And now I will tell you about the most important part of our trip, the 2 weeks mom and I spent in Nosy Be. Since we have did a lot of things, I will only talk about the highlights, otherwise I'd still be writing next month!
Nosy Be's most important Holy tree
As I said in my previous post, Nosy Be is an island to the North of Madagascar's mainland. I've been told it is quite a rich island compared to the mainland. Before the French colonial period, Nosy Be was independent. Then, trouble happened and the queen of the Sakalava tribe asked the French for help. Nosy Be only joined Madagascar when the French colonial period ended.
The first thing the queen of the Sakalava did to assert her power was to plant a tree. The tree grew so big you can actually walk around in it. It even has several trunks; the lianas grow down to the ground and with time also become roots. As it is a holy tree, there are some strict rules everyone must follow. For example, one must enter the tree with their right foot and be barefoot at all times! The tree is a place of prayer, so at the original trunk, you can see what people have sacrificed (mostly rum or money, sometimes also animals) in order to get something. You can also see that people have put up red or white tissues to honour the kings/queens of Nosy Be's most powerful tribes.
Hellville, capital of Nosy Be
Yes, the capital of Nosy Be is called Hellville, you didn't read it wrong. Hellville is quite a busy city, there are lots of cars, and tuktuks, and of course...people. Surprisingly, among all this traffic, there are also chicken running around randomly. Hellville is a city which mostly focuses on commerce. There is a big covered market, where you can find lots of traditional products, such as spices but most importantly cocoa beans and vanilla. (Sidenote: mom, when will you make rice pudding now that we have the best vanilla in the world?) Even though, the market is quite hot and filled with so many different smells that make me dizzy, I did enjoy watching how the salespeople do their work. For example, it was nice to see that they make their own packaging. The ends of the plastic packages are melted with a candle so they are completely closed off. Of course there are also some smaller shops where you can find typical artefacts, such as cutlery or jewellery made out of horns of zebus (the malagasy type of cow).
Nosy Tanikely and Nosy Komba
The first boat trip we went on was to Nosy Tanikely and Nosy Komba. We were accompanied by the Manta Diving Club, they provide little day trips for people who want to discover Nosy Be and other islands, by land or by sea. We spent the morning in Nosy Tanikely, an island popular for snorkelling. You can see a lot of corals and many different fish (I met Dory's family #FindingDory). After lunch, we took the boat again and drove to Nosy Komba where we had lunch and went for a walk in the jungle. We encountered quite a few animals, turtles (big and small), snakes and, the most fun of all, lemurs (like the monkeys in the Madagascar movies)! The animals were sort of domesticated so we were allowed to touch them and pick them up. The lemurs even came to hang out on our shoulders (this might have been because we had brought bananas)!
Nosy Sakatia
Halfway our stay in Nosy Be, we took a little trip by boat to Nosy Sakatia (Love of cats island). The island is highly appreciated by tourists because there are a lot of sea turtles there. You can just see them swimming around freely while snorkelling. I saw four turtles, 3 males and 1 female! I was so impressed by their size and by how peaceful the turtles are, that my first instinct was to follow the first turtle I saw. One of our guides had to come get me though because I was drifting off too far from the boat. I felt so excited because I could literally swim just above the sea turtles! I wanted to do a happy dance but I was told before to keep calm in order not to scare the animals. In the afternoon, we walked around on the island itself so we could appreciate the beautiful plants, trees and the good smell of Ylang-Ylang (one of the ingredients of the famous perfume Chanel n°5)
Mont Passot
During our trip, we visited Mont Passot twice, once during the afternoon and once in the evening to watch the sunset. The french colonialists discovered the spot, it appeared to be the best place to observe the whole island of Nosy Be, as it is the highest point. It is a great place to admire how majestic and elegant nature can be, and of course to take lots and lots of pictures!
Marodoka
One afternoon, mom and I decided to visit the village of Marodoka. It is a village for people whose family doesn't originally come from Madagascar. Most inhabitants have their roots on Africa's mainland, some also have indian heritage. As usual we had a guide, who met us at the 'maison des fantômes', a house which is literally only held together by one huge tree. It is said the house was haunted at some point. The ghosts were supposed to guard the house after the owner died without any heirs. We also saw the mosques in the village, one is for arabs, the other for Africans. Apparently sharing a mosque is impossible (insert sarcastic facial expression here). The visit of Marodoka ended at the indian graveyard, where it became clear that some people do not care that everyone is equal before death. You could see at the amount of decorations a grave had how rich a person was.
Lokobe National Park
One of our last little trips was to Lokobe National Park. The excursion started in Ambatozavavy, a little village in the South of Nosy Be, where we took a pirogue (tiny boat mostly used by local fishermen) and rowed to Lokobe. Upon arrival, mom and I had to change in order to cover ourselves up and be protected of nasty mosquitoes. Once we were covered up, we headed to the forest. Many animals live in Lokobe, for example we saw a few chameleons, snakes and lemurs! It was a bit difficult to see some of the animals though. After the walk in the forest, we had lunch in the village next to the National Park and then digested on the beach. Life was pretty good that day.
It took me 10 minutes to find the chameleon.
Can you do better?
Nosy Iranja
Our last boattrip was to Nosy Iranja, about an hour and a half from Nosy Be. Nosy Iranja is separated into two little islands. The parts are linked to each other by a small beach. When the water is low, you can walk from one part to the other and admire how the waves come from both sides and then crash into each other. Don't attempt to cross the beach while the water is rising, your eyes will make you regret it. Trust me, I speak from experience! After lunch, we walked up towards the lighttower so we could admire the pretty beach from up high. Ladies and gentlemen, Nosy Iranja fits the textbook definition of a paradise island!
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