On the Trail of Essential Oils with Homeopharma
Come and discover with Homeopharma Madagascar's biodiversity, the country's wealth of endemic flora with its aromatic and medicinal plants of an estimated 12,000 species. This is surely one of the richest and most diverse flora in the world.
Indeed, Madagascar offers a wide diversity of all life forms: micro-organisms, plants and animals. 12,000 plant species, 3% of those on the entire planet, thrive on the island of Madagascar, also known as the Fifth Continent! Many are endemic. They exist only in Madagascar. Over centuries, Malagasy people having studied this plant richness and gained knowledge of the active agents of countless medicinal plants and how to extract their hidden wealth, sometimes with miraculous powers: the essential oils.
The concept of Homeopharma:
- Homeopharma, a pharmaceutical establishment approved by the Ministry of Health, is specialised in herbal medicine, aromatherapy, renewal of traditional medicine and homeopathy. Located in Antananarivo, its CEO and founder Jean Claude Ratsimivony is a symbolic figure of the big island known for its long commitment to innovation in the field of wellness and health. Homeopharma employs 490 workers and uses over 1,500 plants in the production of its natural products.
- Homeopharma manages the complete production process from planting to finished products. Over many parts of the island, Homeopharma plants, picks and harvests in total 600 hectares of forest, supervises and motivates farmers in the protection and renewal of plant resources, thus helping to preserve the environment and biodiversity of Madagascar.
- In Madagascar Homeopharma's presence include a total of 45 institutes where the final products are offered at modest prices, so as to allow all Malagasy people to benefit from the preventive and curative properties of their products.
- These Homeopharma institutes also offer care and free advice. They practise relaxing or slimming massages with essential oils, amongst them the best in the world such as ravintsara or katrafay, all resulting from aromatic plants.
- A massage not longer than 20 minutes is the time needed for a quality essential oil to be traced back to the taste buds on the tongue when applied to the soles of the feet. Thanks to its extraordinary power of penetration, it quickly breaks through the skin to reach the bloodstream and with it back to the tongue, as it could reach any other organ that we would aim for, before being totally dissolved in the body. A true miracle!
Properties of essential oils
In its distillery centres Homeopharma extracts the essential substances of many plants: their aromas. Once collected in flasks, the natural concentrate may heal those who suffer from ailments, such as stress, warts, insomnia, the affection of sinus, ears or larynx, rheumatism, flu symptoms, impotence, stomach pain.
Definition of an essential oil
But what exactly is an essential oil? It can be defined as a powerful aromatic substance of complex composition, which includes volatile and odorous elements contained in plants. These are the elements that help to cure many diseases.
How do you get this aromatic substance?
In most cases by water steam distillation at low temperature and low pressure. This technique allows to extract most of the active substances from the plant. Before distillation they are called essence. After it is called essential oil. Only 10% of plants produce an essence. And if the latter and although the essence can be found throughout the plant, it is mainly concentrated in a single organ, such as root, rhizome, wood, bark, leaf, stem, flower, seed or fruit. These are the organs from which essential oil is obtained..
Distilled are ylang-ylang flowers, cinnamon bark, niaouli leaves or vetiver roots. Please note, the composition of the essence of a plant differs slightly from that of the essential oil of the same plant, because the distillation process cannot entirely extract the properties within the plant.
The essential oil of mint is easier to obtain because of the leaves. A slightly irregular low heat is enough. But a bit of stronger heat is needed to break the structure of a bark and to release its larger aromatic molecules.
Citrus essential oil (orange, bergamot, lemon, mandarin) is obtained by squeezing the exocarp, the outer skin of the fruits, at room temperature.
Properties of essential oils of Madagascar
Throughout the entire production of essential oils, Madagascar ranks at the top. Firstly, due to the rarity of certain plants. Katrafay, extraordinary analgesic (pain-relieving), grows only on the Big Island.
The quality of plants is important too. A ravintsara from India holds less active ingredients than a ravintsara from Madagascar.
Another advantage is the environment. "The exceptionally rich and diverse terroirs of this island do not face pollution as in industrialised countries", remarked cardiologist Lionel Michat, whose Malagasy essential oils are sold in Europe under the Les Aromagies brand. And producers do not use chemical fertilisers either. These factors ensure the properties of plants to be 100% natural.
The cultivation of plants in Madagascar cannot be compared with many other countries. Whilst elsewhere trees of a single species are aligned in a field, in Madagascar a wild environment is kept where ravintsara grows next to Eucalyptus globulus but also next to plants and non-aromatic trees.
The essential oils of Homeopharma
This wild environment ensures the quality of the soil and under the management of Jean Claude Ratsimivony, CEO of Homeopharma, our essential oils are tested and guaranteed in our laboratory to be of the highest quality.
Without the wild environment, the synergy between species would be lost. Plants need to breathe and sense. We must listen to Jean Claude, the modest grandson of a medical doctor, depositary of remedies collected by his grandfather from healers, who will tell you about the plants, their sensitivity, their stress before a hurricane. Resting time, which allows the plants to regenerate between pickings, is also respected and can reach up to four years depending on the species! Harvesting of plant organs is done in jute or cotton bags to prevent maceration. Partial drying is necessary in case of rain in order to reduce the amount of water contained in the plant. And if so, we will only dry one type of plant at the time to avoid contamination and to ensure the right balance of chemical properties.
In short, the plants are treated for the treasure they are. And it doesn't stop there! Distillation over a wood fire, most of the time, is another added value to the Malagasy essential oils. In other countries it is done with regular gas heat. But firewood allows a variation of temperature which leads to a more complete extraction. The large molecules of the plants do not extract at a constant temperature if using gas. To be convinced of the importance of this, one needs only to observe the technicians at the Homeopharma distillery in Ambila on the Canal des Pangalanes on Madagascar's east coast. Their work procedure involves adding a piece of wood to light the fire and thereafter removing it to reach the desired temperature, causing a gradual temperature change.
And there is minimum waste, although essential oils are a luxury item which normally require a lot of raw material. For example, 390 kilos of niaouli flowers give only 2.2 liters of oil!
The regions of the big island and their essential oils are:
- The central highlands - a mosaic of mountains, basins, plains and hills, provide thyme, eucalyptus, cypress, helichrysum, geranium, lemongrass, basil, citriodora and ravintsara.
- The east of the country - an area regularly flooded due to trade winds bringing rainfall, provides cloves, pepper, cinnamon, lantana, niaouli, vetiver, ginger, lemongrass and pink pepper.
- The drier west to the south - provides combavas, lemon, cinnamon, mandravasarotra and sandalwood.
- The north, on the side of Antsiranana and the Amber Mountain - an area full of fragrant plants such as ylang-ylang, patchouli, geranium, basil and green pepper.
This abundance becomes even more valuable given the choice between unitary oils and complex oils, or mixtures of unitary oils. These mixtures of unitary oils further strengthens the properties of each of them.
Warning: never mix more than four oils because beyond that they neutralise each other.
3. Improved traditional remedies (Remèdes traditionnelles améliorées - RTA) and massages
- Madagascar is a treasure trove for essential oils and this is also true outside the actual production.
Everything done here contributes towards the development of improved traditional remedies, also referred to as "RTA".
- Firstly, because the cultivation of plants needed for essential oils is part of the reforestation of the Malagasy forest.
- Beside the reforestation, choose the fragrant plants. The Malagasy reservoir of fragrant plants is so vast that we do not yet know all the species, nor therefore all the benefits we can derive from them. This is an area open for research, national and international.
- Finally, these oils support another part of the Malagasy culture: massages. At a time when it has become fashionable to have all kinds of exotic body therapies, the Malagasy offer the classic massage, a palpating and rolling massage, energetic and gentle, whose effects are increased by massage oils consisting of up to 10% essential oils.
- It goes without saying that this palpate and roll massage will be more beneficial than the exchange between the person being massaged and the masseur who will be rich.
- Giving a massage is art. Also receiving. This is often forgotten. What do the hands which treat you with essential oils have to give? The art of Malagasy living.
- This way of life with calm and serenity is called mora mora.
This is, without forgetting the smile of the people here, the primary source of wellness in Madagascar.
Homeopharma & its Green Clubs
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<youtube>BjlyZCzxCn8</youtube> Aerial video of the three Green Clubs / produced by Bird Factory |
Homeopharma offers fitness stays combined with the opportunity to experience the Malagasy countryside - the source of essential oils. Three high-standard eco-lodges named "Green Club" are located in Mahajanga on the west coast, in Ambila near the east coast and in Vontovorona about 20 kilometres from the capital Antananarivo in the central highlands.
- Besides its production of herbal teas, homeopathic medicines, salves and beauty products, Homeopharma is also known for its 100% pure and natural essential oils, which are organically certified by the demanding Ecocert organisation.
- Homeopharma recommends to discover the essential oils in the natural surroundings of one of the three Green Clubs.
- The concept? On-site discovery of medicinal and aromatic plants and testing their benefits on oneself.
- Hiking in the surrounding countryside accompanied by botanists will help you better understand the variety of plants.
- In the Green Clubs you will be massaged with essential oils and also enjoy the benefits of plants as herbal teas, as well as poultice and balneotherapy. Add to this a simple but refined cuisine, such as the magnificent lobster sold by fishermen directly on the beach, and you should get back in great shape throughout your stay.
- In Mahajanga, the bungalows are either two hundred meters from the shore, on a headland with stunning views of the surroundings, or on the beach.
- In Ambila-Lemaitso, the former seaside resort, you can choose to swim either in the freshwater of Canal des Pangalanes or in the Indian Ocean, whose waves will massage you in their own way.
For further information, please contact Mr. Richard Jacques Aime Ralambotsirofo - General Director of the Green Clubs of the Homeopharma Group as well as General Director Assistant of the Homeopharma Company
Tel: +261 (0)33 11 195 77
Mail: dg_grenclub@yahoo.fr, dgahomeo@homeopharma.mg, r.ralambotsirofo@yahoo.de
Web: madagascar-homeopharma.com
Homeopharma Institutes throughout Madagascar
In addition to the three Green Clubs there are about forty Homeopharma institutes located throughout Madagascar. For those travelling the around the country, ask for a Homeopharma institute near your hotel. There is even a Homeopharma shop at Ivato International Airport (second floor) giving travellers a first and last opportunity to stock up Homeopharma's products. Most of the institutes around the country offer massages with essential oils and at reasonable prices, allowing you to relax while enjoying nature's benefits.
Additional information
Word from the president
- Therapies (French)
Sante Hebdo
