We're not the world's greatest relaxers

  Nosy Be, Madagascar
Saturday, June 24, 2006

Sunday 18th June Nosy Be
Today we have decided to do an expedition to Andilana, at the top of the island, which is supposed to have the best beach on the island. Also hope to see where the planeloads of tourists (supposed to be two planes a week from Milan) are staying, as it's certainly not around Ambatoloaka. Also interested to see if there are any world-class resorts around.
Dianne wants to do it by Taxi-brousse, or share taxi, but MP reluctant as this is the end of the road, and not too sure on traffic on Sunday. It also involves getting two taxis, as it is too far to walk to the main road.
Have breakfast and pack for the day - daypack plus snorkelling gear bag. Had meant to get more money out of the safe, but in the rush to get away, forgot to, so only had about 50,000 ariary with us. Find a taxi outside the front gate, which has a spreadsheet of the fares from everywhere to anywhere. At 20k, not too bad. Get him to stop while we get some iron-hard bread on the way, and settle into our aging R4 for the run North. The countryside is typical sugarcane growing terrain -hot, green, fertile, but not all that exciting. Our first town is Djamandjary, the second largest town on the island, and has the sugar cane refinery and rum distillery. A non-tourist town, but interesting enough. Has a taxi-brousse marshalling area at the cross roads and a sort of service station. Our man gets the usual 10k advance on the fare to buy petrol, and we continue up the coast. We get glimpses of the coast and the large island, Sakatia, which has a lot of raw construction scars on it, and a very interesting vertical rock islet in the channel. Pass the Hotel Vanila, which looks quite attractive all thatched roofs and colourful gardens, looking over the channel.
Arriving at Andilana, we pull into the parking area of the Chez Loulou restaurant, which is basically a large thatch shelter with swish looking table, with cloth, wine glasses and a long buffet and bar, and is famous for its Sunday buffet. Looks a bit upmarket for our remaining cash. Have a look at the beach, which is pretty good. Our taxi driver wants us to commit to him picking us up at a set time. We know this is a bad move from past experience, but the area is fairly isolated, and worried about being stranded there, so arrange for a 2pm pick-up to take us back at the same price, but including some stops and detours.
The curving beach is quite pretty, ending in mangroves and a rocky point to the left, and a steep headland to the right. We can see an island offfshore, and some sort of hotel on a peninsular to the right. Decide that although it is a good swimming beach, there is not much sign of coral, so walk right, negotiating the clotheslines strung with the local tablecloths, which have patterns cut out and the edges embroidered. These extend right to the rocky headland, and we find it difficult to pass, with the bags. There are a lot of locals on the point, setting up stalls on the rocks. Looks like a strange location, but we see some tourists getting their hair braided. Further round, when we get to the beach, we find a massive, modern resort, with scores of tourists stretched out on day-beds. The mystery of where all the package tourists go is solved!

As we start to walk along, we notice a security hut and a couple of guards in white uniform. One of them says something unintelligible in French. We acknowledge him, but keep walking, as he keeps pace with us.
It is obviously propertie privee, but we assume we are OK if we keep to the wet sand. He seemed to indicate we were not to walk towards the hotel, and was on the walkie-talkie to his bosses. Up the far end, another guard, who spoke better French and a little English, came down to talk to us. He pointed out a double line in the sand which stopped us walking to the next point, but seemed happy enough to let us sit on the rock below what we now know is the hotel restaurant, and swim from here.
As DP is getting into her snorkelling gear, he comes back, after further walkie-talkie talk, very apologetically tells us we can't stay at all. Escorted politely all the way back to the headland. Back around, witnessing an incident where a middle-aged female tourist woman who was navigating the headland down in the knee-deep water, got knocked off her feet, and the gear she was carrying above her head soaked, while her husband walked ahead, totally unmoved, and a local came to her rescue. Obviously some sort of domestic going on!
DP does her first swim straight out the front, then along to the left, finds a lot of sand, and not much visibility.
We walk all the way to the left end, through the mangroves and onto the point. There are 3 locals pulling a very long net in neck-deep water in the corner, so we are not too hopeful of seeing too much. At the point, MP scrapes some skin getting in off the rocks, sees enough to tell him it is not worth the effort.


Dianne stay and minds the bags. Either here, or later in the day, she lets her guard down, and ends up with twenty sandfly bites, which give her a hard time for the next few days. As usual, they have no effect on Murray.
Some kids playing on the point, throwing rocks at plovers, but don't worry us.
Back on the main beach, we are able to find a vacant palm tree on the grass, where we lie and read as we have done everything there is to do here, and we still have about three hours till our taxi returns. Kill some time listening to the band and watching dancers at the Sunday buffet at Loulou's.
Have to knock back a 15k pirogue ride out to the island, as MP didn't want to be left short to pay the taxi, though Dianne argued we could pay him when we got back to the hotel.
Walk the road to look at the resort entrance, and hopefully find another road to take us to the next headland, but no luck. The road stops at the resort. Take a photo of the festering swamp just outside it. Too hot to be anywhere other than under the shade. MP sleeps for a while then across to the car park at 2pm to wait for our taxi. There are other taxis there, and talk to them about our man being late. Get an expensive offer, later reduced to 20k, as that is all we have, if our taxi doesn't turn up. Watch very suggestive hip-swinging dancing while we wait.
Our man turns up at 2.30, with some excuse about problem "sur la route". He has a new, white back door on his beige metallic taxi, just hanging on. This may explain his tardiness. On the way back, stop as arranged at the Hotel Vanile, to have a look. Talk our way past security for a wander in the garden, down to the pool and waterfront. It is quite pretty and luxurious, with thatched buildings, a big verandah, pool and spa, but the tide is low, and the sand stretches out a hundred metres to the channel. Not too much snorkelling,and very isolated. Once again, decide to stay where we are.
Next side trip was at Djamandjary, which was quite big away from the main road, and fairly neat, as Malagasy villages go.Lots of people on the street, plenty of market goods. Our driver is the cautious type, so stops at a stall and hands over a litre water bottle, and is given a litre water bottle full of petrol in return. Stop at a seaside hotel which has its own, new swimming pool, overlooking the beach. The pool looks pretty good, and the garden and carpark is well laid out, but it is still pretty raw and unfinished. The low tide beach is at least 200 metres wide, and pretty uninteresting.
Further along the main road, we take another turnoff, through fields and along a rough road beside the railway line, inside the line of hills along the shore. Get to a substantial village, wonder where it is, then recognise a hotel sign. We have taken an alternative way back to our village by 3.30pm.
Have our usual large, cold coke on the terrace,

and check out the day's freeloaders. We are the only people staying in our 12-room hotel. However we've had a series of people turn up to use our nice terrace and day-beds. The first day it was five Indian? Moslem? ladies with heads well-covered. They had the staff re-arrange the day-beds to their liking, then all lay around on them. Stayed for a couple of hours, with most having a sleep. At no stage did they even buy a drink. Another young couple turned up in the early morning, had a coffee each, and stayed the whole day, only leaving to go to the cheap restaurant elsewhere to get their lunch (not the hotel restaurant). Even had a massage on the daybed, from one of the passing local women. They've been back a couple of days since.
Photo of local family, with the older boy minding the baby, as usual.


Did our usual promenade up the town, but not a lot to see, as there was the usual blackout. Baobab and Papa both closed, so have good grilled fish and chips at Eric's. Check out the street action, rather than the action in the bar across the street from Papa's, where the male single tourists and local girls hang out. Definite interaction between, hard to say if it is a place to pick up a girlfriend, or straight prostitution going on.
Watch the Australia v/s Brazil match from half time, when the score was Nil all, but then the rot sets in, but at 2-0 they made a pretty good showing against Brazil.
Monday 19th June Nosy Be
DP buys bananas from the women who patrol the beach with baskets of fruit on their heads, and gets bread from behind a glass case (so it's not rock-hard like yesterday) in one of the better stalls.
We get our valuables out of the coffre (safe to non-French speakers) to get more money for the outing tomorrow to Nosy Komba and Nosy Tanikley we have arranged for 50k each with Marcel, the English speaking trip tout who has been chatting us up the last couple of days
Today's expedition is to walk all the way around the headland at the south end of the beach when the tide is low enough, taking our shoes with us to handle the rocks. It is quite slippery and we have to be careful. There are a number of channels which run right into caves in the rockface. These are small beaches at low tide, but now we have to scramble across between waves.
We reach the end of the shelf, to find a boat channel into an almost circular cove a couple of hundred metres across, the remains of an old volcano crater. On the far side is a large prawn packing works, with a row of oil tanks on the ridge behind it. It is a big operation, looks like we would have trouble getting past it, so we get into the water inside the cove, and swim out past the entrance, MP towing the shoes which we've attached to a string.
Almost immediately we get into good terrain, coral bombies, gutters, fish, anenomes. This lasts pretty all the way around to our beach. Just before we head in, DP spots two quite large scorpionfish in a cleft in the coral.
Another large, cold coke, and watch the goings-on on the beach,

including the landing of three large sailfish up to 2 metres long,

and a host of large reef fish. Definitely fish on the menu tonight.
Some other not-so good observations have been the next-door restaurant taking large baskets of rubbish down to the beach and throwing it in. Most of it is bio-degradable, but certainly not all. Also seen a couple of kids in the early morning, obviously been sent down to do their morning "squat" at the water's edge. The transition from fishing village to tourist paradise is not yet complete.
There seem to be a lot of tourists in town, walking the beach, and taking advantage of our terrace. We pay Marcel his 30k deposit for the trip in the late PM.
Dine at Papa's, and both have an excellent, obviously fresh "entier" fish.
The hotel dog has another barking session in the middle of the night (the 1o'clock dog), but MP has a successful shouting session, the dog leaves for the beach, and we get some sleep.
Tuesday 20th June Nosy Be- Nosy Komba-Nosy Tanikley
Set the alarm, but don't need it. Breakfast and up along the beach to find our boat. A showrunner type asks us if we were organised by Marcel, then we wait while the food is prepared and the other tourists arrive. Marcel has chatted up a couple from Sheffield, on their honeymoon, staying at the resort at the far end of the beach. They have been travelling with just a guide and driver in mainland Madagascar for a couple of weeks, think £2,000 each isn't too bad a package. Their hotel is part of it, so don't know how much, but they are paying E15 each a meal v/s our typically 3 to 4 for big fish meals down here. The joys of isolation. She has been crook, significantly, from the Dauphin, at Ft Dauphin, or Berenty. They have not snorkelled before, so give them a few tips.
In typical style, we have been consolidated into a single mass expedition, 3 boats with about ten to a boat. We do get a sun shade and big outboard as promised, so can't complain. No sign of Marcel, but we really aren't expecting him (find out later that he was at the hospital, as he wife just presented him with their second child).
The sea is flat calm, and we make good time down the coast, past the prawn factory, and the big marina around the corner, which we at first think is the town. We carry on through the channel between Nosy Be and Nosy Komba to the north side, past an elevated resort, round a rocky peninsula, to a pretty village in a small bay. This is our landing spot for the the black lemur park.
Our driver indicates it is OK to leave the snorkelling gear in the boat, issues instructions to one of the French speakers, and leaves us to it. After running a gauntlet of tablecloths strung up, we enter the village proper and find the park office, paid our 4k entry to what is basically a zoo, were allotted an English speaking guide, and, together with the English couple, headed off uphill to find the famous black lemur.
On the way, we photographed vanilla beans drying, and live vanilla plants and fruit, then entered the zoo, where, to the call of "maki, Maki, maki", the lemurs came swinging through the trees for a feed of banana.

Only had the small camera, but got some good shots of the colourful female, and black male, plus a shot of a male sitting on a tourist's shoulder eating banana. Also shots of a good green chameleon, and tree boas. DP even held the boa for a photo. Didn't bother with photos of the ubiquitous radiated tortoise and giant tortoise.
On the way out, detoured to have a look at the coastline

while the others were looking at souvenirs. Got some good shots of a local "pirate ship", gravel production from shoreline rocks, and a local freight pirogue.

Think the island is very nice - quite laid-back, and how we imagine Ambatoloaka was before tourism took over. Would have liked to stay for a night or two if it had been earlier in the week.
Thought we had lost our gear, but found it stowed in the locker. Headed straight to Nosy Tanikely, a small island which is an officially protected marine reserve.

It's a long haul into a slight chop, passing lots of local craft on the way. Pull into the bay at the south end, and all ashore into the hot sun. With the rest of our boatload, establish a camp in the shade, leave our gear sort-of in the care of the English woman, and head off to the west end of the beach, where there is an outlying rock outcrop.


The water is surprisingly cold, but very clear. There are mainly oysters on the rocks, but we don't have to get very far out to find excellent conditions. Excellent visibility in 4 to 6 metres of water, sandy bottom with coral bombies, lots of fish around the coral, and also in schools in the mid-water. See about 8 turtles all day, hawksbill, all fairly small, and not very skittish. Unusual long, thin spotted fish, leather jacket style, almost no tail. About eight barracudas, some quite big pipefish. Big mixed schools grazing the bottom coral, and lots of anenomes, the dominant life form, and blue banded clown fish.
Having circled the rock outcrop, we see a dive boat close inshore, so swim out to see a large bombie in 10 metres of water. Then continue over sandy bottom all the way along the east side, until we encountered enough coral to make it worthwhile to come back after lunch. Pleased to get out as we were in the water for just over an hour, and were ready for a rest.
Lunch was supposed to be at 12.30, but even though we got back early, everyone was already heavily into it.
The lunch was for everyone on the island - good potato/vegetable salad, prawn and zebu kabobs, crab in sauce, large grilled fish, bread, and, of course, rice. Quite a spread considering the conditions it was prepared under. However, thinking about it, conditions aren't much better in the restaurants ashore.
After overeating an excellent lunch, and having a small, expensive coke, back into the water where we left off, to circumnavigate the island.
As the tide had gone down, could no longer swim between the outlier this side and the island, so out round a rocky point, with a fair surf breaking. In the corner where we entered, saw good coral and a lot of fish, but also at least a dozen crown-of-thorns starfish. Maybe they have sold all the triton shells to the tourists - a bit of a worry.
Around the point, we swam across a bare area off the beach which looked very exposed to the open sea, and full of broken coral. Bad visibility for a while, but nothing to see until we got to the far point, where the terrain improved, although still exposed and rough.
Around the corner, we found a secluded beach, and hauled ashore for a rest and warm up, as the sea was surprisingly cold.
From here, MP took a look around the corner, and could see that we had almost competed the circuit. Swam out around another outlier, and back into more sheltered water, where we again found coral, anenomes, turtles and fish. Watched a large octopus do amazing colour changes, then headed back through the good terrain, bucking a medium current to the beach to rest and warm up after nearly one and a half hours in the water. Onshore, were pursued for the 2k for the coke, but had change problems, so promised to settle up ashore.
Into the boats at 3pm, our boat with the 75 hp motor passed the other 2, and back at 3.30. DP back to the hotel to order the usual coke, MP waits while a woman in red fronted him for cash, having been informed by some form of bush telegraph that we owed the money.
Wed 21st June Ambatoloaka Beach, Nosy Be
As usual, the best laid plans...The safe key is unavailable in the morning, so we have to wait till lunchtime (and the heat of the day) before embarking on our attempt to get to Hellville by collectivo taxi. Get offer right outside the hotel, but only for special taxi, so walk up toward the market where the collectivos collect. On the way, we get an offer, and confirm that it is 2k each, get in. Pick up a man with his tiffin and a small load of freight, then another man walking, so are confident we are indeed in a collectivo. Are dropped at the market, which is in a gloomy colonial concrete building. Quite a big butcher section, fruits and vegetables, and a large section with mud crabs, still very much alive, caked in their native mud, and savagely smelly. We assume the smell is the mud, as they seem to cook up pretty well.
Look around for internet, find it with a Cyber du Monde sign, but closed up tight. Walk through the hot, sunny streets, see a sign for a restaurant with a panorama over the sea, but long closed. Take photos of the potentially beautiful foreshore, with rotting concrete promenades, garbage being pushed into the sea, faded glory colonial buildings,

and old rainforest trees. Back to the Oasis cafe, for a look at the internet computer under its blanket, a pizza, and a talk with an American girl from Newport, RI, who is crewing on a superyacht, on the way to the Med for the Americas Cup season. She is flying to Mauritius for dental work, and two of the crew are suffering motorbike related injuries. MP goes solo to sort out Air Austral, then we walk downtown, and off down to the docks and industrial area for a look at the working side of Hellville. Lots of sailing dhows, unloading axe-squared timber and sand. There are a lot of abandoned hulks on the waterfront,

and we have noticed a number of trucks loaded with scrap iron, The steel industry must be scouring the world for scrap.
We check out the local ferry wharf, then the main port and start back. Cannot get a collectivo offer at first, then a taxi with a passenger relents, and we set off home. At the markets, unable to fill up the car, with some comment about tourists aboard discouraging the locals, and are also treated to a fuel cost analysis, but are undeterred. At this stage, the passenger changes places with the driver, and we proceed at a snail's pace to our village. Unsure why we are going so slow. Maybe boris doesn't drive so well, maybe we are saving fuel, maybe we are being punished. Stop for the usual 1 1/2 liter fuel bottle, handled pretty casually by the smoking passenger.
To reinforce our status as collectivo pasengers, we get out in the main village and walk the final km to our hotel, keeping pace with our taxi for a while. Have weakened, and paid an extra 1k, but a lot better than 15K for a special taxi. Later, we see them on their way back with a fare, so don't feel too bad.
After our usual banana bread lunch, and the customary coke, DP swims out to the horizon alone, while MP takes it easy

watching the local boats


We find the internet open, which is pretty hard to do because their opening hours seem to coincide with the blackouts. It's A$12 per hour, and deadly slow, and doesn't have a USB port, so give up fairly quickly. Dine at Papas again,

and endure again the local wandering minstrel with his bad voice, bad choice of songs and strange box-like stringed musical instrument, followed by the arrival of the lady with jewellery for sale, and the same large seed-pod she's been trying to sell all week. We're starting to feel we're in our own version of "Ground Hog Day".
Good night's sleep - have got the dogs bluffed.
Thurs 22nd June Ambatoloaka
Today's excursion is to the yacht harbour at Andampy, beyond the prawn works. We start off along the beach, having an abortive look at a nice hotel which turned out to be private property, then cutting inland to the road beside the beach. Get some good photos of fishing boats, zebu cart, palm fringed beaches. Get lost in a series of narrow streets which lead to a shortcut across the school yard, then out into the hot sun and grassy paddocks to find the resort at the end of our beach.
The resort has the classic grand fence on the large paddock in front of it, with an attempt at flowered borders, but rough grass and possibly manioc planted inside. Intrude into another private property before finding the gate of the resort. It looks pretty good - well kept grounds, thatched bungalow, a swimming pool, a giant rainforest tree, and a restaurant terrace looking over the bay. The only jarring note is an unfinished terrace towards the point, stacked with construction sand, and clothes lines in full view of the scenic terrace. Order a single coke and sit back to take photos and enjoy the view. Don't run into the English couple from the snorkel trip who are staying here. Back on the road walk down the beach,

then cut in, hoping to find a shortcut to the main road and our destination, but end up doing a big loop, past the railway embankment, which, strangely, is overgrown, and not used as a path, and an enormous abandoned hotel project. We are told later it was money problem, not the troubles of 2002, which aborted this.
Eventually cut across the lagoon watercourse to the backstreets of the town, and the cross-roads where we head south to Andampy, a long, hot haul over the ridge in the mid-day heat.
Pass a very busy concrete block making yard, then down to the port, where there are a lot of freight dhows, as well as pirogues and yachts.

The freight handled is peeled eucalypt poles, and sand. Sand is brought ashore in sacks, the sacks are emptied and returned to the ship, and the sand is put in different sacks to be stacked in a trailer and moved 50 metres to the block plant!
We take photos, walk down to the docks where a commercial sailing vessel has been propped against the sea wall for maintenance. The dock is the terminal of the train line, and there are dismembered steam engines on the rails, and twin steam powered derricks on the dock. One of the derricks looks good for 60 to 100 tonne, and is still working, having been converted to electric drive, although much of the steam drive is still there.
There are some local youths there killing time, and anything else they can find, with a slingshot, and some workers maintaining yacht winches. There is also an unlikely looking plant nursery business beside the water.
We walk past a large, busy and well secured boat yard to the end of the road. DP is hoping for a swim, but there is a secure oil depot on the point, and the road over the ridge to the prawn plant has an "access interdite" sign, so we have to return to the shelter shed at the derricks to sit, read and cool down for a while.
After a hot walk back to our village, we buy bread, to have with our daily coke and bananas, then go out later in the afternoon for a swim outh around the rocks, then out to the coral at the dropoff. The visibility is particularly bad, in spite of high tide, but we manage to see a couple of sea snakes on the way in, a long, skinny black and white spotted one, and a shorter, thicker patterned black and white one.
Take the usual sunset photos, then out to Papas again. As we are leaving, we chance a conversation with a couple who have a thick French dictionary. Turns out to be Dan and Yolanda, off the yacht Jacarna out of Melbourne, who have been sailing around the world for a couple of years, and are keen to talk to someone who speaks English, and particularly Australian. We discuss travel, and Madagascar in particular until it is time to find a TV to watch the Australia-Croatia football. Settle on the big screen bar, which is playing Brasil-Japan, with crosses to the other match when scores are made. Do a rollercoaster of emotion as scores come in for and against, but think we are OK at full time, as the last cross made it a draw. However we never find out for sure, as when the main match finishes, the broadcast switches to music clips, without confirming the final score for the Australian team!
The bar is full of local dolly birds, the odd tourist, and a few local young men, but it is pretty obvious that bar girls are in serious oversupply in this season. They come and go, a bit like a cross between a beauty pageant and a fashion show. All are skinny, extremely attractive, and dressed in very provocative, skimpy outfits. The word is that these girls could be available for as little as $2.50 a night. Seems hard to reconcile this with them having drinks at the bar, but they could be paying local's prices, or subsidised to draw tourists.
It is late when we get back, and the hotel is closed, but the guard has our key, and we get to bed after midnight.
Fri 23rd June Ambatoloaka
MP is a bit slack in the morning, and we are beginning to suspect the 3 Horses Beer, but he seems to recover alright with our usual good breakfast. Talk to Marcel, the tour tout, whose wife has just given birth to their second child. Dianne does her usual inquisition to find out about family planning. He says government does nothing to help, but now he has one of each, that's enough for him, but unsure what they are actually doing about it. Hard question to ask a man, and less likely to meet the women, or be able to communicate with them anyway, as they don't speak English. Can't get much response to questions about the crown-of-thorns infestation at Tanikley. Maybe it's not a problem, maybe they don't know yet.
Can't think of any excursion for the day - we've done it all, so end up doing nothing but sit and read. Luckily we've both got good books.
Have another Ground Hog Night at Papa's and back to read till bedtime.
Sat 24th June Nosy Be-Mayotte
Finally, our departure day arrives. Finish packing, have breakfast, and on our way by 9am in our 30,000 ariary taxi. Glimpses of the coast look pretty good from the main road. North of Hellville, where we haven't been before, the land is a lot steeper, and covered with forest. Gererally prettier than the west coast, although few sea views. Our driver stops beside a ylang-ylang plantation, and gathers some leaves and immature flowers. When mature, these are distilled to make oil for perfumes. it is not yet the season, but, even so, the leaves are very fragrant when crushed.
Get to the airport in plenty of time, and wait in the domestic departures as the international is not open yet. There are a lot of English speakers about, going to Tana. Sounds like American aid/religious workers.
We have now run our local currency down to zero, using the last for tips for hotel staff. Have only bread between us and starvation, until Mayotte.
Summary of thoughts on Madagascar
We've now spent a month in Madagascar, which we felt was too long for us. May have felt differently if we had good French language and could communicate in depth with more of the locals.
Apart from a general interest in seeing what the country was like, and doing some snorkelling, our main interest was in seeing the wildlife and birdlife. The lemurs, especially the white sifakas at Berenty, the ringtails in various places, and the Indri at Perinet were great, but what surprised us was that the lemurs could only be seen in National parks or reserves, or where they were kept as pets. Any in the wild have long since been killed, and quite often eaten.
The same goes for the birdlife.
Isalo National Park had some great walking, but nothing we haven't seen in quite a few other countries such as Oman, Brazil, and Australia.
The beaches of Ifaty and Nosy Be were quite nice, but couldn't compare, either underwater or out, with the Seychelles.
All over the country we talked to people who were hopeful that tourism was going to be the saviour for their economy. However we couldn't see that they had enough to warrant repeat business, which is what places like Thailand, Vietnam and Bali rely on.
In summary, we're glad we came, but won't be rushing back.