Different room configurations, some more practical than others. Lots of concrete (e.g. short walls with seashell motifs and a concrete breakfast/restaurant area). You cannot see the beach from this hotel (perhaps from some of the upper floor rooms?) We stayed in the "pirates cabin", which had no views and the ceiling was at such a slant that I counted three steps before bumping my head on the ceiling, and I am not tall. The windows had no netting or glass and opened up onto either the back of the bar or a cactus plant. The place itself is set within a dip and therefore the only place where you can see water is by climbing up a small hill and sitting by the fence.
We stayed at the Palisandre next door as well and unless you are on a very tight budget, I suggest you do the same - this place might be cheaper, and more eccentric, but the service is poor (everything at very set times and slow), the room we stayed in felt cramped, smelled of damp and apart from the unfortunate slanted ceiling was very basic and boring. Reminded me of an eccentric truck stop for some reason, the ones one sees in old American movies with license plates and deer antlers on the walls - I didn't see either of these at Chez Maggie, but I would not have been surprised to see them either. Not sure if there was a hairdryer, there was no electricity until 6.30 am anyway, and we had to check out by then...