Madagascar: Nosy Iranja

Is it possible to convey the intangible - infinite beauty, smell and colors through a photo lens? Madagascar has no analogue, and even a person with the most volatile imagination would not be able to cover the limits of wonder.

When talking about this island, you don't want to mention facts, repeat the story of its origin and provide a lot of banal information, which can be easy found on the Internet. I can't say about Madagascar that it's just a country that doesn't amaze with impressive cities, resorts and luxury hotels, but amazes with wild nature.

In order to describe the diversity of the island, I am running out of colors, I am running out of epithets to describe what I have seen. Because it is here that the poorest, but most sincere local residents live. Their culture is a complex mixture of modern religion and an incredibly strong past, where ancient shamanism, magic and rituals still hold high positions.

It is here that the humid tropical forests imperceptibly intertwine with the tropical forests, which become semi-deserts as they thin out. Only here, the world's rarest and most beautiful birds fly among the trees, lemurs roost on the branches, and the world's smallest chameleons crawl on the tree bark. Here, even the snakes are non-venomous, and the most predatory animal on the island, Fosa, is more like our cat than a dangerous beast.

But as we were in the Nosy Be Island, so we decided to start exploring surroundings of this beautiful island. The day before we bought a couple of tours from local agencies. One of them was a tour to Nosy Irania Island.

Irania Island is about 50 km away from Nosy Be. Sailing by speed boat takes about 1 hour 20 minutes. Only about 300 inhabitants live on the island, most of them are engaged in fishing.

We walked a bit throught the village of locals here. We can see conditions of their lives in my photos. Not much words are needed there.

Nosy Iranja is the real Maldives, only in Africa! The small island consists of two parts, connected by a 1 kilometer long sand embankment, which is washed by blue water on both sides. It is from here the travelers bring back postcard-worthy photos.

When we arrived there, we immediately felt the fresh and light air that blew over our faces. The most important feature of this trip is the ocean which washes this beautiful island, a sandy beach, palm trees. What else do you need for a good holiday?

While I was on this island, I kept thinking that in many places in the world, I would have to stand in line with crowd of other tourists for such a shot, but here, walking that one kilometer from one end of the island to the other, I met only a couple of stranger people not from our trip group. Who could not like such an island???

At the end of our walk we were treated a delicious lunch prepared by the locals, during which we tasted grilled seafood, fish, and coconut flavored rice. But honestly, be very carefully with the food locals prepare for you, as some of the our group's people had a diarea when came to hotel. I also felt some discomfort in my stomach and decided to eat only at hotel in the future.

When we started our walk to the other end of the island throught the purest white sand, the sandy path was still enough wide but going back, it became more and more narrow as tide almost hides it under the water.

Be sure to take strong sunscreen (50 SPF) as sun is really very intense here. The ocean was of course super, the purest water, very blue, the bottom seems as if you take the water in the palm of your hand - pure beauty. I decided to swim, but it seems I was swimming too long and I got very burned - without clothes and panama you can’t be in the sun for more than 20-30 minutes.

It is also advisable to have mosquito repellent. In hotel areas, they are destroyed by spraying grass and trees with special repellants, but if you go on excursions, especially reserves or forests, protection is necessary.

Summarising - this is a magnificent island with the purest sand, rich in flora and fauna. Everything is amazing there, I still, remembering those feelings that I hardly convey in words. It just needs to be seen with your own eyes. So I highly recommend going there. It's just the perfect place to have a relaxing time. White sand, turquoise sea, waves, painfully clear water. In the background are mountains, forests... this place will definitely not leave anyone indifferent.