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Île Sainte-Marie off the east coast of Madagascar

Monday, 17 August 2015 - 04:13 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Africa / Afrika
Category/Kategorie: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

🔊 Listen to this Post Île Sainte-Marie, known (more formally) as Nosy Boraha, is an island off the east coast of Madagascar. The main town is Ambodifotatra. The city covers an area of 222 km2, and has a population estimated at 16,000. The island is organized as The City of Île Sainte-Marie in Analanjirofo Region. The tourist destination is 60 km long and less than 10 km wide.

Ile Sainte-Marie, or St. Mary’s Island as it is known in English, became a popular base for pirates throughout the 17th and 18th centuries due to several reasons: it was not far from the maritime routes along which ships returning from the East Indies sailed in transit, their holds overflowing with wealth, it was provided with bays and inlets protected from storms and finally, it had abundant fruit and was situated in quiet waters. Legendary pirates like William Kidd, Robert Culliford, Olivier Levasseur, Henry Every, Abraham Samuel and Thomas Tew, lived in the île aux Forbans, an island located in the bay of Sainte Marie’s main town, Ambodifotatra. Many of them would found a family line. Numerous vestiges of this history remain at Sainte Marie. For example, several authentic pirate vessels still lie within a few meters of the surface in the Baie des Forbans.

The channel between Sainte-Marie island and Madagascar is a hot spot for whale watching. Substantial groups of humpback whales migrate from the Antarctic to this idyllic breeding place. These quiet giants find conditions here that are favourable for the growth of their young and well suited to their courtship and acrobatic games before their big return toward the cold seas.

Safe from sharks, the lagoon of Sainte Marie island is endowed with significant coralline growth. Its underwater fauna is preserved as a natural heritage and first-class diving site in the Indian ocean.

Read more on LonelyPlanet.com – Île Sainte-Marie, travel-images.com – Île Sainte-Marie, Air Madagascar and Wikipedia Île Sainte-Marie. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organizations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center - Global Passport Power Rank - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.

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