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Published: April 21st 2016
No breakfast again so we decided to go and talk to the Yachties about getting to Mayotte which would not be possible (it iz not possible became a common theme through this trip) and the Bank of Africa has no desire to have Aussie dollars so after a trip into Hellville, the commercial centre of Nosy Be to try and change some money we looked for dive shops open (iz not possible) and spent the day organising a trip to Nosy Komba for the next day.
2pac had organised us a lift to the actual port where we could find Jimmy, Kobe or Eric who were the recommended boatmen by the Yachties to take us to Komba. Komba is known as the island of Embroidery and Lemurs live just behind the village. Im still not sure if we ended up with Jimmy, Kobe or Eric but our guide/boatman was a lovely young guy with a great grasp of english and a sense of humor. We got up early to get ready and 2pac arrived on time in the standard Nosy Be taxi, an ancient citroen with a cracked window and doors that needed to be slammed shut but we made
it to the port and onto a local boat cameras ready.
Today we knew we could get up close and personal with lemurs. The lemurs at Nosy Komba live in the forest but have been fed by the villagers for tourists often enough to make a visit a daily routine for them. They are entirely wild and can choose to approach you or stay the hell away from you. This is actually sustainable tourism at its finest, the only people who benefit if you do it the way we did finding a local boatman are the villagers and the lemurs. Taking a cruise ship tour as we saw some folks do a few days later when we revisted Komba contributes nothing, and reinforced to me that thing about do this
now.
It took me until just before my 50th birthday to see lemurs in the wild and make it to Madagascar. I got to see them unlike the poor older man sitting just past the villagers house who you pay your ariaries to for a guided walk because he was almost having a heart attack in the humidity and couldnt keep up with the small group who had
managed to do it. We saw another man at our restaurant on the beach who was also in danger of a coronary because he had ventured off the ship on a tour but the humidity had gotten to him too. Get out there and do it now. Dont
almost get there.
2pac had organised us Eric (I think) and lunch at his cousin Eddy's restaurant and of course had made a few ariaries along the way. The boatride over to Komba is beautiful. Our skipper had made us put lifejackets on to keep the harbour master happy, a fact that made me laugh later when I found out the true situation of water safety around here. A 30 - 45 minute trip with a couple of locals doing the commute into Hellville and we pulled up at the beautiful Nosy Komba. The embroidery here is a specialty of these islands, cutwork patterns and hand stitching, something I had on my to buy list. I inspected a few that the ladies had hung out along the beach finding exactly what I was looking for - a bedspread - for our later visit as we had a quick drink at Eddies
before following Eric through the small cheerful village up to the trails.
Madagascar in February is humid - like 97% humidity. The trek was muddy and rain frequently fell giving us a light and much appreciated shower. We walked for perhaps ten minutes with Eric showing us groups of radiated tortoises endemic to Madagascar but hugely exploited for the pet trade along the way. There was another Aladabra tortoise here in a pen, a female, along with a boa constrictor, both of who had names and were in great condition.
While in Lakobe we had learned the call Maki Maki! for Lemurs and Eric started calling, and sure enough..within a few minutes..LEAPING LEMURS they were there! All around the forest branches twisted and bowed as the lemurs came in closer knowing the routine. We put our bunch of bananas down and held a piece out and .....the softest little hands grabbed my head, and I suddenly had the worlds absolute coolest hat on as a female lemur climbed down onto my head and reached along my arm to take a bit of banana I was offering her. Lemurs everywhere! Only when I looked in pictures did I discover
my hair is the same color as the female lemur, which may have explained the Lakobe Lemurs peeing on me not Marna. Im one of their gals now 😉
While we were being jumped on and having our hands held by lemurs who have the softest most amazing little hands a cheeky young scruffy fella approached from the rear along the ground and stole the other banana we had left on the ground. Theres one in every family I guess!.
We played and hung with the lemurs until way after the bananas had run out and they suddenly dispersed as one of the family let out a warning call. There is an eagle who is a threat to their young around these islands and once the distress call goes out they disappear into the forest as quickly as a chameleon can blend into the background.
Leaving the lemurs we headed along further uphill behind Eric when I spotted a red earthworm. Many years ago I had watched a BBC documentary on Lemurs getting high on red millipede. I asked Eric if this was the millipede they used. He nodded yes, then when I asked him if it
worked on humans his eyeballs almost popped out of his head and he cracked up laughing with a NO Madam! For Lemur Only! warning. Hey, what can I say, I like to immerse myself in nature.
Probably a good idea as I know the active compound that makes the lemurs high is cyanide which finds itself in LSD and for some reason Lemurs can tolerate a dose three times that required to kill a man. So I never did get to try millipede.
I tried to embed the clip from the BBC so you can see the effect of the red earthworm. Being a little late at night im not that tech savy so the link is
Im not sure how Marna would have dealt with getting me back to Ambataloaka in that condition anyway..not very well id hazard a guess.
Lemurs and millipedes aside we met an insanely bright chameleon chilling where some locals had a small village shopping area set up selling spices and carvings and paintings. Unfortunately all of the goods on sale would not have been allowed through Australian Customs, which I explained to one of the sellers who refreshingly didnt
push the point, unlike most asian vendors will. Spices, Ylang Ylang oil and local handicrafts such as raffia bags (raffia palms are common throughout the area) were great to look at but I needed them sealed otherwise I would stand no chance of getting them through customs.
I found the vendors on these islands very respectful and dignified and not at all pushy. We got some great photos from the peak of Nosy Komba looking over to the incredibly beautiful Nosy Iranja sand bar which we would visit later in the day for a swim. Nosy Iranja is a small uninhabited islet with a sugary white sandbar exposed perfect for swimming on. Perfect for just breathing in the wonders of our planet. Perfect for just being
alive.
Sweating down the hill we had a dip while a beautiful malagasy girl prepared our lunch. We chatted as best we could while Eddy went off to see if anyone would change AUD which they wouldnt at first but eventually someone did. I suggested this beautiful girl would be a great wife for my sons and invited her home to Australia. She howled with laughter and ran off to tell Eddy,
which was then I twigged I had just tried to buy his wife. Small cross cultural faux pas aside we had another great fish and salad meal before I had a almost migraine so laid down out of the sun on Eddies restaurant steps and had a quick nap while Marna swam.
Almost migraine averted, Eric eventually came to let us know it was time to go for a swim at Nosy Iranja before heading home. Beautiful crystal clear water and soft sand leaving my footprints - I was here!. We swam and floated and laughed and talked and basically poked fun at the rest of the world for not being us. Even without Millipede life was technicolor here.
Our day on Komba was fantastic. Buzzing from the Lemur high we made our way back to Hellville, sharing the boat with a local lady and her son and a bucketload of fish traded on the beach as we set out. At hellville where 2pac was waiting with the taxi to take us home he told us he had found a dive shop open we could go out with the next day...of course ran by his cousin who spoke
great english.
Yes! It IZ possible! Even though the dive shops are on holiday in February, we would get to dive. After a shower and a trek back down to town for dinner and scraps for our cats, Spike and Obama who we had adopted we organised our dive gear for our early morning pick up the next day.
To be picked up and taken for a dive was what we had been trying to organise....It kinda didnt turn out that way although we did get to dive....some of us for longer than others though .....
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
Leaping lemurs!
How fantastic to get to wear a lemur hat and have their soft little hands take bananas from you, though I must say, this little grounded lemur doesn't look quite as graceful as when up a tree! Handy that you connected with 2pac, so for a small fee, he was able to grease those Nosy wheels. And curious that lemurs have millipedes to get them high--maybe it's a sign that we were all meant to experience the world a bit differently at times. Hmmm.