Travel Guide Betioky

Around 5 hours' drive from Toliara, Betioky is the first town on the southern trail. Its wide streets are lined with majestic baobab trees and covered by zebu-drawn carts. In the various districts, craftsmen offer statues and copies ofaloaly. Along the streets and under the market canopies, seamstresses work with old Singers that glisten in the sunlight. The big market is bustling with activity. You can watch blacksmiths at work. Betioky is also the starting point for a tour of the Mahafaly necropolises. These imposing stone tombs, topped by sculpted or painted funerary stelae, can measure up to 12 m on each side! Often located near tracks or on promontories, they are surrounded by bush: aloes, baobabs, thorn bushes... The skulls of sacrificed zebus that adorn these veritable funerary fortresses are a sign of wealth and prestige: their number is proportional to the means available to the deceased.In fact, while the houses of Mahafaly villagers are simple straw huts, their eternal homes (at least those of the wealthiest) are monumental. Life is just a passage, the essential comes afterwards... The sculptures(aloaly) that overhang the tombs take the form of houses, zebus or soldiers in uniform. Each of these representations is linked to events in the life of the deceased, reminding us of his passions, his civil status..