Ile aux Nattes 

Stunning, with its granitic rocks, its wild beach of fine white sand and its coconuts leaning on a turquoise lagoon, "île aux Nattes" marks all robinsons who would have the chance to go there one day. Pedestrian without vehicles, completely surrounded by a vast lagoon, "île aux Nattes" is located south of Sainte Marie island and can be reached by dugout within three minutes.

According to one of Napoleon's last sons (a Malagasy chief customary of the island) a small error would have been made while recording the island name at the town council arround 1840. Thus the name "île aux Nattes" would have been recorded instead of "Nanto": a tree which has formerly abounded there and which wood, always used in navy carpentry, is so hard that it is difficult to plant a nail there. In memory of the chief customary, Napoleon Hotel bears this name.  

Discover the beauty and the softness of this tropical pearl in its emerald setting

Will you be able to find the group of black and white lemurs which live in Nosy Nanto? One of the rarest orchids of the world grows there as well: The Queen of Madagascar (Eulophiellia Roempleriana) which blooms from November to January. To go round the small and almost rounded paradisiac island (2km of diameter) takes only a few hours. Its two hills strewn with filaos, pandanus and breadfruit trees invite for a pleasant walk and a discrete immersion in the small islanders villages. One of it carries the Blévec headlight: panoramic view of the long coral reef which shelters remarkable diving sites.  

Ilot Madame

At the entry of the «Baie des Forbans», astride the dike joining the south of Sainte Marie to its main city Ambodifotatra, is located an islet of which the charming buildings and monuments bear a part of the island's history. This place was the home of the King Ratsimilaho's girl; Princess Betia (which literally means " beloved by many people" in Malagasy). Formerly named" île aux cailles ", the French Sylvain Roux, renamed it "«Ilot Madame»" in 1820 in honour for the King of France's girl.

The simple walk in the three alleys of this charming islet will reveal you many unusual details.

There, the roots of hundred-year-old mango trees took possession of their margelle by covering it; here, some cannons are used to moor the ships. Today, the governor's residence became a museum and its garden an aquarium whose water renews with the tide.

Ilots aux sables

These two islets that bathe in the Southeast of Sainte Marie beyond the coral gate are nearly inaccessible during the southern winter because the wind, then violent on the whole East Coast of Sainte Marie, head on hit them and the sea in part covers them. Thus, during the rest of the year, deserted and preserved from human presence, these islands constitute a magnificent one-day excursion for a picnic and for snorkelling. With immaculate white sand, they are surrounded by crystalline water whose funds are marvellously suitable to scuba diving.

Grotte aux Singes

Inappropriately named “aux singes”, this cave of about 15 meters of depth with a soft soil is closed by a thin curtain of infiltration waters. The accessible excavation by a very abrupt path in the small forest of Ankarenana, is the place of dwelling of a bat eating fruits and nectars of flowers (Rousettus madagascariens). This small mammal (10 cm) is endowed with big eyes and a system of orientation by ultrasonic sounds, which is an exception among the bats of its genetic branch (Megachiroptera)
A legend tells that the cave communicates with Ambatonaondry, an rock-islet at 8 Km far from there...

Creeks

Surrounded by gigantic rocks that evoke the Seychelles islands, numerous small creeks nest in the middle of the West Coast of Boraha Island. The excursion in the heart of the virgin island offers you to visit some of them. With a rare beauty, these intimate places, not very frequented because of their enclosing, snuggled up between a sea of which under water funds constitute real gardens and a generous vegetation. The beaches of coralline sand, whose fineness varies according to the places, have a clear and slightly orange complexion that contrasts with the black of the rocks, the azure of the sea and the sky and the powerful green of the forest. By nearly making us feel a romantic exoticism, these natural landscapes invite to rest, to a soft dreaming and to contemplation.

Natural swimming pools

In the north of Sainte Marie, near Ambodirano village, not far from the Cocoteraie hotel, expanses of hot waters are separated from the Indian Ocean by a granitic gate of about hundred meters. During each tide, the sea fills these natural basins by crashing against the rocks' belt. Some offerings are regularly done in these sacred places
that thus drink at the rhythm of the waves by sprays of water and successive foam.
A blessed post: close by, the Fanasina is erected to materialise and to indicate the particular character of the place as well as to allow the sorcerer to conduct a ritual of re-sacralisation in the case where fady (taboos) would not be respected.