- Sainte Marie Island Madagascar -

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 and vegetation. And the whales pass by there to make love and 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 and 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 that means it will rain soon ».

There are a lot of rain in Sainte Marie and your best chances of fine weather is from September to November. 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 second biggest island in size after Nosy Be in Madagascar. Tourism, fishing and rice production are the main activities there. With only one little town ( Ambodifotatra ) but numerous tiny typical 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 sightseeing of the island by bicycle and by foot ( to see 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 at the extreme North of the island ) ; the Creek Beach ( lovely coconut rimmed beach with a nice point of view of the region ) ; Ile aux Nato ( one of the best sandy beach of Sainte Marie island, for snorkelling with wonderful coral reefs and colorful fishes species, but also with sea urchins ; local alcohol manufacturing, the - Betsabetsa -, walking to the old Albrand lighthouse through cloves plantations and 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 island, etc. ).

For these excursions you need one full day ore more. 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 Bay, you just hear away the sound of barrier reef waves.

Madagascar a wonderland for nature lovers

Ampanihy Bay : perhaps, it's a place like the others with nothing special to mention, but my wife and 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 and to Olga ( for her advice ). Thanks alot also too to Francisca Massou for his help.

You go there with a vehicle or with a little motorboat ( but we've gone there by 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 and little vanilla manufacturing near Anafiafy village ( flowers and pollination are in December and January ; harvest time in May and June and preparation the months after ).

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

... to make love, to be delivered of and to educate the young whales. Whales do 10 000 Km go and back from the very cold Antarctic South Pole. They start their long trip from April.

Humpback 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 when you observe them in the sea, you have the impression that they fly ). An adult whale has between 12 and 18 m of length and a weigh of 30 t. A baby whale has 4 or 5 m of length and a weigh of one or two tonnes. 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.