Nosy Tanikely, Madagascar
At 8am our driver came to pick us up and boy, was I ready to go. This particular day in our itinerary was the one I was most looking forward to doing (with Montagne d’Ambre – but Montagne d’Ambre had turned out to be a slight disappointment, visually... I expected its lakes and waterfalls to be so much better). Our morning was going to be spent on Nosy Tanikely, a neighbouring island about 20mins away by boat, famous for its crystal clear waters and good snorkelling spots, with plenty of turtles. It did not disappoint. The corals were of pretty good quality, even right off the shore (you didn’t have to venture out very far at all to see lots of formations). It didn’t have the huge variety of fish that you’d find in Australasia (say) but for Africa, it was pretty high standards. I did see about 7 different turtles in 40 mins, which is fairly good ! Once I even swam right on top of one and didn’t even realise until she started moving... and there’s always something pretty neat about swimming near a turtle ! I made sure I gave them plenty of space though because if they feel harrassed they won’t come nesting here again and at least on Tanikely, they are protected. In some other island, the eggs or turtles are taken for the Chinese market where their meat is still highly valued. I once read ‘The Chinese will eat anything that moves’ and it seems, sadly, to be true :(
There was a small light-house that we walked to, to see the view from the top, but it was nothing special. We saw a few wild lemurs but not many. I’d actually brought bananas for them but forgot we’d be in a national park so I was not allowed to give it to them (I should have known better – slapped my wrist !). Good to know they are ‘on the ball’ about these things anyway.
I didn’t venture toooo far out in the open waters though because I’d be warned that there were some strong currents and I did quite tired at some point. It’s so easy to get carried away when the corals look great and you wonder what the next square meter will look like but you must always remember you have to swim back and having no safety jacket I was starting to wonder if I’d make it. I had to aim for the nearest shore and walk on the beach back to my starting point. It was too exhausting to swim all the way back. And yet there were very few waves.
When I got back to the shore and swapped tales of ‘so, what did you see?’, Sylvie and Patrick had not seen any turtle. I was surprised. Sylvie was really tame not to miss out though (not being called Sylvie for nothing !) so I agreed to go back with her after I’d had a 20 mins rest on solid ground.
Strangely, I didn’t see as many second time round, only 1 in 20mins, but we were careful not to exert ourselves. Especially after she’d just told me that she almost drowned once in the Seychelles as she felt she was being carried away by under water currents – and no one saw her struggle or heard her cry for help and so she had to hang onto rocks for dear life and ‘never mind the corals’ when it’s a life & death situation. I can quite imagine I wouldn’t really worry either if my life depended on it.
I’d brought my mask and snorkel (better for hygiene reasons) but fins can take quite a bit of room in a suitcase so I always rent those. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a guy on the island, in his little ‘rental hut’, only rented them for £2 equivalent (5,000 M. Aviary). I’d seen a LOT worse in other parts of the world. In fact Patrick liked his fins so much that he bought them off the guy. I think he got them for £40. When we questioned why they were so expensive in a country where most people £30 a month, we were told that whatever is ‘mainly for tourists’ is ‘tourist price’ even for the local people. So, the guy would not have made a huge profit margin – not like he bought them for £4 or something. Petrol is the other thing that is as expensive here as it’d be in Europe... and one of the reasons why you hardly see any cars on the road. It’s only for the very very very very rich here.
In fact, they have many 4L cars here (taxis mainly, as the suspension is quite good and the roads are quite bad !) and our guide told us that they can usually fit 13 people in one. Thirteen ?? In a 4L ?? HOW SO ??? He said that 5 could squeeze on the front seat. FIVE ??? 13 just defies belief... I dare not imagine the mess if there was a car crash. It’s so hot as well that even with the A/C on and lots of space we could barely breathe, so to be totally squashed in a vehicle with little air sounded lethal ... but I guess it’s quicker than walking the 20-30 miles a day that the average person walks over there. No wonder no-one ever looks fat in Africa. 100% muscle on 95% of people.
We also went for a little walk on a beach to try and see some fruit bats but I’d seen some before and was more interested in taking pix of the stunning beaches.
At 8am our driver came to pick us up and boy, was I ready to go. This particular day in our itinerary was the one I was most looking forward to doing (with Montagne d’Ambre – but Montagne d’Ambre had turned out to be a slight disappointment, visually... I expected its lakes and waterfalls to be so much better). Our morning was going to be spent on Nosy Tanikely, a neighbouring island about 20mins away by boat, famous for its crystal clear waters and good snorkelling spots, with plenty of turtles. It did not disappoint. The corals were of pretty good quality, even right off the shore (you didn’t have to venture out very far at all to see lots of formations). It didn’t have the huge variety of fish that you’d find in Australasia (say) but for Africa, it was pretty high standards. I did see about 7 different turtles in 40 mins, which is fairly good ! Once I even swam right on top of one and didn’t even realise until she started moving... and there’s always something pretty neat about swimming near a turtle ! I made sure I gave them plenty of space though because if they feel harrassed they won’t come nesting here again and at least on Tanikely, they are protected. In some other island, the eggs or turtles are taken for the Chinese market where their meat is still highly valued. I once read ‘The Chinese will eat anything that moves’ and it seems, sadly, to be true :(
There was a small light-house that we walked to, to see the view from the top, but it was nothing special. We saw a few wild lemurs but not many. I’d actually brought bananas for them but forgot we’d be in a national park so I was not allowed to give it to them (I should have known better – slapped my wrist !). Good to know they are ‘on the ball’ about these things anyway.
I didn’t venture toooo far out in the open waters though because I’d be warned that there were some strong currents and I did quite tired at some point. It’s so easy to get carried away when the corals look great and you wonder what the next square meter will look like but you must always remember you have to swim back and having no safety jacket I was starting to wonder if I’d make it. I had to aim for the nearest shore and walk on the beach back to my starting point. It was too exhausting to swim all the way back. And yet there were very few waves.
When I got back to the shore and swapped tales of ‘so, what did you see?’, Sylvie and Patrick had not seen any turtle. I was surprised. Sylvie was really tame not to miss out though (not being called Sylvie for nothing !) so I agreed to go back with her after I’d had a 20 mins rest on solid ground.
Strangely, I didn’t see as many second time round, only 1 in 20mins, but we were careful not to exert ourselves. Especially after she’d just told me that she almost drowned once in the Seychelles as she felt she was being carried away by under water currents – and no one saw her struggle or heard her cry for help and so she had to hang onto rocks for dear life and ‘never mind the corals’ when it’s a life & death situation. I can quite imagine I wouldn’t really worry either if my life depended on it.
I’d brought my mask and snorkel (better for hygiene reasons) but fins can take quite a bit of room in a suitcase so I always rent those. I was pleasantly surprised to see that a guy on the island, in his little ‘rental hut’, only rented them for £2 equivalent (5,000 M. Aviary). I’d seen a LOT worse in other parts of the world. In fact Patrick liked his fins so much that he bought them off the guy. I think he got them for £40. When we questioned why they were so expensive in a country where most people £30 a month, we were told that whatever is ‘mainly for tourists’ is ‘tourist price’ even for the local people. So, the guy would not have made a huge profit margin – not like he bought them for £4 or something. Petrol is the other thing that is as expensive here as it’d be in Europe... and one of the reasons why you hardly see any cars on the road. It’s only for the very very very very rich here.
In fact, they have many 4L cars here (taxis mainly, as the suspension is quite good and the roads are quite bad !) and our guide told us that they can usually fit 13 people in one. Thirteen ?? In a 4L ?? HOW SO ??? He said that 5 could squeeze on the front seat. FIVE ??? 13 just defies belief... I dare not imagine the mess if there was a car crash. It’s so hot as well that even with the A/C on and lots of space we could barely breathe, so to be totally squashed in a vehicle with little air sounded lethal ... but I guess it’s quicker than walking the 20-30 miles a day that the average person walks over there. No wonder no-one ever looks fat in Africa. 100% muscle on 95% of people.
We also went for a little walk on a beach to try and see some fruit bats but I’d seen some before and was more interested in taking pix of the stunning beaches.
posted by Sylvie at 10:03 PM
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