Nosby Be, Madagascar

Secluded beach on Nosy Be.

I have wanted to visit Madagascar for years. 80% of M’s. plant and animal species are unique to the island, including the now-extinct pygmy hippopotamus. To scientists and ecologists, Madagascar, with all of its natural diversity,  is known as the eighth continent. 

Our ship anchored off of Nosy Be. I believe that we did not visit the mainland ( 18.6 million people live there) due to unrest and crime in the crowded capital. Over the past two years, they have had some political violence, which I read about on the internet. 

Male lemurs on the reserve in Nosy Komba.

Gorgeous chameleon!

Nosy Komba villagers near local boat.

We were delighted to visit Nosy Be, an island off of the  northeast coast of the big island of Madagascar, a.k.a. the mainland. Nosy Be wins points for tranquility, gorgeous light and clear turquoise water and the lack of major development. Several smaller island are located nearby, including Nosy Komba, the Isle of the Lemurs. Nosy Be is a volcanic island. We took a small boat to Lokobe Reserve on Nosy Komba, the last lowland rainforest, to see the lemurs and the interesting chameleons and boa constrictors. The weather in M. is tropical with humidity in the summer. 

The population is mixed with Africans and Asians. I’ve read that recent genetic studies suggest that the original inhabitants, a mixture of groups from Borneo and East Africa arrived here as recently as 1500 years ago. “Madagascar” is a relativity recent entity according to my research. Throughout its recored history, the island, the largest in the Indian Ocean, has been divided between as many as 36 different tribal groups.

Female lemur with baby. (I was super excited to get this shot.)

 The language spoken is Malagasy; a mix of Malayo-Polynesian origin. French is spoken by the educated; its a former French colony. Some English is spoken, but not widely. We had a wonderful time on the island of the lemurs. 10 of us rented a small boat with driver (but no life preservers) and were the first of the people from the ship to arrive at the Reserve. It’s home to animals and has a small village. It is totally devoid of bling, so it’s my kind of place! ~!(:  ) What makes it appealing is the fact that genuine happiness showed on the faces of the villagers. Check out my picture of the mother bathing her baby in the bucket. Heaven! They don’t have electricity or modern conveniences. It’s one of those out-of-the-way places to explore. I loved our time on the island of the lemurs and our little hide-away beach across the way. 

The villagers were going about their normal morning routines of washing up when we arrived. They are used to tourists visiting so they practically pay no attention unless they have something to sell.  They did not mind us taking pictures. What a great time we had walking up and down the narrow pathways being careful not to trip over the tree roots, and going through the village seeing their way of life and also getting to view the animals---- a highlight of our trip so far. After the reserve, we took the boat over to a secluded beach. Some in our group swam. Bob and I walked the beach and enjoyed the gorgeous scenery. It was a perfect day.

The pier on Nosy Be (quite a crazy place).

Madagascar, the mainland  is a HUGE island. Check your globes and atlases to see.  We just got a glimpse of it when our ship left Nosy Be. We sailed "up and around" the mainland and then headed south.  

Bath time on Nosy Komba.

Africa is still one of my favorite places in the world. The people are so generous and kind and happy. They have little in the way of “stuff”, but they have a lot of life and culture to share and smiles abound. In Nosy Be, they also have air scented with ylang-ylang (perfume scents) and vanilla. They tie the sweet vanilla in small bundles and sell it. The pace of life is slow. Their word for slowly is mora. So they say. “mora, mora.”