Betroka
Betroka is a town and region of about 112 km² with an approximate population of 12,000. The town lies on the N13 national route in the Tulear region of southern Madagascar. Betroka has a hospital and a small airfield suitable only for light aircraft is located close to town. The Onilahy River originates from the hills near Betroka and runs south west into the ocean where it deposits between Tulear and Anakao. The Special Reserve of Kalambatritra is located not far away from Betroka, an area rich in biodiversity, important not just here, but also for simultaneous presence of species in nearby regions.
The area is part of the Betroka-Beraketa shear belt, a tectonic structure rich in minerals. Deposit here have produced some of the finest color kornerupine stones, an increasing popular gemstone, which in the spiritual world is considered a teaching and communication stone, thought to stabilise emotional swings of manic-depressives and assists seeing through false agreements in one's current reality.... Other minerals found in the area include plagioclase gneisses with two-pyroxenes, leptinitic gneiss with garnet, sillimanite and cordierite, quartzites, metapelites with cordierite-orthopyroxene-garnet-plagioclase, with spinel and sapphirine, calc silicate.
