Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
LIBERTALIA
The first mention of the Pirate Republic of Libertalia was in a 1726 story by
Daniel Defoe. According to Defoe, Libertalia was founded around the Baie des
Français by Captain Misson, a French adventurer with a Robin Hood bent who
sailed the seas freeing slaves and avoiding bloodshed whenever possible. He
teamed up with a defrocked Dominican priest, Father Caraccioli, to set up a
communist Utopia.
They began building with the help of assorted freed African slaves and Brit-
ish, French, Dutch and Portuguese pirates. A parliament was formed, a printing
press was started, crops were planted, stock was reared and a new international
language was established.
All seemed to be going well until the Malagasy people living around the 'In-
ternational Republic of Libertalia' descended en masse from the hills and mas-
sacred the Libertalian population. Caraccioli was killed, but Misson escaped.
His eventual fate remains a mystery.
As yet, there is no physical evidence of Libertalia, and some historians have
relegated it to the realms of fantasy. Sceptics argue that Robinson Crusoe's cre-
ator could easily have invented a pirate republic.
Les Trois Baies (The Three Bays)
On the eastern side of the peninsula that juts into the bay east of Diego is a series of beau-
tiful bays with stunning beaches. There are many coves and inlets along this stretch of the
coast, but the area is named after three majestic bays:
Baie de Sakalava
(Sakalava Bay),
the
Baie des Pigeons
(Pigeons Bay) and the
Baie des Dunes
(Sand Dunes Bay). It's a wild,
harshbutstarkly beautiful environment, with notavillage insight, strongwinds fromApril
to November and baking heat from December to March.
ACTIVITIES
Les Trois Baies Circuit
HIKING
The
walk
from Baie de Sakalava (the southernmost of the three bays) to Ramena has be-
come a popular excursion. It takes roughly half a day to walk from one end to the other,
moreifyouincludestopsforswimmingand/orapicnic.ManytouroperatorsinDiegooffer
it as a package, with transfer from Diego in 4WD, drop-off at one end and pick-up at the
other, a guide and a picnic on the way.
