Madagascar, Nosy Be. Lemuria.

This was yet another tender port and we were greeted by noisy locals trying to exchange our goods for their fruits. The crew were obviously used to this as we watched a hairdryer, tee shirts, some trainers and a kitbag being sent across in a bucket on a pulley in exchange for their mangoes. They were very persistent, hounding the tender boats too.

Nosy Be is an island off the NW coast of Madagascar. Its is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist resort and the only place in Madagascar where all-inclusive large resorts can be found. It was once a major location for the production of sugar cane and its derived products like rum, but is now mainly concerned with the production of YlangYlang (for essential oils) and tourism.

As we got of the tender boat we were MOBBED by the locals. It was mayhem and a bit scary as they all shouted their prices at us and got closer and closer and more and more insistent.

We doubled up with a lady called Eva (who spoke a bit of french) and headed to LEMURIA in a taxi with a non English speaking driver but with a young girl guide trying to improve her English and who was delightful (and made us feel safe!)

Lemuria is like a min-zoo/park, well laid out and features lemurs, chameleons, rum and perfume.

I think we were meant to give this chap a bit of money for taking this photo... luckily Eva had some coins.

First stop was some 52% rum.

Eeegads it was strong.

Fronds of the Travellers Tree.

L'arbre de voyageur

or Ravenala.

A huge plant that is native to Madagscar.

The water collected in the natural receptacle at the base of the leaves was drunk by thirsty travellers hence the nickname TravellersTree.

Its large stem is often used as building material, its sap used to make sugar, its leaves cover the houses, its seeds are edible.

The Ravenala is the emblematic tree of Madagascar.

There's a snake in this tree.

Croc.

And then the lemurs, who were sooooo gentle. 

Took Husb's hand first and then took the food from it.

Soooo cute.

Tortoises don't have wrinkles, they have holes. This one is about 200 years old.

Baby lemurs on the island.

A fully grown mini baobab tree

The shop was closed when we arrived back at the entrance and that was a shame(well, it saved us some money!) as the tees were nice and felt good quality. The vanilla was pricey but we'd been warned about the lack of vanilla this season.

So we headed back to the boat and were once again bombarded by ladies with armfuls of shawls and tees, they were all very insistent.

Great sunset tonight.