This post will combine our stops in Mayotte, Nosy Be, and Mahajanga. Where in the world are these strange sounding places? Mayotte is in the Comoros Islands off the east coast of Africa near the Seychelles. It is the only one of the Comoros that has voted to remain French and as of last year was made a Department of France. That is like a state in the US. Nosy Be and Mahajanga are in Madagascar, another island off the east coast of Africa and literally worlds apart from anything you may imagine an island in the Indian Ocean might be.

Mayotte was a short stop and we took a bus tour of the island. We visited the botanical garden, the eroded rock dunes, called “padzas”, a giant Baobab tree, a primitive salt factory, and had a nice lunch. We determined that we had seen just about all Mayotte has to offer.

The botanical garden was small, had a few unusual specimens of indigenous trees and shrubs, and took about a half-hour to get through. The eroded rock dunes are quite unusual as they are very colorful, mostly reddish hues, and are located in an almost inaccessible part of the island. Truth be told, both Bonnie and I could not make our way up to the top and the scenic lookout.

Our lunch stop was probably the most delightful part of the day’s journey. The restaurant was so rustic that we thought we might want to bring our own glasses and silverware. Once we got over the rusticity of the place and saw the food, it was easier to relax and enjoy both the food and the views. The restaurant was on the beach – not near the beach, but ON the beach. The sand was a black sand, similar to what might be found in Hawaii and very warm to the touch. The temperature hovered around 100° all day. We were greeted by women in traditional dress with face makeup indicating their marital status. Solid color and lines for married women and flowers and intricate designs for single women. BTW, the term women is used loosely here since many girls are married around the age of 12. Mayotte is very African for being part of France…

 

Following our lunch we visited the “Museé de Sel” or Salt Museum. This is a living museum where women demonstrate the art of producing salt from seawater and mangrove silt. They scrape the ground by hand using a shell, then they sift the soil/salt mixture and rinse it with sea water. This is followed by evaporating the salt-rich rinse water in large tubs over open fires for about a day. The salt that remains is then packaged and sold locally – or to tourists…

Making salt: upper left is the "factory"; upper right is the ladies scraping the salt-rich silt; lower left is the evaporation tank; lower right is the finished product ready for packaging.

 

The finished products.

We then drove a short piece up the road to look at one of the world’s oldest trees – a very large Baobab tree. I can’t vouch for the age of the tree, but the guide was convinced that it was at least 300-400 years.

Finally, we drove back to the pier, tendered out to the waiting Silver Whisper for a shower and a rest. We had to build our strength for the next day in Nosy Be and our visit to the Lemur colony – that’s Lemur colony, not Leper colony…

Nosy Be is an island off the coast of Madagascar, which itself is an island, the fourth largest in the world after Greenland, Iceland, and Borneo (Australia doesn’t count since we consider it a continent). Madagascar is not a wealthy country. It is about the most third-world place we have visited.

We tendered in to the pier at the aptly-named Hellville. Hellville, while possibly a statement of fact, was actually named for a long-deceased French Admiral named – what else – Antoine de Hell. We immediately walked about 20 yards to our “water taxi” or shuttle boat that would take us to Nosy Komba and the Lemur colony (and miss the dubious pleasures of Hellville itself). Nosy Komba is yet another island off Nosy Be that is home to about 5000 permanent inhabitants (human) and several hundred Lemurs in a protected areas on the island.

The landing on the island was a “wet landing,” that is, there was no dock. The boat just pulled up as close to the beach as he could get and we walked off into the surf. The villagers were all out to greet us since few cruise ships stop here (about 10-15 a year, mostly Italian [Costa we were told]). Most of the greeters were children. Madagascar has one of the highest birth rates in the world – and one of the highest children’s mortality rates as well. The kids were just heartbreakers. They are so cute and so innocent – even though most were dancing and selling trinkets for money. We refrained from giving in to throwing a few coins or dollars into the baskets since that only encourages them to skip school and beg.

After wending our way through a few of the “streets” of the village where everyone seemed to be selling something, we made our way into the Lemur sanctuary. Along the way our guide, Angelot, gave us a lesson in the local flora and fauna. We were also accompanied by one of the men who works in the sanctuary and he brought back specimens of geckos and plants for a close-up look. Madagascar is thought to have broken off from Africa millions of years ago and many of the various species of plants and animals are unique to Madagascar (and the Comoros due to the proximity of the two island groups).

Among the most prized commodities are chocolate, ylang-ylang (more in a minute), and coffee. Madagascar chocolate and coffee are among the richest in the world. Ylang-ylang is a tree that produces lovely yellow flowers. The flowers are harvested and pressed to obtain an essential oil that is used in perfume manufacture. Among the most famous perfumes that rely on this specific oil are Chanel No. 5 and Guerlain. It takes about 45 kilos of flowers to produce one kilo of oil. That may explain why many perfumes are so expensive.

 

On the left is the main street of the village in Nosy Komba; I am at the center with a "tame" 6' boa constrictor - tame because he has been handled so much; on the right is one of the local ladies and her baby. I couldn't resit a picture and she said it was OK to take it.

We finally got to see, and experience, the Lemurs. One doesn’t merely see the Lemurs as if one is in a zoo. You are up close and personal. The Lemurs seem to know they are protected and have no compunctions about coming down to investigate a small piece of banana held in the palm of the hand. We met a few and fed a few and had great fun taking and posing for pictures. After walking through the Lemur reserve, we were introduced to some very large tortoises and a sort-of friendly boa constrictor. I had no problem with the snake, but Bonnie did not want to make friends…

A wander through the village, where just about every building and person had something for sale, got us back to the beach and a cold drink while waiting for everyone to gather and get back in the boat. The crafts ran the gamut from embroidery to hand-carved wooden animals, ships, and figurines. There was also a lot of spices, vanilla, and foodstuffs – mostly bananas for the Lemurs (here’s a piece of trivia for you: Madagascar has almost 200 species of bananas).

Bonnie and me and some of our new best friends.

 It was so hot and we were so tired that we just grabbed a quick lunch and crashed the rest of the day. Tomorrow we stop in Mahajanga. Mahajanga is on the “mainland” of Madagascar and we are looking forward to a slightly different experience.

Unfortunately, Mahajanga had been hit by a cyclone (Floridians call it a hurricane) earlier this year and the tenders had some issues finding a safe place to dock. Since we did not have a tour scheduled and since we were still a little wrung out for yesterday’s experience on Nosy Komba, we elected to stay aboard ship and call it a sea day. We later found out from some of our fellow passengers that we had made a wise decision. The temperature was above 90° most of the day and there was not a lot to see on shore if poverty was not your thing – and it isn’t ours. We want to contribute to the local economy and we want to be good travelers, but begging and abject poverty are simply too much to handle when it manifests itself in the children to the degree we saw in Madagascar.

So off we are going to South Africa and new adventures – including two more safaris.

Stay tuned.