Bemaraha National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park) | |
Location | Melaky, Madagascar |
Coordinates | 18°40′00″S 44°45′00″E / 18.6667°S 44.75°E / -18.6667; 44.75 |
Area | 723.4 km (279.3 sq mi) |
Designation | National park |
Established | 1 August 1997 |
Visitors | 10,093 (in 2011) |
Governing body | Madagascar National Parks |
Website | https://www.parcs-madagascar.com/parcs/bemaraha.php |
The Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park is a national park located in northwest Madagascar. It is mainly within the boundaries of Antsalova District, with a small part in the northeast falling within Morafenobe District. The national park centers on two geological formations: the Great Tsingy and the Little Tsingy. Together with the adjacent Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve, the National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is crossed by the Manambolo River.
Geology
The Tsingys are karstic plateaus in which groundwater has undercut the elevated uplands, and has gouged caverns and fissures into the limestone. In several regions on western Madagascar, centering on the park and adjacent Nature Reserve, the superposition of vertical and horizontal erosion patterns has created dramatic "forests" of limestone needles.
The word tsingy is indigenous to the Malagasy language as a description of the karst badlands of Madagascar. The word can be translated into English as where one cannot walk barefoot.
Biology
The unusual geomorphology of the Tsingy de Bemaraha World Heritage Site, which encompasses both the National Park and the adjacent Strict Nature Reserve, means that the Site is home to an exceptionally large number of endemic species of plants and animals that are found only within extremely small niches within the tsingys. For example, the summit, slope, and base of a tsingy's limestone needle form different ecosystems with different species clinging to their exceptionally steep slopes.
See also
- List of national parks of Madagascar
- Madagascar dry deciduous forests
- Penitente (snow formation)
- Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve
- World Heritage Sites in Madagascar
References
- "Plus de 255.000 touristes à Madagascar en 2012". Linfo.re. Antenne Reunion Télévision. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
- ^ "Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve". UNESCO. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
- ^ Shea, Neil (November 2009). "Living On a Razor's Edge: Madagascar's labyrinth of stone". National Geographic. Archived from the original on October 22, 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
- Griffiths, O. L.; Herbert, D. G. (2013-03-08). "New Species of Land Snails (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from Two Isolated Karst Formations in Central Western Madagascar: Tsingy Beanka and Antsingimavo, with Additional Notes on Other Regional Endemics". African Invertebrates. 54 (1): 1–48. doi:10.5733/afin.054.0101. ISSN 1681-5556.
External links
Media related to Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park at Wikimedia Commons
National Parks and Reserves of Madagascar | ||
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Strict Nature Reserves | ||
National parks |
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Marine National Parks | ||
Special Reserves | ||
Other protected areas |