Hell-ville is the capital city on the island of Nosy Be just off North West Madagascar. One of the most appropriately named places I have ever been to. We left our cush, five star Intercontinental Hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa and flew into hell.

When I pictured our time in Madagascar, I pictured hot, yes, but I envisioned us diving off pristine Indian Ocean beaches. Of course I pictured locals, and their living conditions, but I couldn’t possibly fathom the stench. I know animals, and their ethical treatment, wasn’t high on the local priority list but I couldn’t imagine how bad it really was.

We were greeted with heat. Such unbearable heat that radiated off the cracked concrete streets. Steam came up from the cesspool puddles. The stench from the sewers, walking down the street, and from the markets is the same and it made your gag reflex activate.

Locals are out and about, continuously asking you if you’d like a taxi. Some ask for money. Make shift shops with leaning posts and tin roofs line the streets filled with items ranging from magnets, wood carvings, used clothing, and cheaply made plastic goods. Street food is set out on rickety wooden tables, an inviting treat for the abundant flies that indulge.

Wanting to escape the heat, we sought the ocean. There’s no air conditioning here, not even in the airports. Big Blue is only a few hundred yards from the center of Hell-ville, which is a blessing and a curse. It’s so close you can see it but, like the puddles in the street, it’s toxic. The runoff from the overcrowded, smelly, infected streets goes straight into the surrounding water. On low tide, its acceptable for locals to poop in the volcanic rock on the beach. The general consensus is that the tide washes it away.

Waiting on our ferry canoe over to Nosy Komba, we saw locals pull a giant blue spotted ray out of a boat. It had to be at least a meter long and wide. It was beautiful. And it was dead. The same as the sharks that we saw filleted and laying on the sidewalk in the hot as Hell-ville sun. No one was going to buy, let alone eat, these animals. They’ve died in vain. They’ve died in Hell.