Ile St. Marie

Trip Start Jun 06, 2006

Trip End Jun 27, 2006

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Flag of Madagascar Ile Saint Marie, Madagascar
Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Well, I headed to Ile St. Marie, which is an island off the east coast, north of Tamatave (Toamasina). My trip to Tamatave, where I stayed overnight before heading out was uneventful and very pretty. They have been doing a great deal of work on the roads, and it is very noticeable as you travel, even compared to 2004. I stayed in Tamatave, with friends, and then headed out on a absolutely horrible taxi-brousse ride to Soanierana-Ivongo, where I paid an exorbitant price for my boat ticket. It jumps about 400% for non-Malagasy citizens, and this trend continued my entire stay on the island. The boat trip, aboard the sea-worthy Cap St. Marie, was relatively easy, after going over the harrowing (well, they seemed so to me!) breaker waves. Upon arrival to the island you are just bombarded with people, so much that I became quite upset and just went o find some food to get away from them all! I have become accustomed to standing out and to a relative amount of notice by taxi drivers, etc, but this was annoying

Gorgeous waters!

! I had made a tentative reservation at a hotel, but couldn't get a hold of them, and the taxi drivers wanted $20 to take me there! So, i opted to go to the smaller island on the south side, Ile aux Nattes. This island is so peaceful, with no vehicles and very quiet. I found a delightful place for $15 a night at Ylang Village. The food was made to order, wonderful, and it was right next to the ocean (about 10 ft from the beach).

I spent some time collecting, as I know that my flies had been documented herein the 1950's, however, I was destined to be disappointed. Seemingly perfect waterfalls yielded nothing but black flies and snails. As snails can carry some nasty parasites, I was not too excited about their presence!

I did take some time for fun while I was there. I had to! It was too beautiful a spot to just work! I went snorkeling in the crystal clear turquoise water (organized by Il Balenottero Dive Center in the Harbor...Wonderful!!), took a pirogue tour with a wonderful guide named Paki, had my hair done in braids (but couldn't show it off, because I had to wear a hat to avoid burning my scalp!), did a little shopping (though it was much more expensive than Tana) and overall enjoyed the island life. I met a young Malgasy woman who loves to travel, and prefers to do so solo, as she meets more people that way

I have never seen such a beautiful sunset

. I guess so, since we met on the boat to go snorkeling! While touristy and expensive, it was beautiful, and so well kept. Even the small village homes, constructed of palm, had gardens and flowers planted all around. I would love to go back and spend some more time. The roads were horrible on the northern end of the island, so I didn't get to explore up there too much, which I would like to do more of someday!

When I arrived back to Tamatave, it was June 25, which is the eve of Independence Day in Madagascar. It was spectacular to watch the fireworks over the ocean, and to feel the joy of the people as they celebrated. It has only been 45 years, so many people still remember colonization and gaining their freedom....something we take so much for granted.

Toamasina (Tamatave) hotels Slideshow