Nosy Be Islands, Republic of Madagascar

Our cruise around the islands of the Indian Ocean continues. Our two days in the Seychelles left a lot of impressions, and Madagascar was waiting for us. We sailed for 24 hours until the next stop Nosy Be. This is a fairly large town off the northern coast of the Republic of Madagascar. Let me tell you, the nature here is simply fabulous.

Wonderful plants and animals will not leave Europeans indifferent. Lemurs, chameleons, large turtles, geckos, giant baobab trees and much more interesting things. Honestly, we didn’t expect anything special from this place, but Madagascar simply amazed us. There were three stops along our route in Madagascar and all were interesting in their own way. More on this later, but today we’re talking about Nosy Be.

Excursions to Nosy Be

Still at home we were racking our brains about what excursion to take at the stop Nosy Be. Our ship Costa Mediterranea offered several options. The most suitable and interesting excursion for us cost 120 euros per person in English. We visit two islands by boat:

Nushi Komba
Tanikeli

We started looking online for a Russian-speaking guide and found Arthur. Who kindly agreed to organize such an excursion for only 50 euros each. He speaks Russian fairly well, and this little trip has taken on a deeper meaning.

In the town of Nosy Be there is no seaport, just a small pier for boats. The ship docked near the shore and those who wished were transported to land by boats. These are the rescue boats that hang from the sides of every cruise ship.

We swam and went ashore. At the pier, colorful girls in white and yellow attire greet guests with national dances.

There are excursion boats here. We found Arthur, who seated us in the boat. There were 9 people willing, seven of us and another married couple from Riga.

Nosy Komba Island

About half an hour later we moored to the island Nosy Komba. It was more than 30 degrees Celsius and high humidity, and we had to climb a mountain. A park with unusual flora and fauna was located on the slope of this mountain.

It is quite difficult to climb in such conditions. Along the way we passed dozens of shopping shops with very colorful sellers. As a rule, these were girls with beautifully painted faces. Everyone is so cute, as if they were casting.

Having reached a certain point where the park began, we saw lemurs. About a dozen individuals amused tourists by jumping from tree to tree.

The lemurs turned out to be very cute. Their fur is very soft and pleasant to the touch. Somewhat reminiscent of a fluffy rabbit. There are no claws, the pads of the toes are also very soft. It’s not even clear how they cling to trees.

Local park workers had bananas in stock. They gave them to us, called the animals and showed how to stand up so that the lemur could climb onto the shoulder.

As we climbed the mountain we met not only groups lemurs The big chameleon delighted everyone. I’ve never seen them live. Worker Parka put him on a stick and showed him to us. Since he was just sitting somewhere in green, its color was bright green with white spots. Watch the video below.

Turtles were seen twice.

The first time we saw medium-sized ones, and then there was an enclosure with large turtles. We saw the same ones on the island of Mauritius and Mahe, Seychelles.

I tried a boa constrictor on my neck. The specimen was calm, not big, about one and a half meters, two, but it was still a bit scary.

We bought souvenirs on the way back. We boarded the boat and went to the next island of this place Republic of Madagascar.

Tanikeli Island

Island Tanikeli Personally, I was most impressed by all that I was able to visit on this cruise.

A small island with a magnificent beach and dense vegetation pleased, I think, each of us.

We must also pay tribute to the organizers of the excursion. We’re awesome fed for an additional fee of 5 euros. It’s worth it! On the table was:

Rice
Fried fish
Huge shrimp
Crabs
Zebu meat kebab
Salad, I still don’t understand what it’s made from, but it’s delicious
Bananas, Mango, Pineapple

There are also soft drinks and beer for those who wish. We were also treated to a bottle of fruit rum.

Very satisfying and inexpensive.

Gena saw a turtle in the ocean, I didn’t have time to capture it.

The water near the shore is like fresh milk. I took a mask, a video camera and plunged into the magical world of corals and colorful fish.

Then I climbed to the top of the island Tanikeli, where there is an old lighthouse. There were lizards sitting on the path that led me to my goal. There were so many of them that sometimes I was afraid to step on one of them.