This was my fourth trip to
Madagascar, but I had never yet been to
Nosy Be, a 312 km2 island located 8km off the north-west coast in the
Mozambique Channel, and generally considered to be
Madagascar's major tourist destination.
Nosy Be means 'big island' in Malagasy, and several smaller islands are located nearby including Nosy Komba, Nosy Mitsio, Nosy Sakatia, and Nosy Tanikely.
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| outrigger boat with patched sail |
The first inhabitants of Nosy Be - known at the time as
Assada - are believed to have been 15th century Indian and
Swahili traders. Refugees, merchants and settlers followed, including British colonel Robert Hunt who in 1649 tried and failed (due to disease and hostile natives) to set up an English colony.
King Radama I's wars of conquest led to the
Sakalava Boina monarchs seeking refuge on Nosy Be after Queen
Tsiomeko's army was defeated. She sought help from the French, and Nosy Be was formally annexed by France in 1841.
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| outrigger boat |
As a
scuba diver my interest in going there was to dive, as it's considered Madagascar's main diving destination (there are 17 dive clubs located in and around Nosy Be). I've written a
separate blog post about diving at Nosy Be.
We chose to stay in a hotel at Madirokely beach, close enough to walk to the main tourist area of Amabatoloaka but not so close that we had any of its inconvenience.
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| looking along Madirokely beach to Ambatoloaka beach |
Our dive club was conveniently located just 10 metres behind the hotel, which was very practical.
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| Malagasy women walking along Madirokely beach |
Most of our days were spent diving, and on the first outing we went diving at the Marine Reserve of Nosy Tanikely National Park, an island south of Nosy Be.
In between two dives we had 50 minutes to explore the tiny island, which is home to some wildlife and a 10-metre high disused lighthouse.
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| skink lizard, Nosy Tanikely |
The lighthouse, which dates from 1908, was still inhabited by a keeper and his family as recently as the 1990s.
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| disused lighthouse, Nosy Tanikely |
From the top of the island (only 47 metres high!) you can see Nosy Komba, another island 10 km to the east. Nosy Komba rises to 622 metres - higher than Nosy Be itself.
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| Nosy Komba |
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| looking down at the beach, Nosy Tanikely |
Although Nosy Be is Madagascar's premier beach destination, it's still fairly low-key, and on Sunday mornings you can see locals bringing
zebu for their weekly wash in the sea.
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| weekly zebu wash |
On a day off from diving we took a trip around the island.
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| local village near the sea |
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| offerings, sacred baobab tree. |
The tree is also home to some
black lemurs.
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| male black lemur |
Female black lemurs are actually a reddy-brown colour.
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| female black lemur. |
Our next stop was Nosy Be's main town of Hellville. The name has nothing to do with the state of the place; like Reunion Island's
Hellbourg, Hellville takes its name from
Chrétien Louis de Hell, a 19th century admiral and governor of
Reunion Island who annexed Nosy Be in 1841.
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| Hellville's old municipal theatre, now the Alliance Française |
The official Malagasy name of the town is Andoany.
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| Hellville market |
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| inside Hellville market |
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| crabs for sale, Hellville market |
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| tuk-tuk, Hellville centre |
Like
Mayotte and the Comoros Islands Nosy Be is known as the "perfumed isle" due to its cultivation of
ylang-ylang, a tree whose scented flowers are much used in perfumery.
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| part of the ylang-ylang plantation |
We made a stop at a ylang-ylang distillery where we saw how essential oil is produced from the flowers. It takes 25 kg of flowers to produce just one litre of oil.
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| explaining the steam distillation process |
We have a ylang-ylang tree
in our garden, so it's a tree I know well, but it's always interesting to see the distillation process.
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| some yang-ylang flowers |
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| the distillery workers |
After lunch and a few hours spent at one of Nosy Be's few all-inclusive resorts (the only such resorts in the whole of Madagascar), we headed to Mont Passot, which at 315 m is the island's highest point.
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| Nosy Tanga island and Djamandjary, Nosy Be's second town |
From Mont Passot there are great views of some nearby crater lakes and out to sea.
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| day's end, crater lakes |
After more diving our final day was spent visiting the
Lokobe Nature Reserve, which protects most of Nosy Be's remaining endemic vegetation and wildlife.
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| Ambatozavavy village |
The visit starts with you paddling your outrigger canoe between the villages of Ambatozavavy and Ampasipohy, the latter being the starting point for nature reserve walks.
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| Madagascar ground boa (Boa madagascariensis) |
Only found in Madagascar,
Brookesia is a genus of
chameleons that range from small to very small in size, and which are also known as 'leaf chameleons'. It includes the species considered to be the world's smallest chameleon, the
Brookesia micra.
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| a Brookesia chameleon, only a few centimetres long |
The reserve is home to 17 species of endemic bird.
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| unidentified bird |
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| Brown Mantella frog |
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| a praying mantis |
Uroplatus is a genus of
geckos commonly referred to as Flat or Leaf-tailed Geckos, endemic to Madagascar .
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| Uroplatus gecko |
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| close-up of Uroplatus gecko head |
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| cicada |
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| green day gecko |
Lokobe also has its own kind of
Panther chameleon (a chameleon which is also found on Reunion).
Overall I have mixed feelings about our visit to this reserve. Seeing the wildlife was very interesting, some of which I'd never seen before although I've been to Madagascar several times. However I was surprised to see nocturnal lemurs and lizards during the day - I don't know how good it is for their organisms to be disturbed in this way. The guides seem to use a system of spotters who tell them where such and such an animal can be found, so there's nothing very serendipitous about what you see - the guide knows in advance more or less what you'll see where.
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| sunset from Manirokely beach |
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