Tour to Île aux Nattes - 16/09/2019

07.30 am alarm clock rings. We have planned a tour to Île aux Nattes for today, which is the little paradise island next to Sainte Marie.

Well-strengthened, we leave directly from our jetty at 09.00 am. We are surprised because we are the only ones participating in this tour. On a beautiful motorboat, we go to the little neighboring island with our French-speaking guide Eric.

Île aux Nattes is a very manageable place with around 700 inhabitants and a circumference of about 8 km. The Malagasy name is Nosy Nanto, the large neighboring island Sainte Marie is called Nosy Bohara by the locals, which means "Muslim Island". A bit odd about this is that the first Catholic church in Madagascar stands here and most of the population are Christians.

Île aux Nattes

But back to Île aux Nattes, we dock at a small beach area to walk up to a viewpoint. On the way there, we pass many houses of the locals. They are huts made of palm leaves, bamboo, and wood. The most stable houses on this island are clearly the church and the school. During the cyclone season in February-March, people seek shelter there when a cyclone is heading towards the island. Many of their huts are destroyed during this time and have to be rebuilt afterwards. Sometimes even year after year. Unimaginable for us, who consider our home as a safe place.

Continuing on our way, Eric explains to us which plants are used for headaches, stomach cramps, and even cancer. For the first time, we see real vanilla plants. Did you know that Madagascar is the largest exporter of vanilla? 2/3 of the world's vanilla demand is produced in Madagascar. The pods are obtained from the flower of the orchid plant and dried and processed in an elaborate process.

You can also find cinnamon, turmeric, cloves, and much more on the island.

Traveler Tree.

The tree and symbol of Madagascar, explains Eric. If you poke between the leaves in the trunk, water comes out which you can drink.

At the end of our short hike on the island, we end up on a great rooftop terrace from which you can overlook the whole island. Simply beautiful.

Back on our boat, we circle the island and learn a bit of Malagasy, for example, hello = Akure and you respond with Zarakure. Child = Zaza. Thank you = Misaotra. Big = Be.

At the end of our tour, we are equipped with snorkeling gear and can admire the fish and coral world.

Lunch is served right on the beach.

Well-fed, we can relax on a dreamy beach.

Here we actually see a lemur, a small monkey that only exists in Madagascar.

They used to only exist on the main island, but one of the little residents managed to smuggle onto a boat and since then the monkeys have also found a home on Île aux Nattes. However, there are none on Sainte Marie.

Back at the hotel, after a perfect day with an absolutely great guide, we all agree that this is the most beautiful island we have ever seen. The beaches are simply fantastic and we can't imagine that the Maldives could be more beautiful.

When we arrive at the hotel, to our horror we realize that we don't have enough Ariari to pay for our tour. Shit! We thought that drinks, etc. would all be charged to the room and the tour would also be included, so we didn't worry about it. How embarrassing! Our hotel manager explains that it's not a problem, we can simply give the money to Eric tomorrow, but we still feel terribly guilty.

23.00 pm the evening ends very relaxed again, today I had a great massage for about 10 €. Happy but with a heavy conscience, we go to bed.