Ranomafana National Park

This national park, a biosphere reserve, is considered the wettest enclave on the island continent.

Malagasy legends say that it rains 365 days a year in Ranomafana. It is undoubtedly one of the best known and most spectacular parks in the country, (keep in mind that most of the national park is closed to visitors and only have access to scientists who study its enormous biodiversity) where you can observe with some difficulty numerous species of fauna and flora endemic to the island.

The Atsinanana Rainforest World Natural Heritage Site was declared by UNESCO in 2007, comprising six national parks stretching along the eastern coast of this island nation.

Its archaic forests stand on ferrallitic soils and are of essential importance in maintaining the ecological processes that are essential for the survival of Madagascar’s exceptional biodiversity.

This biodiversity is a consequence of the island’s geological history: after the definitive separation of Madagascar from the other land masses more than 60 million years ago, the Malagasy fauna and flora evolved in isolation.

The rainforests have been inscribed on the World Heritage List both for their importance for ecological and biological processes and for their biodiversity and the large number of endangered species they harbor, particularly primates and lemurs.

The entire Ranomafana National Park is located in the middle of the jungle, in a lush tropical rainforest of about 41,601 hectares and at an altitude between 600 and 1,400 meters above sea level. The great diversity of animal and plant species in the reserve has attracted the attention of numerous biologists and naturalists from all over the world for decades. For example, Ranomafana has more than 12 different species of lemurs (Propithecus EdwardsiHapalemur Aureus, Hapalemur Griseus Ranomafanensis, Eulemur Rubriventer, Cheirogaleus Major, Avahi Laniger, Prolemur simus (one of the most endangered species on the planet), Varecia Variegata…, in addition to hundreds of varieties of wild orchids, 1.500 varieties of ferns and 20 of bamboos, as well as more than 115 species of endemic and migratory birds that are distributed inside this wild forest, 90 of butterflies, 98 of amphibians, 74 of insects, 350 species of spiders, 13 of rodents, 58 of reptiles, 6 of fish and 7 species of carnivorous mammals and 20 of insectivores?

Ranomafana is nature in its purest form. The park should be visited on foot and accompanied by a local guide. Most of the circuits are organized from the Talatakely enclave, where numerous species of lemurs can be observed without difficulty, although special ornithological programs can also be carried out in the Vohiparara area, alternating hiking with a canoe ride at dusk on the Namorona River, where dozens of birds of different species can be observed.

A more ambitious program is to trek for about 6 hours to ascend to the jungle canopy and primary tropical forest where you can observe species of reptiles and lemurs among lush vegetation, which sometimes does not even allow us to pass through.

Source ©IndigoBe Magazine.