The Village of Anakao
Anakao is a village of Vezo fishermen, here the days are marked by the sound of pirogues sailing the sea. The clear blue water, the white sand beaches and the typical African sunsets give spectacular scenery every day. The coral reef is located just several hundred meters from the beach and protect the beautiful shore from erosion and weather.
The papulation of Vezo, also known as “the sea nomads”, takes all their resources from the sea: the men fish with their traditional pirogues and women, when the tide is low, go in search of octopus, sea urchins and other seafood to eat or sell. Even the children are quickly introduced to fishery. The Vezos build the pirogues themselves from a particular kind of light tree trunk.
Life in Anakao passes slowly, here time seems to have stopped and kids play on the beach singing Malagasy song…
The origin of the name Anakao…
Once upon a time the bay of Anakao was frequented by nomad fishermen who sailed along the coast depending on tides and presence of fish. In the village lived a witch married to a fisherman. One day she was walkin’ along a path full of pines (“Akao” in Malagasy) when she found some wet crabs coming out of the ground. This gave her the idea to dig and search for water. The initiative was successful and in that point a well was built. It immediately become very important for all the villagers and represented a landmark for fishermen. Because of pines surrounding the well the village was given the name of “Anakao”, meaning “where the pines are”.
