The main reason we had come to Nosy Be was to (hopefully) swim with whale sharks, which are known to migrate in droves to Nosy Be from around september to november. As it would turn out, finding whale sharks isn’t nearly as easy it is to find my normal marine friends (humpback whales) and our efforts to find a whale shark would be unsuccessful much more than they would be successful.
However, despite this, we ended up having some pretty magical marine encounters over our last few days in Nosy Be, so I regret absolutely nothing!
We ended up going out one last time with MadaDays and while I absolutely do not recommend them in the slightest, we did have some good wildlife encounters on this day. We started by heading out to sea in search of whale sharks and instead, came across a truly gorgeous pod of bottlenose dolphins! A whole bunch of boats were congregating near them and yet nobody was swimming… I remember just saying to the guide, ‘I’m going in’ and was the first person in the water (classic me).
The ten minute swim that followed was all kinds of delightful and something that I will never forget.
I made this ‘lil TikTok with videos of the experience that is waaaaay better than the pictures! Oh, and if you are US based and by the time this goes live you don’t have access to TikTok anymore (craziness) I must say – get yourself a VPN! But also, I have made YouTube short for you just in case you can’t see it <3
@adventurous_elle Swimming with a gorgeous pod of bottlenose dolphins 😍 #dolphins #travel #fyp #madagascar #wildlife
As soon as we had gotten back into the boat the skipper seemed to get a text message of importance and we suddenly zoomed off to where another group of boats were congregating. Without warning we were told to jump in and there was a whale shark right next to us! The whole encounter lasted maybe 40 seconds and unfortunately Dad didn’t see it as he entered the water from the wrong side of the boat, but despite my sadness that Dad had missed out, I was also so happy because I had finally swum with a whale shark!
After this thrilling encounter we sped off towards Nosy Sakatia where we would go snorkelling with giant green turtles. Now, when I say ‘giant’, I mean it. These big boys and gals can grow to 1.5m long and weigh in at a whopping 300kgs/660lbs!!!
These cuties hang out in the water in front of the beach at Nosy Sakatia and spend their days monching on the abundant sea grasses that grow in the shallows. Due to their impressive size they are extremely easy to spot and they seemed completely unphased by interested humans.
Now, I have been lucky enough to swim with turtles all over the world (Comoros, Madagascar, Philippines, Indonesia, Maldives and Mozambique to name a few) but it will never not be thrilling for me. I just adore turtles and it was extra exciting to swim with such enormous ones!
I also spotted this cute little lionfish out for a swim!
The next day we headed out for one final excursion with Baleines Rand’eau – a marine safari and a visit to the infrequently visited Russian Bay. Once again we were keeping our eyes peeled for whale sharks but they were once again playing hard to get! However, we ended up not even caring because we came across something even better.
A huge fever of mobula rays!
We had an incredible 30 or so minute encounter with maybe 20 or so playful mobula rays! Watching them dance and glide through the water was absolutely incredible. Sometimes they would come up right underneath me and it would simply take my breath away. I honestly could have stayed and swum with them all day but eventually they seemed ready to leave us and move onto a next location which signalled the end of what had been an undeniably magical encounter.
Next we headed to the beach in Nosy Be that I was the least excited for that ended up being my absolute favourite.
Russian Bay, known locally as La Baie des Russes, wasn’t really on my radar simply because not many tour companies go there and it seemed like it wasn’t super popular, but as it turned out – that was a huge part of its charm.
We landed on this stunning little beach on a gorgeously sunny day and were the only tourist boat there – already off to a pretty phenomenal start.
We were instantly greeted by two local dogs and one sweet kitty who bounded up to greet us on the shore and then proceeded to hang out with us for the entire time we were there – they were the absolute sweetest animals.
Our lunch here ended up being easily the best of all our day trips on Nosy Be – I still have dreams about the bread!
After lunch we spent time relaxing in the shallows and enjoying this truly gorgeous and remote slice of paradise in an otherwise very touristy place – it was perfect.
Oh, and the cherry on top of an absolutely wonderful day was that when we got back to our hotel, I immediately noticed that one of the patio chairs outside our room had been moved. I looked next to the chair and found a wine bottle with this lovely note from another guest that we had befriended the previous day – how lovely is that?!
Safe to say, we definitely finished it.
That evening we drank wine and beers by the gorgeous Blue Sky pool.
It was a perfect way to end what had been an amazing (almost) week on Nosy Be.
Stay tuned for our journey from Nosy Be back to mainland Madagascar!
Getting to Nosy Be: You can fly to Nosy Be via Tana bit given the nickname for Air Madagascar (Air Maybe) I’d instead recommend flying direct from Jozi with Airlink – this service runs twice a week and Airlink are one of the most reliable airlines in all of southern Africa
Blue Sky Resort: Blue Sky was our little oasis in Nosy Be. Our Italian hosts were delightful, they run a full Italian style kitchen, the pool is perfection and despite the many issues that plague Nosy Be (frequent power cuts) they do an amazing job providing a comfortable and affordable place to stay, I cannot recommend them enough! You can book with them through booking.com or contact them directly by clicking here
Marine safari and Russian Bay: We booked this trip through Baleines Rand’eau who were easily the most efficient and well run tour company we used while in Madagascar, oh and they definitely have the nicest boats! This day trip will set you back 75€ per person which may seem expensive but is pretty standard for similar day trips. You can learn more by clicking here
Whale sharks and Nosy Sakatia: We booked this trip through MadaDays and though we saw some great wildlife I wouldn’t recommend it for numerous reasons. The company as a whole appears well run when you communicate with the owner online but the ground experience leaves a lot to be desired, you can book a similar trip with Baleines Rand’eau who I cannot speak highly enough of
Remember: Whale sharks are incredibly hard to spot, but there is still a lot of other incredible marine life to explore around Nosy Be!
