Madagascar Travel Information Guide - National Parks and Reserves

National Parks & Nature Reserves

The island of Madagascar, once described as 'Noah's Ark adrift in the Indian Ocean', has some of the highest biodiversity on the planet. The list of endemic species here is extraordinary: 97% of animals are unique to the island. Its dwindling forests are home to half the world's chameleon varieties, 300 species of butterfly, 28 kinds of bat, 150 types of frog and 260 different reptiles. Unique to Madagascar too are more than 50 types of lemurs and the half of its 201 resident bird species. Some species found here have their closest relatives not in Africa but in the South Pacific and South America. The island has no deer or antelope species, and also lacks large predators. There are however seven species of endemic carnivore species in the island, being the highly endangered fossa is the largest one. It is nocturnal and preys on lemurs and small domestic animals.

Andringitra National Park © Madagascar Travel Guide

The breathtaking Madagascar’s wildlife attracts yearly an increasing number of visitors targeting the big island in the Indian Ocean with their photo and video cameras. In fact it is lemurs that really draw wildlife enthusiasts here. 30 species of lemur populate almost all habitats of the country including the lush, wet, rainforest of eastern Madagascar and the very dry spiny desert in the southwest. Because of deforestation, the number of these teddy-like mammals is however steadily dwindling. Fifteen species have become extinct since humans arrived here. The most important threat is the traditional wood-clearance method called “tavy”, though significant measures have been implemented by government in an attempt to tackle this serious menace promoting eco-tourism and getting locals involved in the tourism profits.

Above we have only vaguely approached some of the impressive wonders of Madagascar’s fauna, completely ignoring the unbelievable flora of the country that boats plants and trees growing in the most crazy shapes.

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park © Madagascar Travel Guide

A trip to Madagascar is a truly defiance of anybody’s imagination. The unique landscapes of vermilion eroded soil cut in dizzy-making gorges and sharpen karstic needles, the fabulous dry forests peppered with amazing baobab trees and surreal spiny plants, the humid beauty of untouched rainforests in the Eastern park of the country, its mile long pristine coasts and marine parks bustling with a dreamy undersea life, the extraordinariness of the omnipresent wildlife… A trip to this remote corner of the planet will be carved in your memories for a lifetime. And you really do not need to be a biologist to appreciate why this huge island has deserved the nickname of the eight continent.