Wednesday – April 9, 2025
Nosy Be,Madagascar
Today’s featured image is one of 3 lemurs we encountered at a flower distillery.
We signed up for an excursion on Madagascar last Summer specifically because it said there would be lemurs. When we began our excursion we had a sinking feeling that we would not see lemurs. The excursion said we would tour Nosy Be in a 4 X 4. The last 4 X 4 tour we took was on Tahiti and it was on a seat in the back of a pickup truck. When we walked to the vehicles for this tour we say many different vehicles (cars, trucks, SUV’s) all of which were air conditioned and all of which would seat 4 passengers and a driver. We were directed to an orange car. We got in and began talking with the driver. However, he did not speak English – he spoke Italian. This was to be an 8 hour tour so we wanted to get this issue addressed immediately. To solve the problem, Riassa, a supervisor of the other guides rode with us. She spoke English, French and Malagasy. So problem solved.
Riassa is a 44 year old married to a 59 year old. Her “day job” is as a French teacher at a public high school. She has 5 classes each of 100 students whom she teaches Monday-Friday. She finishes work at noon. She is working toward a Masters in business so she may become employed by a bank (over her father’s objections).
As we began to drive we mentioned to the guide that our primary interest was to see lemurs. Raissa gave the indication that this was NOT the excursion to take to see lemurs. With that statement our hopes sank and we settled in for the next 8 hours of driving. The first item pointed out was their airport – which had no planes sitting on the runway. Raissa was proud of the airport because tourists could come to visit and help their economy. No lemurs in sight.
Our next item of interest was a distillery where oil is extracted from the ylang-ylang flower. This oil is shipped overseas to perfume manufacturers and is the base for many well known perfumes. While we’re looking over the distillery I saw something run across the roof of a building on the other side of the street. I walked over and discovered the “thing” I saw was a lemur. In fact there were 3 Macao lemurs in the trees – 2 females and a juvenile male. Once word got out the remainder of the visitors at the distillery came over to get a better look. You’ll find plenty of photos and video of the lemurs. They were interesting to watch and very inquisitive. Riassa told us that if it had been the season for ripening mangos we wouldn’t have seen lemurs because they would not be hungry. They came to this area hoping for food – which they did get in the form of bananas.
Riassa said there are 3 types of lemurs common in the Nosy Be area – Macao, forsake and mouse. None of those are the ring tailed type we have seen in zoos but there are over 100 species of lemur and they all come from Madagascar. The type I was viewing was the Macao (as you’ll see from the photos). Along with the lemurs there was also a chameleon that a boy had on a stick. You’ll find a few photos of that in the media. The Madagascar chameleon is identified by the white stripe on the side. we were told that they have 2 brains that most of the time are competing with each other. When they walk you will see their legs hesitate because one brain isn’t sure if it should move and the other wants to move. The time when the brains are in sync is when they are hunting for food. Riassa said that the chameleons in Madagascar range in size from just under a meter to as little as an inch and a half. She also explained the color changing and varieties of shades they can turn.
We got in our car and drove to a high point to look out to the ocean. The grass was so tall there that we couldn’t really see over it – I held my camera above my head and watched the display screen to get a photo that was aligned with the horizon. From that viewpoint we drove higher still to the crest of a hill where a cell tower had been erected. I believe the area was called Mount Passot. From that lookout you could see MSC Magnifica at anchor and almost 180 degrees of horizon. A tent was set up with fresh juice and slices of fruit. There were also vendors selling bright colored artwork. Would like to have picked one up but don’t know how we would get it home. On the path back to the car were several interesting flowers – photos of those are in today’s media.
On the way to our next stop Riassa had the driver stop so she could show us a traveler’s tree. The shape of the tree allows water to be trapped and used by anyone traveling who needed same. It does have an unusual shape like that of a fan. There is a photo of the traveler’s tree in today’s media.
Next stop for us was a beach. Looks like there was a resort a ways from where we entered. The beach looked like it would be nice with smooth sand and few rocks. There were vendors there with other paintings for sale. Our stop at the beach was only 10-15 minutes.
Lunch was next on the itinerary. We drove to a restaurant/hotel up the side of a hill, climbed a couple floors to an open area like a pavilion. Tables were set at which we could sit and eat. The lunch was served as a buffet with salads, vegetables and a couple pasta dishes – one with fish and the other with ground meat. There was also stew made with Madagascar Zebu. For dessert we had a fruit cup and coconut cake.
Our last stop of the day would be difficult to reach because the road was not improved much of the way. We were driving to the Sacred Tree of Mahatsinjo – a tree given by the Indian government 200 years ago and planted by the Queen of Madagascar. There were rules to be followed if one wanted to see the interior of the tree. Shoes must be removed and bare legs are to be covered with cloth. I didn’t know about the bare legs part and entered wearing shorts. People make pilgrimages to this tree and leave sacrifices to show thankfulness. Red cloth was in abundance near the center of the tree as were clumps of Madagascar folding money.
After visiting the tree it was time to head back to the dock to catch a tender to the ship. The road back was just as hard to travel as it was on the way to the tree. You’ll find video of sections of that drive and note the living conditions as you pass by people.
We had asked Riassa earlier if there would be time to shop for any souvenirs. She indicated that could be arranged but we were running out of time. We got to the dock, didn’t see any shops and headed toward the tender. Riassa knew we were looking for t-shirts so she grabbed a couple of the vendors and brought them to us. Ended up getting 2 shirts – first for $15 and the other for $10. All the while people were wanting to exchange US small currency for larger denominations (like $1’s for $5’s, $10’s or $20’s). We found that you can’t exchange currency in a Madagascar bank unless you hold a passport. Looking at the people we guessed that 95% of them did not have passports. In addition, the bank would not even consider exchanging $1’s. We think what these people were trying to do is get larger bills and having a “broker” who could go to the bank exchange the US currency for Malagasy money. We certainly take lots for granted that other peoples consider a luxury.
Forgot to mention – in the videos you’ll see lots of yellow vehicles with 3 wheels called Tuk-Tuk’s. they were everywhere. I have seen them in movies that were filmed in India but this was my first exposure to them in “real” life.
Rounding out the media are a couple photos of items from our meal and 2 photos of a passenger we have met who participated in a passenger talent show (Jerry).
Nosy Be was a beautiful place but I’m not sure I would make plans to visit for an extended period of time.
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