45th post - Nosy Komba

After our adventurous journey, it was now time to make the best of the situation and discover Nosy Komba .

First, however, we had to get through an unpleasant conversation. Since this island had about as many sights as Siefersheim, we wanted to avoid staying here for 10 days. Fortunately, nothing had been paid for yet and we were able to tell our host the unpleasant news. He was rather unamused, but could do little to change our decision. So we reduced our stay from ten to three nights.

We were planning to go hiking on the 17th, but then we met other tourists (we were the only ones there at that point, because there really isn't much to do) who told us about a lemur park. They had also apparently been on a kayaking tour the day before and told us where they had gotten the kayaks from.

So we abandoned our hiking plans and went looking for the lemur park and found it relatively quickly. To do this we had to walk through the small village (the largest on the island, by the way - 4000 inhabitants). When we arrived at the park, we were immediately adopted by a guide and set off. After only about 10 minutes we arrived at the lemurs. What neither Laura nor I had expected was that they would climb all over us. But that was really the absolute highlight, they were sooo fluffy and really delicate, but super strong and grippy.

In addition to the lemurs, we were also able to get up close and personal with a constrictor snake and three turtles (one of which was named Pablo Escobar).

The turtle's neck feels a bit like what I imagine an elephant's penis would feel. I was glad when we were allowed to stop petting her.

When Laura had the boa constrictor around her neck, the following conversation took place:

Laura: When did she last eat?

Guide: A week ago.

Laura: How often do they eat like that?

Guide: Once a week.

Luckily, we came out of the park about an hour later, still undigested, and we were really happy.

Afterwards we had a small snack and then went looking for kayaks. The directions were rather sparse, but after a while our search was successful.

So the two of us got into a one-man kayak and started paddling eagerly. Our first destination was a mini island directly opposite.

After a few steering problems and a great panic about being run over by a cruise ship, we finally arrived there. There were lots of shells, a bit of sand and nothing else. We went swimming a bit and collected our favourite shells, which we want to use to make a necklace later, and then put them back in our wobbly saucer. This time we went - surprise - to an island. We thought that the same thing would await us here as always, namely nothing. But we were wrong: within the first few metres of the island we came across human bones. And a few metres further on we came across an old cemetery.

To be honest, it's a little scary when you come across human remains on a deserted island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. But of course we stayed and walked around a bit until we discovered two children's graves. We decided to turn around and drive back before we had to be there in the dark.

After a successful and exciting kayak tour, we went back to the restaurant and went to bed.

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As already mentioned, leisure activities on Nosy Komba are rather limited. So we decided to spend the day kayaking. Before that, however, we stopped by the village, because the biggest event of the whole year on Nosy Komba was taking place here: the Maki Run. This is a run of either 10km or 24km and apparently an ultra event for everyone on the island. There was music, dancers and runners everywhere. Some of them arrived at the finish line in flip-flops, Crocs or even barefoot and literally collapsed after the finish line. But they were also celebrated like heroes.

After watching this spectacle for a while, we rented another boat and headed out into the open sea. Or rather, we tried to go around the island. During this trip, we realized that outside of our hotel, where there was nothing, there was really nothing on the rest of the island. There was just water, beach and greenery. No houses, no people, nada.

After a few hours we realized that 1.5 liters of water and breakfast are not good conditions for an 8-hour kayak tour for two at 32°C. Luckily we came across what is probably the only hotel left in the east of the island, the Komba on the Rocks .

So we went ashore and asked if we could get something to eat and drink. The hotel was actually closed to non-guests, but we looked so exhausted that the lovely lady brought us a Sprite, water and a hamburger anyway. She charged us a lot for that, but to be honest we had no other choice. We then asked her if we would see anything else nice if we continued to drive around the island. She advised us to turn around and drive back.

No sooner said than done, and after about 4-5 hours of kayaking we arrived back at our hotel. Since we were leaving the next day, we had dinner at our hotel and asked how we would get out of here. The friendly waitress told us that a bateau commun , a kind of bus boat, would be leaving at 6:30. This would cost 20,000 Ariary, while the hotel had charged 160,000 Ariary for our trip by boat. We thanked her for the tip, packed our bags and went to sleep.