THE PIRATE CEMETERY on Ile...
THE PIRATE CEMETERY on Ile Ste. Marie... Probably the most-visited site on the island, it is quite overgrown and a bit tacky -- but enjoyable nonetheless! Around the end of the 17th century, Madagascar's eastern coast -- and Ile Ste. Marie, in particular -- were a kind of 'pirate headquarters', used as a base from which to ambush trade ships headed around the Cape of Good Hope. Some of these pirates of yore are buried at this cemetery, and it is interesting to poke around and try to make out their epitaphs... The cemetery is reachable on foot only at low tide; otherwise you need to take one of the small boats known as pirogues.
