Madagascar Photo Gallery: Nosy Be

Nosy Be is an island about 8 km off the northwest coast of Madagascar. It is the country's largest and busiest tourist resort. The population is about 75 thousand. The island's main town is Andoany (Hellville).

beach yachts dugout canoes fishing boat sailboat village street boats hauled out children playing on boat shop food stall cooking gear shop boats chameleon harbor sunset teens on street, with rollerblader sailboat sunset palm trees sunset harbor sunset chameleon

We stayed at the Ravintsara Wellness Hotel on the northwest side of the island.

spa reception bay bungalow pool breakfast buffet dining room bar dining room pool

Diving:

Dive shop: Scuba Nosy Be

hauling tanks Charlotte boarding Charlotte in van dive shop dive shop dive master dive boat dive briefing

Underwater scenes

coral head and fish soft coral and fish diver over reef coral wreck and batfish wreck and fish fish on wreck fish on wreck fish on wreck anemones trumpetfish and seafan bivalves unicornfish cleaning station fish and coral giant clam coral head

Schools of fish

coral and school coral and school barracudas school school school school school school school

Closeups

damsel fish Humbug damsel, Dascyllus aruanus

fish Twobar damsel, Dascyllus carneus

sweetlips Smallspotted grunt, Pomadasys commersonni

cleaning station Minstrel sweetlips, Plectorhinchus schotaf

crocodile fish Carpet flathead, Papilloculiceps longiceps

angel fish angel fish Emperor angelfish (adult left, juvenile right), Pomacanthus imperator

angel fish Royal angelfish, Pygoplites diacanthus

unicorn fish unicorn fish Longnose unicornfish, Naso brevirostris

clown fish Skunk anemonefish, Amphiprion akallopisos

clownfish in anemone Mauritian anemonefish, Amphiprion chyrsogaster

lionfish OIndian lionfish, Pterois miles

puffer Valentin's sharpnose puffer, Canthigaster valentini

hawkfish Forster's hawkfish, Paracirrhites forsteri

flame goby Red firegoby, Nemateleotris magnifica

fish and fan Schooling bannerfish, Heniochus diphreutes

sponge coral closeup tunichates lobster and flatworm

Nudibranchs

nudibranch Phyllidia varicosa

nudibranch Phylidiella rudmani

Highlands

Here we stayed at the Domaine de Florette, near the village of Andrafiamena in the middle of the island near Mont Passot.

sign breakfast sunrise Domaine de Florette host lodge outdoor kitchen view of ylang-ylang plantation breakfast

The highlands are a montane rainforest remnant and are home to the black lemur, Eulemur macaco, the most extremely dimorphic of all lemurs. Males are all black with bright orange eyes, while females are chestnut brown with white ear tufts.

male black lemur female black lemur

Ylang-ylang (Cananga dorata), originally from Indonesia, is grown for its highly-fragrant essential oil, extracted from its flowers by steam extraction. The essential oil is used in aromatherapy and perfume, and in Madagascar is also used to flavor ice cream. The trees are pruned to keep the leaves and flowers within easy reach.

ylang-ylang ylang-lang harvest ylang-ylang processing still

kitchen of lodge gecko view forestroad lake view viewsunset view horned spider female chameleonhiking road forest rocks and forest male chameleon road ox cart pedestrians female chameleon male chameleon

Night walk

spider spider spider spider spider cricket spider closeup spider spider closeup moths spider slug spider spider cricket spider gecko praying mantis

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Last modified 10 June 2025