Sainte Marie Island, Madagascar :

extends 60 Km ( 35 miles ) from north to south and reaches a maximum of 5 Km ( 3 miles ) in width, it is situated close to the eastern coast of Madagascar, within 40 mn flight from the capital Antananarivo.

The pirates have chosen Sainte Marie island at the close of the 17th century for its beautiful creeks & vegetation. And the whales pass by there to make love & to be delivered of, from July to September. Not yet frequented by mass tourism, Sainte Marie is seeked destination for all those people who love nature and privacy.

Sainte Marie Island, Madagascar :

is quiet and calm. Since 1857 the first built catholic church of Madagascar waits and receives you every sunday. This church lies at Ambodifôtatra seaside and it gives you a wonderful scenery at sunset. The best way to go sightseeing to discover its vanilla, coffee & cloves plantations and to visit its numerous tiny villages is by bicycle or on foot.

It has just one defect : the island receives 3200 mm of rain annually. You can sometimes see the coast of Madagascar from there. So, people joke that : " You can't see the coast of Madagascar because it rains, and when you see it, it will rain ". That means, there are a lot of rain in Sainte Marie & your best chances of fine weather is from September to November. Note that from January to March, Sainte Marie Island is subject to violent cyclones. With its 200 Km2 ( 60 Km of length & around 5 Km of wide ), Sainte Marie Island is the 2nd island after Nosy Be. Tourism, fishing & rice production are the main activities. With only one little town ( Ambodifotatra ) & numerous tiny villages, it's the best place to relax and to leave one's home.

Various and numerous excursions are available in Sainte Marie Island

Such as the sightseeing of the island ( the half part ) by bicycle or on foot ( through the Pirates Cemetery, the Albrand lighthouse, the small Ilot-Madame which is connected to Ambodifotatra on the North and to Belle vue on the South by two causeways, the first catholic church in Madagascar inaugurated in 1857, the Cocoteraie beach ) ; the Creek Beach ( lovely coconut rimmed beach with a nice point of view of the region ) ; Ile aux Nato ( one of the best beach of Sainte Marie, for snorkelling with wonderful coral reefs & fishes, but also with sea urchins ; local alcohol manufacturing, the - Betsabetsa -, walking to the old Albrand lighthouse through cloves plantations & through mango trees, fern trees and the rarely purple orchid, the Eulophiella roempleriana a pandanus épiphyte ) ; Ampanihy Bay ( in the East part of Sainte Marie ).

For all these excursions, you just need one full day. With wooden canoe and through zigzag small rivers, you discover a peaceful atmosphere in a tropical mangrove. Between mud and aerial roots, you can see crabs, hermit crabs and amphibian fishes. Very quiet place, it's Ampanihy, you just hear away the sound of barrier reef waves.

Ampanihy : perhaps, it's a place like the others with nothing special to mention, but Pierrette & I have a sentimental attachment for it : it was the place of our Honeymoon in December 1999. With our kindest regards to Hélène, the Manager of PARADIS D'AMPANIHY Hotel & to Olga. Thanks alot also to Francisca Massou for his help. You go there by 4 WD vehicle or by little motorboat ( but we've gone there on foot from the Creek Beach ), following the East sea side, then through mangroves pleasant forest ( see the picture above ). Shallow seas , superb stretch of sand with coconut rimmed beaches, emerald water ; but also vanilla-coffee-clove plantations & little vanilla manufacturing near Anafiafy village ( flower & pollination are in December & January ; harvest in May & June and preparation the months after ).

From July to September, some whales ( megaptera ) come to Sainte Marie island

... t o make love, to be delivered of and to educate the young whales. They do 10 000 Km go and back from the very cold Antarctic South Pole. They start their long trip from April. Whale is an enormous sea mammal that means which suckles their young babies with milk. Some of them eat little fishes and squids and the others eat crayfishes.

These whales are black or dark grey with a white belly and their fins are very large ( it's the reason why people call them " Megaptera " because observing them in the sea, you've the impression that they fly ). An adult whale has between 12 and 18 m of length and weigh 30 t. A baby whale has 4 or 5 m of length and weigh 1 or 2 t. Its mother takes care of him until it has one year old. An adult whale can have 50 years old. And they can sing during 15 mn. Whales are endangered animals ; the world protects them since 1966.