Monday in Mayotte, French Comoros

Overnight we sailed to Mayotte, an island in the Indian Ocean situated between Madagascar and Mozambique. Mayotte’s residents are described as having mixed African-Arab origins. The official languages are Comorian, Arabic and French, and the population is 97-98% practicing Sunni Islam. 

We hadn’t booked an excursion today but chose instead to tender to shore and just mill around a bit. As is often the case, there were dancers there to greet us. 

 

teens doing a "courtship" type dance

We didn’t want to walk into the city, so we just walked back over to the same large building we wandered through before that serves as a marketplace. This part of our "revised itinerary" as we head toward the cape of South Africa reminds me of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day -  waking up to see the exact same things as before.

But what a difference a day can make! Yesterday as we drove around Nosy Be, almost every person who saw our small bus gave us a big, friendly wave! Seriously - all of them, from young to old! We could not have felt more welcome as “strangers in these parts.” However, today in Mayotte has an altogether different feel.

Sellers in the market are not one bit friendly to strangers and the last thing they would do is let you take their picture. Just as when we visited before, most of the photos I took were from a distance or from behind. I did snap a photo of a darling little boy who was “flying” around the market using a coat hanger to steer the “plane” before I saw his mother (grandmother?) When I saw her, I asked if I could take his picture but was denied. Thankfully I had already snapped one before either of us saw the other.

up, up and away!

Overall, the locals seem to barely tolerate our presence, or at best just try to ignore us. The market we walked through obviously caters to locals (no souvenirs here) in spite of being located just a short walk from the pier. Its stalls hold a little of everything - from shoes to cosmetics to vegetables.

 

The vendors were mostly women wearing colorful, if not always coordinating, clothing and head coverings. Many if not most have their faces covered in a heavy looking, yellowish paste. They appear to be extremely bored. Some are looking at their phones; others are sleeping or just sitting with another vendor.

 

Unlike the women of Nosy Be, there is nothing artistic about the way the majority of women in Mayotte paint their faces. Rather, some type of mixture appears to be smeared all over and left to dry. In fact, as I was writing that last sentence, I thought “why not google it and maybe I can find out?” And here's what it said. “Women in Mayotte and the Comoros Islands wear white face paint—known as msindzano—primarily for skincare protection and beauty, as it acts as a natural sunblock against intense UV rays while treating blemishes. The paste is made by grinding sandalwood (or other tree bark) on coral, forming a protective mask often adorned in intricate, decorative patterns.” Perhaps not all of the islands just smear it with no attempt to make an artistic statement, but it seems that the women on this island mainly just smear it.

I remembered from our previous visit, they sold a product that bleached the skin. I thought I might like to try some on the back of my sun damaged hands, but when I found the booth, there were women already being waited on and they were all speaking French. Also I realized that they would only take Euros, so I decided to blow it off. I guess I'm just stuck with these "horrid age spots." 

By this time I had already worked up a sweat so I voted to return to the ship and of course Ronnie readily agreed!

Nosy Be, Madagascar

In preparation for our next port, the ship showed the movie Madagascar. We went because we knew there would be popcorn, which for some reason we never get on the ship. Anyway, we had never seen the movie and we thoroughly enjoyed both! Overnight we sailed from the Seychelles to Nosy Be, Madagascar. We had procrastinated reading through the excursions list, but I knew after 4 sea days last week we should at least get off the ship and do something interesting. There were only 5 options to choose from. Ruling out a wet landing, a forest climb, a Ylang distillery or lemurs (which we saw the last time), that left one excursion – Open Air Market and Sacred Tree. I booked it though neither of us had ever heard of it.

It was an afternoon outing and we first had to tender to shore after which we all piled into 2 smallish (thankfully air conditioned) buses. This was our greeting committee.

 

can you dance with a vase of flowers on your head?

kids trying to sell magnets before we exit bus

buy this?

Our first stop was at a market in town. We remembered it well from last time. We only had 15 minutes there which was long enough to buy some vanilla beans and a souvenir. The people were super friendly and almost without exception, every person waved at us as we drove along. 

dried fish, dried shrimp

helping Mama

market seller

dried locally grown spices

 

After leaving the market, we were driven to a ylang-ylang plantation. A ylang-ylang is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia. Its flower (sometimes called the “flower of flowers”) is used to make perfume (Chanel No. 5) and aromatherapy. The flowers turn from pale green to bright yellow. In order to preserve their aroma, flowers are often harvested by hand in the early morning. The trees are oddly shaped due to heavy pruning so that the flowers can be easily reached.

 

 

After that brief stop, we were driven to what locals refer to as a Sacred Tree, a 200-year old banyan tree near the Mahatsinjo village. Once again we were greeted by folk dancers whose only instruments were their hands and wooden sticks. Their “songs” were a lot of repetition, saying the same sounds over and over as they step back and forth. I’ve since learned that they have various traditional dances, one that involves digging up ancestors bones and dancing around them. ☹

 

a traditional dance

The Sacred Tree is considered a spiritual site for the Sakalava people. It was planted around 1836 by Queen Tsiomeko, and is revered as a home to spirits, with local royals visiting annually. It is called “a place for meditation, prayer, and offering gifts to seek protection.“ There is a small altar of sorts at the exit where people leave money, honey and red or white fabric.

 

welcome to the Sacred Tree

"inside" the tree

I decided to walk through it just to see what a 200-year old banyan tree looked like from the inside. Basically, it just looked like an unkempt, tangled, royal mess. Thankfully as long as I stayed on the path, I couldn’t get lost and would exit where I entered.

From there we were driven to a local venue where we were treated to refreshments and a folk show, which turned out to be the same dancers that were at the tree. They performed their similar dance plus one that was a bit shocking that I won’t try to describe here. The little girl (probably a daughter of one of the dancers) performed the movements just as well as the women, even the more suggestive ones. 

We were served our choice of colas (none we’re familiar with in the States), some kind of fried triangular fish/meat pie, sugar coated peanuts, a number of dishes I didn’t recognize and a nice variety of tropical fruits.

 

our guide joins in

Afterwards, we were driven back to the port but not without one final souvenir stop. It was an actual store, well organized with what I would consider higher end merchandise. I failed to mention however, that we had lots of opportunities to buy souvenirs from hawkers both upon our arrival and our departure. 

 

colorful accessories

 I'll end with a few bus window photos....

 

 

Mahe, not La Digue (Seychelles)

Mahe is the largest island of the Seychelles. It is home to the capital city of Victoria and 86% of the country’s total population. The Seychelles were not on our original itinerary this time. We had visited La Digue, Seychelles on our 2023 voyage. It (La Digue) is still tied with Antarctica for The Most Beautiful Place I’ve Ever Seen. Needless to say, I was very excited when I saw Seychelles on our revised itinerary and I couldn’t wait to wake up this morning and look out at the same beauty as La Digue. After all, it’s the Seychelles, right? 

 

Seychelles 2023

blue on blue

However, when I pulled back the drapes, we were docking in Mahe at Port Victoria, an industrial working port in a busy city. The water is still beautiful and I’m sure the beaches are just as white, but it was otherwise nothing at all like La Digue. 

 

not what I was expecting

I was looking forward to the same kind of day we had before. I had watched a fisherman bring his fish up from his small boat and sell them to locals who rode off with them hanging from their bicycle handlebars. Visitors and locals rode bicycles along La Digue’s one main street which was home to a few eateries, a small library and some souvenir shops. 

Mahe, unlike the quaint little town I was so looking forward to, is home to an International Airport, two Marine National Parks and the University of Seychelles.

Most of our excursion options were water-related or had “wet landings", meaning you should expect to get your feet in the water getting on or off a boat. None of the options interested us very much, so we were looking forward to a lazy stroll around a small but beautiful island. So much for that idea.

Knowing it would be hot, I decided to forego a shower and shampoo since I knew I would be doing it again upon our return to the ship. Not having anything planned, we decided to just walk into town and see the silver Clock Tower, the monument and landmark of the town’s colonial past. 

 

oops, 123 year old Clock Tower restoration in progress

We enjoyed seeing some school children in a parade and stopped to eat some homemade fruity pops before heading back to the ship. I had passion fruit and Ronnie had pineapple.

 

friendly school kids waiting on Tuna Parade to begin

Tuna Day - Children's Educational Parade

And a few more photos I snapped around town.

 

2 locals shooting the breeze

Unity Monument in traffic circle

National Museum of History (closed)

 

As we started back, we ran into an older gentleman we recognized from the ship. Before leaving Miami, he had very recently had both knees replaced at the same time. He always rides a battery operated scooter. We spoke to him and he asked us which way the ship was. He was headed in the opposite direction, so we told him to follow us. 

Long story short, the experience was a bit harrowing! Traffic was heavy and we had to cross busy streets (no crossing lights) and hop curbs in a couple of places. He had "zero" business being out by himself, but we thankfully were able to keep him upright on his scooter and see him back to the ship. I felt like we had done our good deed for the day!