A Lady in London

My boyfriend and I left Antananarivo at the crack of dawn on Boxing Day. After a long wait in the tiny departures area of Tana Airport, we boarded an Air Madagascar flight to Nosy Be, an island in the northwest of the country.

At first everything seemed fine; flight conditions were good, turbulence was non-existent, and for some reason they decided to upgrade us to business class. But as we approached Nosy Be, the storm clouds gathered and the rain started to pour. We circled once, twice, three times, and then went into a holding pattern. I got nervous. It seemed that our flight attendant did too, as she started singing (praying?) after about 45 minutes.

After what felt like a lifetime, our flight finally landed on the tiny airstrip in Nosy Be. As we disembarked, the ground staff handed us umbrellas for the walk to the terminal building. We ran through the rain, then met our driver and were whisked off to the port in Hellville (named after a person, not a place you go when you die).

At the port we were met by a large seafaring vessel that transported us from the main island to a small isle two hours away. It was Tsarabanjina. It was beautiful. And peaceful. And perfect.

The resort was made up of 25 bungalows along two pristine beaches, the north beach and the south beach. There was a main lodge for meals and cocktails, and the rest of the island was home to green space, beaches, rocks, and coral. It was amazing.

For the next seven days, we enjoyed a mix of relaxation, excursions, activities, and exploration. We went snorkeling along the beach of Tsarabanjina and out by the Four Brothers, the rock formations that jutted up out of the water just off the coast.

We went birdwatching, where we were lucky enough to see a pair of endangered Fish Eagles, of which there are only around 100 left in the wild.

One day there was an excursion to Nosy Komba, an island just off the coast of Nosy Be. We got a tour of the wildlife, including the local Black Lemur population.

The lemurs were trained to jump on our shoulders as we fed them bananas. When my turn came, I waited until the lemur was distracted with the food and then rubbed my cheek lightly against his fur to see if he was really as soft as he looked. He was. I wanted to hug him and then slyly sneak him into my suitcase. I didn’t. I’m still not sure if that was the right call.

In addition to the lemurs, we saw electric green chameleons, a giant Seychellian turtle, two huge snakes, a thousand millipedes, and several local plant species.

After our tour we explored the local village for awhile, at one point following a young girl toting a big batch of squids that had presumably been caught off the coast.

Back at Tsarabanjina, we passed the days reading, playing tennis, and exploring the island. One day we heard that there was a burial site for some local tribes in a cave at the far end of the island, so we decided to check it out. We were told to bring an offering of rum to sprinkle at the entrance. We didn’t have rum, so we used beer instead. Hopefully that counts.

The cave itself was fairly small, but there were lots of new offerings at the mouth: money, coins, empty bottles, and shells. Inside were the remains of several pirogues that held the bones of the deceased. We didn’t see any human skeletons, which was a bit of a relief, but the experience was still pretty unique.

The remainder of our time at Tsarabanjina was filled with kayaking, swimming, and sun. On New Year’s Eve we watched a huge sea turtle lay eggs on the beach, which was quite an event. It was an hour long process of digging a hole, laying the eggs, covering them with sand, and then making a decoy nest to confuse potential predators. It was amazing to watch, and to be so close.

After two more days of relaxing in paradise, we boarded a boat and were transported back to Nosy Be. We were sad to leave Tsarabanjina, but excited for the last leg of our journey: Andilana Beach. To be continued…