December 2016.
After completing my management training at Mandraka Park, I went off to travel and explore more of Madagascar. I was lucky to meet two French girls who were also alone so we all got together and headed East. We spent a couple nights in Tamatave before getting a boat to Sainte Marie island from Mahambo.
We were supposed to stay 3 nights on the islands and then go back to Antananarivo to pick up some more clothes and money before heading south. We loved the islands so much that we extended our stay much longer and did not go to the South of Madagascar - I guess it is left to be explored some other time.
SAINTE MARIE
We spent one night in a bungalow at Moora moora hotel, which was lovely, clean and right on the Indian Ocean. The next day, we were planning on renting scooters, but a tuk-tuk driver offered to take us around for the whole day for the same price, so we accepted as he knew the island and we had no idea where we were going to go!
Pirate cemetery
Ste Marie island is known to have been a pirate island for around 100 years during the 17th and 18th centuries, we spent about one hour walking around the graves of these European pirates.
Waterfall
‘Piscines naturelles’
Beach: La Crique
At the end of the day we took a small pirogue to Ile aux Nattes, another island right next to Ste Marie. We left at sunset and arrived at night. It felt like a magical moment: seeing the moon shining on the ocean while listening to nothing but the sound of water.
ILE AUX NATTES
Our bungalow at Les Lémuriens ecolodge was really cute, we had planned on staying 2 nights but ended extending for a week. We spent our time relaxing on the beach, exploring the island, eating delicious food, snorkeling, kayaking and walking around the villages.
We didn’t want to leave Ile aux Nattes but had to move on, so we went back to Ste Marie for the last night before getting a boat back to Mahambo at 3am.
MAHAMBO
I decided to stay alone in Mahambo to surf, and I just loved it! I met a surf guide called Dah who rents boards; we walked to a beach break called Demaxime through the bush with two of his friends. The waves were small so I got to practice a lot on a super cool sandy board with a broken nose! Funnily I feel like I made a lot of progress on that board. I did not have my camera with me that day, but the beach was really beautiful.
The next day we grabbed the boards and drove a scooter to another spot called Ambatomalama, the waves were smaller but still really fun! The drive back was a bit painful as I crashed my knee while surfing and all the weeds and grass in the country roads were whipping my leg and my bleeding knee, but I guess that’s all part of the adventure.
Dah is a really passionate and patient surf guide, he is thinking of opening a guesthouse someday for surfers to come and enjoy the great breaks around Mahambo. Most of his boards are damaged and he lives in the simplest way with an honest heart. If you have any boards/ board shorts/ wetsuits that you would like to donate to him for his business, please contact me.
As I stayed much longer than planned on the coast and did not go back to the capital city to pick up more money, I was starting to run out of cash so I had to cut my adventure short and head back a couple days earlier. I was lucky to meet Joro, a guide who offered a free seat in his empty 4x4 as he was driving back to Tana after dropping his guests at Mahambo. We had really interesting chats during our 10-hour journey, if you need a guide to travel in Madagascar, I would be glad to share his contact details.
I wasn’t too sure about staying alone in Mahambo, but I am very glad I did. I only crossed paths with generous people and feel ever so grateful about this incredible experience. I spent my last night alone sitting on the beach admiring the final full moon of 2016, thinking about how blessed I was to be living this unbelievable adventure.
