Ilakaka

Ilakaka is a small town in Ihorombe Region in the south western part of Madagascar.

After the discovery of one of Earth's largest known alluvial sapphire deposits in the valley of the Ilakaka river in 1998, the population had boomed to nearly 60,000 in 2005.

Ilakaka is in Ihosy District, Ihorombe Region, 735 km south of Antananarivo, near Isalo National Park.

[2] In 1998, after the discovery of an important sapphire mine, what was once a quiet rural village has been transformed into a Wild West town, a victim of "Sapphire fever," with thousands of arrivals hoping to stake a claim, complete with bars, brothels, and scores to settle.

The sheet metal shacks where the miners live have neither running water nor electricity, and there are very few paved roads.