Eight kilometres off the north-west coast of mainland Madagascar, a sprinkling of volcanic islands pepper the Mozambique Channel. The archipelago takes its name from the ‘Big Island’ of Nosy Be. Although the largest and most populated island in the enclave — with 100,000 inhabitants in the 2018 census — in comparison with Mauritius (2,040sq km), Nosy Be is one-seventh it's size.
But there is more to this postcard paradise than first meets the eye. Beyond the beach, the dugouts
