Nosy, means, “Island” and Be means “Big”, so with this island being the largest in Madagascar it is known as the “Big Island” or in Malagasy, it is named Nosy Be.
It is also known as the ‘Perfumed Isle” with the scents of vanilla, ylang-ylang, saffron and cinnamon are in the air as you tour across this island paradise.
Nosy Be, is located just off Madagascar’s northwestern coast. In the southeast of this island are the forests of Lokobe Reserve that shelter lemurs, chameleons, geckos and frogs. The capital of Nosy Be is known as Hell-ville, named after a French Governor, Admiral Louis de Hell. There are no big main landmarks in the city but there is the French colonial buildings in the core along with a large covered market which is worth a visit. Our ship did have a shuttle bus taking you the 3 kilometres to the main area of downtown but other than the market there are limited options. The population of this island of about 125 square miles (320 kilometres) had around 110,000 inhabitants in 2018. A ships tour is a good idea but there are also many local options at the pier. On our first day here we jumped onto a Cruise Critic tour, which for us ended up being 4 people in a 10 person van with an excellent guide, Roldofo. Our tour was actually 36 people in total over about 5 vans. On this day 1 we toured the main area of the 125 sq. miles of Nosy Be, described as follows.
First though, our guide had to wait over an hour for us because we had a little trouble with the pier they wanted our tenders to pull up too. You see, the first tender went over to do the set up and found that there was going to be a 2 foot gap between the tender and the pier, oh oh. Call the ship’s carpenters over. So the next tender went over with a supply of wood and tools, 45 minutes later a ramp was installed to bridge the gap. Nice job but did cause a major back up on getting guests off for their day’s adventures. Oh, the other problem was the size of the pier, one tender at a time. Yes, another delay.
So finally we get going and on our tour. We passed the market but did not have an opportunity to visit, there was to be chance later but this just didn’t happen. We were okay with this considering what we did see. We travelled across the island and the many Malagasy villages and plantations. During our stops we definitely experienced the incredible aromas offered, fragrances from the many crops grown here filled the air. Crops such as, coffee, pepper, and the coveted ylang-ylang tree, from which perfume is made, specifically, Chanel No. 5. We stopped at the home village of our guide and had a wonderful ocean side, barbecue style lunch served, fantastic. We met our guide’s mother, he is the youngest of 15 (9 boys, 6 girls), she had a most beautiful smile.
We continued from here to the views at the top of Mont Passot, which offered views the Amphitheater crater lakes and the surrounding plantations. Our final stop was a visit the second largest city, Dzamandzar and their famous balloon-shaped homes. These were amazing and we were charged a whole dollar to go into and see how they looked inside. These homes are not a museum, they are currently being lived in and are very interesting, definitely worth the buck. I gave the women at the door an extra dollar on the way out. The drive back to the pier was a bumpy pot hole experience, this seems to be a running theme on our adventures, lol.
Just a footnote. Our guide was indeed excellent, he speaks four languages and currently working on his next language, German. He is studying Ecotourism on a distant island and is a determined young man. When we goes over to the main island of Madagascar, he rows the 24 hours to get over there, and get this, to get to his college, he must row 7 days to get to the island this school is located. Was our tour perfect to the letter, no, because of our delays and situation it just wasn’t exactly as written. Was it an excellent tour, yes, we really experienced the true flavour of daily life here and felt we were taken around by family. We probably gave him the biggest tip than we have given to any guide. I hope he continues his studies and created the life that he talked to us about. He is currently 23.
Some pics of our day, hope you enjoy…
Quote of the day, “Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter”. - Izaak Walton
Our welcoming committee…
Jack Fruit
Nosy Be’s sacred tree, covers an area over 5,000 square feet.
With our guide, Roldofo
The wonderful Nona, our tour organizer.
Lemon tree.
The coveted Ylang-Ylang, if you wear Chanel #5, this is where it begins.
Lunch is served, Roldofo is very proud to have us in his village.
No comments:
Post a Comment