Madagascar's perfume island — ylang-ylang, whale sharks, and lemur-filled rainforest
Nosy Be ('Big Island' in Malagasy) is Madagascar's premier beach destination — a lush volcanic island in the Mozambique Channel ringed by smaller satellite islands with world-class diving, powder-sand beaches, and the sweet scent of ylang-ylang plantations that earned it the name 'Perfume Island.' Humpback whales breach offshore from July to September, whale sharks patrol the channel from September to December, and nearby Nosy Komba is home to semi-wild black lemurs you can hand-feed. It's the closest thing to an untouched Indian Ocean paradise you can still find.
Nosy Be has been inhabited since at least the 12th century by Sakalava people, whose Merina-rival kingdom made it a regional trading hub. The island was ceded to France in 1841 — one of France's earliest African possessions — making it a centre for ylang-ylang perfume extraction that supplied Parisian parfumeries for over a century. Independence came in 1960 as part of Madagascar; the ylang-ylang and vanilla industries persist alongside tourism.