The deep South part of Madagascar
Anakao fishermen village & Tsimanampetsotsa lake

Anakao
is a very typical and beautiful fishermen village in the deep South part of Madagascar. With only 300 mm of rain average per year, Anakao area is the dryest region of Madagascar. So Anakao is a sub-desert area with a lot of thorn bushes and succulent plants ; Anakao, an area where you will see that water is very important for human being because of the harsh environment there. And especially because it is a sub-desert region, it has many interests about tourism.

Anakao
is at 40 Km south of Toliara. You can go there by sea ( by little and speed motorboat ) or by bad path ( by a good 4WD vehicle ). So Anakao lies in the South-West part of Madagascar. There is a beautiful lagoon in front of the village : a good spot for diving ( not really for snorkelling ) ; it is too an excellent spot for just relax and swimming. Anakao is now considered like one of the world's finest diving sites and experts agree that the reefs are comparable to those in the Red Sea or the Maldives. If you go there from August to September, you can have the chance to observe whales. To go there, it's better to take the little motorboat because the road is very long, the road can take one full day hard drive ( there is no bridge through the Onilahy river ).

For people who love the sea : Anakao
has wonderful beaches but not so many shadows ; there are no coconut palms there, because the landscapes are very different and amazing with the deciduous evergreen succulent plants such as the octopus-trees. The deep of the diving site goes from 8 m to 23 m, and sometimes till 32 m. You can observe there green marine turtles and myriad of fishes such as : yellowtin tuna, clownfish, damselfish, surgeonfish, triggerfish, boxfish, lobsters, eels, colorful fish, barracuda, eagle rays, manta rays, sharks, etc. Anakao has a CMAS deep sea club center.

Anakao, a child & fishermen
Ravo 2012 pictures ©

Anakao
Picture at left : it's hard to find water for drinking there ; sometimes you have to dig half a meter or more than one meter ! And the water is a little bit salty because of the sea. The people who live there are divided into 2 parts :

Those who live near the beach are fishermen ; the name of their village is Anakao Andriake.

Those who live far from the beach in the background area are farmers with kassava plantations, sweet potatoes plantations and some zebus cattle and goats ; the name of their village is Anakao Antety.

Tsimanampetsotsa National Park -NP-
lies on a calcareous limestone plateau ( the Mahafaly Plateau ). It's not so far from Anakao ( South from Anakao ). Tsimanampetsotsa area has again only 350 mm of rain per year, so it's too one of the dryest area in Madagascar. The Natural Reserve of Tsimanampetsotsa has 43 200 ha and lies between 38 to 114 m of altitude level.

Baobab, A. fony sp. Tsimanampetsotsa NP
in rollover : Ravo, Anakao

Ravo 2011 pictures ©

Tsimanampetsotsa National Park -NP-
has a high proportion in flora endemic species. 90 percent of its plant species are endemic to Madagascar. You can see at Tsimanampetsotsa NP a deciduous spiny forest of Didiereaceae ( such as Alluaudia sp. or the Octopus trees ), of Euphorbiaceae ( such as the sausage plants of cylindrical succulent branches ), of Malvaceae ( such as the famous Baobabs ; the species which live there is the Adansonia fony = the Adansonia rubrostipa like the picture at left which is a very very old one ; a picture taken by me in 2011 ), of Apocynaceae ( such as the Pachypodium sp. or the shape-bottle-trees ), and of Xanthorrhoeaceae ( such as the Aloe sp. like the picture at left on rollover ). etc.

Tsimanampetsotsa National Park -NP-
In an area of very dry vegetation like Tsimanampetsotsa, you can find too a lot of endemic fauna species ; for example the Park is a very interesting site for birdwatching people ; many endemic species of lizards ( such as the Three-eyed lizard, the Oplurus sp. -Swift-, the Zonosaurus sp. -Plated lizard- ) ; many endemic species of chameleons ( such as the giant Oustalet chameleon and the warty chameleon ) ; and many endemic species of ... insects ( such as beautiful butterflies sp., ants and ... mosquitoes ) !