Yesterday, we finally made it to Madagascar and got to see Lemurs! We were supposed to visit there in 2015 but weather prevented the ship from getting there. This time the weather was fine but hot, of course. We booked the Nosy Komba Isle of Lemurs excursion. The morning got off to a rough start. The ship was supposed to be anchored off of Nosy Be and ready for operations at 10:00 am, which it was. However, the authorities were apparently working on island time and didn't arrive to clear the ship until 11:00 am! So, we started an hour late. The good thing was that the boat that took us to Nosy Kumba came right to the ship to pick us up.
The boat pulled up to a sandy beach where we had a wet landing.
After drying our feet, we were led through the village, past the school and many souvenir stalls.
And then we got to the lemurs. The lemurs on Nosy Kumba are Black Lemurs. The males are black and the females are brown. They roam freely and quickly jump on peoples shoulders.
In the "sanctuary" they also had tortoises and snakes.
When we returned back to the beach, we had drinks, fruit, and entertainment.
The local boat then took us to the tender port where we could have taken a shuttle to explore Nosy Be a bit but we were ready to go back to the ship. Did I mention that it was not?
Today, we were anchored off of Mayotte, French Comoros, which is a French territory.
It was interesting watching the maneuvering to get the ship into position as they had to navigate around small islands and apparently narrow channels.
We originally booked the Pointe Mahabou Walking Tour, which would have involved over 2 hours of walking. After seeing the forecast for more hot and humid weather, we decided to cancel it and just explore on our own. We simply can't tolerate the hot and humid weather. I'm not sure if it's due to the advanced age or the fact that we're used to the moderate Southern California weather. We took the tender in and just walked around for less than an hour.
I had thought about taking a ferry over to a small island, but we were ready to go back to the whip to cool off. Did I mention that it was hot?
So, these 2 days brought us to 1 new country and 1 new territory to add to our places that we have visited. Now we have 2 sea days until we reach Maputo, Mozambique.
May all living beings be healthy and happy,
To see lemurs closer to home, you can go to a lovely park in Atascadero which allows one to get closer to the animals than the usual zoo. I was so entranced I even bought a stuffed one at their gift shop. ❤️ Bonnie
ReplyDeleteEven though we may be young at heart, our bodies cannot tolerate the extreme heat and humidity. You did the right thing by not walking for two hours in that type of weather .Living In Miami, I learned many years ago not to stay out in the heat for too long. Hope you are having a great trip. Love you. Jerry
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