Last update on 2nd November, 2017 at 09:59 am
Humpback megaptera whales :
Whale watching during the southern winter (July, August and September) the humpbacks arrive by hundreds in the Southern hemisphere waters in Madagascar, where they calve, mate and wean their new born ones before joining cold waters.
They are about 15-18 m long and have long pectoral fins, features of these species. Showing their very sociable behavior, they make majestic jumps.
In our center, we organize boat excursions daily for “whales watching”. We spot them and draw near without disturbing groups of whales, in general females with their calves. We outdo them and at 100 m we shut off engines.
At this point, they come to our encounter, curious, letting us get rather close to watch and take photographs. Fortunate observers may hear their “call”, sends out to communicate in long-distance, and submerge underwater with them to observe and take them in photo. When a group moves away, we leave to look for some others, to come closer and to pursue the wonderment…
Between October and January it is possible to spot Balaenoptera acutorostrata: spanning a length of some 8-10 m, it weighs up to 9 tons. It is a splendid specie that is among those hunted by Japanese, Norwegians and Icelandics. They catch hundred of it a year to do “some studies”…
It weighs as much as 30 tons, its mouth can be up to 1.5 m wide and its skin can have 10 cm thick. It’s the whale shark, Rhincodon typus. Despite the misleading reference, it is a shark – whose name highlights its big dimensions and its physiology looking like those of whales, but eats plankton and small fish as two other unique species: the Megachasma pelagios, A very rare shark seen only during 9 episodes in 1976, and the cetorino, elephant shark. The whale shark lives in Nosy-Be and it won’t be difficult to spot it during journeys on boat. When it is possible, we slide into deep to inspect and to take photos. watch whale shark videos
…and there are also bottle-nosed dolphins?, stenella and tursiopes greeting us regularly during our journeys on boat…
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