After two days in Toilara and Ifaty, it was time for a break from our southern Madagascar road trip and a proper pre-Christmas beach holiday in Anakao. This is a detached, 7,000-people village located on the barren coast south of the mouth of Onilahy River. Its inhabitants traditionally have subsisted on little else than fishing, but since recently they’ve begun throwing themselves into the bonanza of tourism, capitalizing on the faraway-landers’ desire to experience their emerald-and-turquoise sea and bucolic lifestyle. Some rudimentary resorts have popped up along the village’s 7-km-long beach, and young men readily turn their fathers’ fishing pirogues into tour boats at every opportunity.
From Toliara to Anakao
It is possible to reach Anakao from Toliara by car in 10–12 hours via the river bridge at Tongobory village. The common and smart way, however, goes by sea. There is a company called Anakao Express that operates daily speedboat routes between Toliara and Anakao. They leave from Anakao at around 7 am and from Toilara at 9 am. The trip takes roughly an hour and a half. The ticket cost 70,000 ariary each way.
Their office and dock in Toliara are located by the southern end of Boulevard Lyautey (the city’s main tourist street), right beside the fishing boats landing (coordinates: -23.3621, 43.6703). Since there is no harbor in the area, the speedboat remains anchored off the edge of the sandbar, where we were brought on a wheeled platform towed by a tractor across the shallows. On return, the same contraption wasn’t there for some reason and we alternatively came out on a small fleet of oxcarts.
Even though it was still nine, the sun burnt like a blazing furnace when we boarded the boat. You couldn’t even lay your bare hands on the seat cushions for more than two seconds before yanking them away as if you’d touched an oven pan. The twenty motionless minutes we had to wait for some belated passengers being pulled out by a pair of urgently whipped but still terribly slow cows were plain suffering. At last, they began pushing the vessel with a punting pole until the water got deep enough to submerge and start the twin human-sized engines. A relieving breeze blew as we bypassed sailing pirogues and breaking waves at the edge of the shoal before throttling it in the open sea.
Then we slowed down before the beach of Anakao. Fine white sand, dotted with wooden shacks, stranded pirogues, and laughing naked children, stretched to either end of the sightline. The water was so lucid that the seafloor looked as sharp as the earth from an airplane on a clear day. The clear sky ranged from baby blue above the horizon to blinding white at its apex. The heat was violent.
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Accommodation in Anakao
With the anchor down to stabilize and pull it back out afterward, the boat smoothly approached the shore. We hopped into the water and stepped out onto the soaked sand. As arranged by our driver in Toliara, madame Eliane waited for us there. She led the way up the beach and showed us into one of the little wicker bungalows she rents behind her family house. It was basic, with an outdoor squat loo and a bucket shower, but very cute, tucked in a sand garden of agaves and euphorbias. Especially considering its cost (15,000 ariary per night), it was a great deal. Moreover, madame Eliane’s meals turned out to be the tastiest, richest, and cheapest we’d so far had in the whole country. Her place is located to the right of Hotel Safari Vezo (coordinates: -23.6561, 43.6482). You can explore more accommodation options on the map below.
Exploring Anakao
No sooner than we got settled, despite the midday blaze, we headed out for an introductory walk along the beach. It mustn’t have taken more than a hundred strides until the first aspiring beneficiaries of our visit accosted us. They were two of the grandsons of monsieur Clovis, whose whole family now runs the restaurant/tour agency/souvenir shop/whatever pays called Chez Clovis.
They convinced us to come over for lunch. Their sisters and female cousins kept passing trays with trinkets between the spaced-out planks that shaded the sides of the eating area while we waited for the guys to prepare our meal. They returned with two hefty fish accompanied by a hearty portion of rice, beans, and sweet potatoes. As we tucked straight in, they changed their chef hats for the guide ones and sat on the side to methodically pitch their tour to Nosy Ve: the uninhabited, exotic island whose faint silhouette we could descry dividing the sea and sky.
Their initial offer was 150,000 including a 25,000 environmental tax per person with optional food and snorkeling gear for an additional cost. My reaction was: “Alright, we keep your offer in mind, and if we don’t get a better one, we’ll come to find you tomorrow”. This statement revised their offer to 130,000 all-inclusive. My reaction remained the same regardless. We left them with a “see you tomorrow perhaps”, watching us walk away with expressions so apprehensive as if their very survival depended on our return.
We then had a dip, a brief repose, and went for a drink at the cafe of Hotel Safari Vezo next door. In sharp contrast to the rusticity of the village, this was modern even by the standards of what we’d seen in the capital. It had glass walls, a parquet floor, even an espresso machine and a pool table. It was worth its priceyness. We spent there the whole afternoon, staring at the sea and sky changing hues from the refuge of the awning and the comfort of a cushioned couch.
After enjoying a soul-soothing sunset from inside the sea, we returned home. Below the dark figures of agave quiotes contrasted against an already starry, twilit sky, we lounged on our bungalow porch and savored the fire-cooked dinner madame Eliane and her squad of daughters prepared for us in their open-air, littoral kitchen.
We were up at dawn and went for a 5-km run up and down to the north end of the beach. We finished it off with a sunrise dip, had breakfast on our porch, and made for the beach again later in the morning.
Anakao Photo Gallery
View (and if you want use) all my photographs from Anakao.
A boat tour to Nosy Ve Island
Approaching, I was on the lookout for Clovis’s grandsons. Of my previous experience in Africa, I was certain they’d be waiting for us to appear (they had, of course, asked us where we live yesterday). Sure enough, I soon glimpsed at one of them lurking behind a tree. What took me by surprise was that, instead of running straight to us, he turned around and set off walking the opposite way, ostensibly carefree. We followed him until he reached his brother who was waiting by the shore. Again, they didn’t turn around but ambled the other way, pretending they just had happened to be there by chance. I called them a couple of times, but they didn’t respond. So I’m like: ok, let’s play this game. We also turned around and walked away. Ten steps later, we hear from behind: “Bonjour! Amis!”. I about-faced and, at last, saw them hastening after us. Overflowing with incredulity, I exclaimed: “Oh! Vous êtes ici! Mais quelle surprise! Je vous cherchais!”
We hadn’t bothered asking around, and no one had approached us with additional offers. Moreover, the lads were nice and so keen that we had practically made up our minds in their favor since we left them yesterday. I told them we come to find them in the afternoon and go to the island.
A couple of dips and plenty of chilling later, we were at Clovis’s at 2 pm. The guys were hard at work preparing for our excursion. By 3:30, we had had our lunch and were ready. They hauled the pirogue to the shore and hoisted the sail, which was made of sewn-together rice sacks. We all embarked and sailed out.
A steady, fresh southerly wind sent us bobbing over gentle swells on a close reach straight to the island. A teeming tern colony noticed our arrival and took off on an inspecting white flurry before settling anew on the tip of the spit at the edge of the beach.
We beached, dragged the pirogue out, and while the lads snatched a nap under a makeshift branch canopy there situated, we went snorkeling. Flippers and masks on, we flapped our way out to the coral reef. We saw a starfish, a striped sea snake, and a multitude of peculiar, vibrant fishes. The weirdest of all was one whose eyes were on the top-middle of its body within a purple strip that resembled a domino mask. If I was a marine biologist discovering it, I would have named it the Zorro fish.
Back on land, we took off the flippers and went exploring on foot. Fully encircled by white beach, the island’s interior was occupied by sand shrubs, agaves, and isolated groves with egrets perching on treetops. Finally, we plopped down on the woven polypropylene fabric—which was the sail before temporarily becoming a picnic mat—and devoured the rice-and-calamari meal the guys had brought along.
As the sun was setting behind the island, we set out on the return trip. The same southerly wind guided us smoothly across the strait. At some point, an elegant flying fish popped out of the water and fluttered its course beside the boat. It was thoroughly dark when we set foot in Anakao again.
We wrapped up the day at Clovis’s with a beer and some live music. A trio showed up with a rickety, untunable guitar and two plastic canisters for percussion. The beat enhanced the ambiance a bit, but it wasn’t exactly a stellar, virtuosic performance. They stood up and left frustrated after the first song, disappointed by the 200 ariary I reluctantly gave them instead of the 15,000 the band leader grumbled that they expected per song. If that were so, I would also move there to make it as a musician.
We also left after one beer and went to crash. In the morning, we returned to Tulear and rested for a day before beginning our two-day drive to the mountain village of Ampefy where we settled for Christmas.
Nosy Ve Photo Gallery
View (and if you want use) all my photographs from Nosy Ve.
For this road trip we were sorted out by Patrick from MadaRentalACR. He fixed for us a flawless and comfortable 4x4 together with the driver for the most reasonable price we were able to find and he was overall very helpful and accommodating. Our driver, Tahina, was very professional and an excellent company during our two-week wandering. You may contact him on Facebook if you're looking for a trustful driver/guide in Madagascar.
Accommodation and Activities in Madagascar
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