Malagasy funeral arts vary from a region to an other . As they are a fully special attraction , we will particular pay attention to describe these that the visitors can easily discover during their journey .
The Malagasy people in its totality believes that after the death there is an other life among its ancestors in a next world which is not entirely defined .
The Malagasy attaches more importance to its burial than to its own habitation , it is the reason why the burial vaults where dead are intered are the object of a particular attention concerning as well as their construction and their decoration . Decorative drawings are typical to each region and represent very often the social status of its owner and its family.

In the south, with the Mahafaly and the Antandroy, a tomb called " Valavato " is constituted by a compact mass of parallelepipedic stones of 10 to 15 m of side on 1m of high topped by several Aloalo , a kind of wood poles richly sculpted with stylized subjects .
A more or less important quantity of zebu skulls strews the platform according to the social importance of the defunct and to the number of cattle killed during the funeral ceremony celebrated to its honor.

The building of the Valavato can take some weeks even some months according to the importance granted to its decoration , because besides the sculpture, naive paints illustrating life scenes of the defunct decorate facades ; sometimes the vault is topped by a sacred house , sign of nobility that can also be seen in the High lands , notably on Merina royal tomb .
The foreigner visitor is surprised to observe the flagrant contrast between the being modest small house adjacent to the vault beamind with all colors and built artistically , but when learning what the death means to this people, he understands everything .

In the southeast of the Island, the Antanosy sculpt magnificent wood statues to the image of the defunct but contrarily to the Mahafaly, they do not erect them on tombs but rather in well defined places . They also work the granite , the concrete for tombstones and zebu horns fixed on poles. Like those of the Mahafaly they evoke daily life scenes .

In Sakalava country the funeral art is very particular. The tombs are surrounded by a wood fence also topped by wood statues representing naked men and women in position evoking the sexuality that engenders the fertilization and the rebirth in the next world among ancestors. Some statues of the beginning of the last century betray the colonial installation in the region .
Contrarily to these of the south , these tombs are very sober, even sometimes entirely worn away by the sun , fissured by the time.
The visit of a Sakalava tomb is not quite easy because it is not located near the village but it also required a lot of ritual to come closer : offering of rum , prohibition of wearing shoes …….

Commemorative stones that can be seen in the middle of the fields or on the heights in the South or in the High land testify the death of a close relation far from its origins or native region .