Madagascar - Of Time and Tides in the Barren Islands

Off the west coast of Madagascar in the Mozambique Channel is a group of flat coral islands called The Barren Islands. Until 2000 they were uninhabited, as water is hard to find on the islands and there are few resources to sustain human settlement.

The islands are now inhabited year round by a contingent of the Vezo people, a tribal people of coastal Madagascar who sailed their distinctive, finely crafted boats from the mainland and fish for their living. They have dug wells on land to find water to drink and grow vegetables,  making residence on the islands possible.

We arrived in Antananarivo and started to make our arrangements to get to the coast, which is not easy. The west coast of Madagascar is remote, with bad roads in a country famous for bad roads and many bandit gangs engaged in rustling cattle in this dry ranching country.