TRAVEL
There is a Malagasy island that could steal your heart
Madagascar’s peripheral islands offer an untouched paradise that is lost to much of the rest of the world
After a three-and-a-half hour Airlink flight from Johannesburg to Nosy Be, an island off Madagascar’s north coast, our journey continues with a drive to Chanty Beach. "Is this your first time here?" an elderly woman asks as we prepare for the short boat ride across the channel to Nosy Sakatia. I tell her that it is and ask her the same question, expecting the same response. "It’s my third," she says with a hint of pride. I can’t help but wonder what would bring a tourist here again and again when so many prefer the safe and familiar tropical getaways of Mauritius and Zanzibar. But it soon becomes clear: Madagascar’s peripheral islands offer an untouched paradise that is lost to much of the rest of the world. Nosy Sakatia used to be called Nosy Mamiloma ("the island that helps") because it provided an abundance of food to the people who first called it home. But legend has it that the named changed to Nosy Sakatia ("the island that blocks or hinders love") because a man who lived and...
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