Nosy Be, Madagascar

January 18^th, 2025

Our second port in Madagascar. This time it’s a tender port.

The day didn’t start well, it was pouring when I looked out onto the balcony

And it was still raining when I stopped by Seabourn Square.

However, by the time we took the tender ashore the rain had stopped – briefly.

Our tour today took us to Nosy Komba, which means the Island of Lemurs. How can one resist?

After we disembarked from the tender, we waited for our boat which would take us to the island. Local dancers greeted us at the dock. I was impressed by the woman who danced with a bottle containing wilted flowers on her head, but I’m not sure what the woman on the floor was doing. It was a strange version of break dancing on your stomach.

Our boat arrived and we donned ill fitting, poorly maintained bright orange life vests and embarked on our journey to Nosy Komba.

Our guide said it would take about 15 minutes to get to the island, but then it started to rain again and that must have slowed things down because it was over half an hour until we finally reached the beach.

There is no dock on the island, so you have to make a wet landing.

Brian and I had bought flip flops especially for wading from the boat to the shore. Once ashore we were able to wash off our sandy feet. Luckily, I had brought a towel, so we could dry off and put our shoes back on again.

We had landed in the picturesque fishing village of Ampangoriana.

We walked along the muddy streets to the path that lead to the forest preserve. Our guide handed us bamboo walking poles to help us navigate the slippery steep path.

On the way we saw the local people drying fish

And pounding rice.

Then the path turned into a narrow passageway flanked by souvenir stalls offering bright pareos and tablecloths

Wooden souvenirs

And vanilla.

Then we saw the lemurs. I was so excited, I have never seen a lemur in the wild, and been able to get so close to them.

The lemurs on Nosy Komba are black lemurs. Although the males are black,

The females are brown.

Our guide had brought some bananas along to encourage the lemurs to come closer to us. Fruit makes up a large proportion of a lemur’s diet but they do also eat insects, flowers, leaves and fungi.

We also saw some millipedes.

That reminded me that lemurs have an interesting habit of picking up and biting at toxic millipedes. The toxins from the millipedes are usually not fatal to the lemurs and the lemurs try to stimulate the millipede to release its toxins in self-defense. Once this is achieved the lemur will rub the millipede around its body to get the toxins on its fur. It is believed that they do this to help repel insects with the millipede’s poison, though the toxins also appear to have what is described as “a pleasurable psychoactive effect on lemurs”.   I was pondering how you know if a lemur is tripping out or not. Anyway, more power to them for having worked this out.

Could this one be high at the moment?

We were lucky enough to have many lemur encounters, and it was absolutely wonderful to see these cute creatures in their natural habitat.

Along with the lemurs we saw chameleons

Giant tortoises, who were visiting from the Seychelles

Local smaller tortoises

Including this rather lovely looking one.

There were snakes as well. This is a ground boa constrictor

And we were not able to identify this snake as it slithered along the path next to us and then disappeared out of sight.

We also saw peppercorns

And ylang ylang flowers, from which perfume is made.

After our walk in the forest we returned to the beach where we were provided with drinks and snacks.

The description of the tour had said “Head to the local snack bar for a treat. Take a seat in the shade by the beach and enjoy the great view of Lokobe Natural Reserve and the surrounding isles. As you rest, Sakalava women will demonstrate their tablecloth embroidery technique and the village band will perform a traditional show for you. Conclude your day with some free time to stroll on the beach, browse for souvenirs in the village, or even take a swim.”

Well we did sit in the shade on the beach, but we couldn’t actually see anything beyond the row of women who were holding up pareos in the hope that someone would buy one. We sat there for about an hour, and several people did actually buy something. It all rather uncomfortable.

The village band never materialized so I got up and took some photos. It really was a very pretty village.

However, I didn’t swim. There was quite a bit of garbage including glass on the beach and in the water, so I thought I would give it a miss.

After our hour on the beach staring at the pareos our boat returned, and we waded thought the water and climbed back on the boat.

Looking back at the island I realized what a magnificent forest we had been privileged to experience. I also realized how lucky we had been with the rain. The sky all around us was black and we were surrounded by what looked like torrential downpours, but we were safe and dry in our little boat.

When we returned to the tender dock instead of going back to the ship we decided to take the shuttle bus and see what the town of Hellville was like, and did it live up to its name.

Well, it didn’t quite live up to its name. We walked along the main street for a while.

Along with the usual street food and fruit vendors there was a pedicure stall in the middle of the sidewalk. I had never seen one of those before.

The stalls on either side of a side street were interesting.

As was the Municipal Theater next to the market.

It was a very bustling downtown area, and fun to walk around.

When we returned to the tender dock there were enterprising men selling produce from their canoes

and even trying to get a sale once we had boarded the tender

We caught one of the last tenders back to the ship, and decided that it was a good evening for predinner caviar as we headed out to sea once more.

The very talented Corlea performed again in the Grand Salon tonight. She has such a lovely, powerful voice. It was fantastic to be treated to her singing.

As I returned to our suite, I was thinking about what a great day it had been. Could things get any better?

Indeed they could. There on our bed was a slab of Madagascar chocolate. What a treat!