Nosy Be, Madagascar

We arrived timely at this port, cleared customs with ease, received our bus assignments for our various excursions, met our guides, boarded our appointed buses and were off to explore this large island in the Indian Ocean. Pinch me, did I just say I was in the Indian Ocean? Still seems like a dream to me, but oh what a wonderful dream! May I never awaken from it. My excursion of choice for this day was "A Glimpse of Nosy Be" with our guide on bus #8, Claudio. This excursion was to begin with a drive to a ylang distillery. No, I had no clue what they distilled when I signed on. Quite simply, it was merely something I had never experienced. Having been warned that in this part of the world, our

transportation might not be the newest and fanciest but that it would be the best available, I was not taken aback to find all the windows open and no air-conditioning on this day promising a high of near 90 degrees. Claudio is a middle-aged family man who has lived his entire life on Madagascar, has two children ("That's all one can afford these days"), a wife and two cats. He spoke fluent English along with several other languages I cannot recall. He starts out by showing us a map of our route for the day. More or less a square around the perimeter of the island with stops at the distillery, lemuria land, Djamanjar, the balloon shaped house, a typical village, Andilana beach, a souvenir shop and then back to the pier. All in five hours without AC. Okay, let's go! Just outside the port I spotted a water buffalo yoked to a cart which was being loaded with sand. Then another and another. Not sure where all this sand was to be taken, but an unusual method of transport I must say. The scenery along the way is nothing short of stunning. The infrastructure, incredibly poor to non-existent. As we travel to our first destination, the ylang distillery, Claudio tells us about his homeland. Education is mandatory and free for children ages four thru sixteen. Yes, I'm sure he said four. Tuc-tucs are the favored method of transportation - all yellow in color like our taxis were. Those driving the tuc-tucs were not the owners but rather had rented them from a wealthy man on the island at a rate of $8 a day. The $4,000 purchase price was well beyond the drivers' means. Tourism, vanilla, perfume oils are their primary sources of revenue. When asked, he stated that the average MONTHLY income was the equivalent of $50, US. True to our schedule first came the ylang distillery where they distill oils from berries picked in the nearby forest. First they cut the tops out of the trees forcing the branches to grow closer to ground for ease in harvesting. So now I know what a ylang distillery does. This particular distillery produces oil chiefly for Channel. Adjacent to the distillery was "lemuria land", a national animal reserve which also included a black and a brown lemuria (monkey) where we spent well over our allotted fifty minutes but very very enjoyable. Took a ton of pictures of which I will share as many as our poor overworked internet will allow. Then we were to proceed to the beach some hour away barring traffic. A small revolt erupted among the ladies aboard until Claudio wisely made a pit stop. As we were exiting the bus, he said "Enjoy the panoramic view." And that it was. The back wall looking out over the jungle stopped less than half way up! Interesting. Two beautiful young ladies attended the facility ensuring its cleanliness.

The perfume oil distillery

The black lemuria

No, I did not drape this boa around my neck!

The promised panoramec view

Somewhere during the drive we stopped at a market where Jan bought some vanilla pods. Do not recall any mention of a balloon shaped house or Djamanjar but then Claudio was very soft spoken, the vehicle was very loud, with constant construction along the side of the road, so I very possibly missed that part of his presentation. About the time I decided that I was no longer going to have a tooth in my mouth let alone a filling, we arrived at a resort and what presumably was Andilana beach. Beautiful white sandy beach meeting the gorgeous teal waters of the sea. This was also our refreshment stop where we were treated to some delicious local dishes and a bottled soda bearing a label identifying it as "National Cola". As hot as we all were, anything cool would have been scarfed down instantly. Then it was back to the bus, but surprise of all surprises, the driver had closed all the windows and turned on the air conditioning! What a lovely surprise. Still bumpy, but cool. We can deal with this! The next surprise was not quite so pleasant as Claudio informed us that we would be retracing our route to the beach minus the side trip to the distillery/animal reserve. Still over an hours drive on bad pathways passing as roads. Ouch!

During our refreshment break, my friends Jan and Ronnie confided that they had not heard a word Claudio had said all the way down as they were in the back of the bus. They mentioned this to him so on the return, he sat in back dispensing his knowledge to them. I am intimately familiar with every pothole, jack hammer, concrete mixer, lane closure and bottleneck on that stretch of pathway. The citizens of Nosy Be, Madagascar are pleased that they are finally getting some roads, gutters, sidewalks, etc. and frankly don't seem to care if it is Chinese money. Okay, it is after all their country and they are sorely needed. Since Claudio was in the back of the vehicle, two couples in the row in front of me started shouting at each other (normal voices would not be heard above the roar) about various trips they had previously taken in an attempt to one up the other. Extremely annoying!!!! During this shouting, the bus stopped somewhat to the side of the path and I could hear that Claudio was trying to tell us something. They continued shouting until I tapped the guy immediately ahead of me on the head and suggested that they hush. (Back on ship, many of my fellow passengers have thanked me. Haven't seen either of the couples.) The point Claudio was trying to make was a small uninhabited island just off the coast. Sacred Island where Madagascar's kings are buried. Was not able to get a shot of this very serene burial place. Pity. Shortly thereafter a high pitched screeching noise developed in the engine. Not being a mechanic, I diagnosed it as a van belt about to break. More than a few prayers were said for its endurance as I tried to calculate how many of those tuc-tucs it would take to get us all back to the ship.

Tuc-tucs in downtown Hell Ville

Eventually we successfully navigated all the construction road blocks, traffic, mud holes, animals and humans to arrive back at the pier at least half an hour after our ship was to have departed. We were herded back up the gangplank by the crew in record time. Then off we go to our next adventure.

Today Is Someday! Enjoy!