Experience the best of Nosy Be

Nosy Be lies in the Mozambique Channel off the north-west coast of Madagascar. It is the country's best-known beach island, a place of crater lakes, forest, sugar-cane fields and plantations of ylang-ylang, whose flowers have given it the name Perfume Island. The main town, Hell-Ville, also called Andoany, has a market and old colonial buildings, and a road climbs to Mount Passot, a viewpoint over crater lakes and the sea.

Lokobe Reserve, a patch of forest in the south, shelters black lemurs, chameleons and boas. Nosy Komba, a small island close by, also has lemurs and a village known for embroidery, and Nosy Tanikely is a marine reserve where turtles and reef fish gather. Nosy Iranja, a pair of small islands joined by a sandbar at low tide, lies further out.

Fresh fish, prawns and lobster come with coconut sauces, and romazava, a zebu stew with leafy greens, is the national dish. Rum infused with vanilla, ginger and spices is poured in bars, and vanilla and black pepper grow on the plantations. The dry months run from April to November, while heavy rain falls from December to March.