Ankarafantsika

Ankarafantsika National Park was created in 2002 in north-western Madagascar, in the Boeny region, and protects some 1,350 km². The area had been protected under other designations since 1927, and its conversion into a national park unified the former strict nature reserve with the forest reserve.

It preserves one of the last large blocks of dry deciduous forest in western Madagascar, an ecosystem even more threatened than the rainforest of the east and of which only a minimal fraction survives. The trees lose their leaves during the long dry season and the landscape changes completely between seasons. The substrate is sandy and highly erodible: the lavaka, enormous red gullies opened in the deforested slopes, are the image of degradation across the whole region and are studied closely here.

Lake Ravelobe, at the heart of the park, supports Nile crocodiles and a notable waterbird fauna, with the Madagascar fish eagle, one of the most threatened raptors in the world. Eight lemur species live in the forest, among them Coquerel's sifaka, with its white coat and chestnut patches, and the golden-brown mouse lemur, as well as a community of chameleons and tortoises. Fire pressure, slash-and-burn agriculture and felling for charcoal are its main threats.