Montagne d'Ambre

Montagne d'Ambre National Park was created in 1958 at the northern tip of Madagascar, near Antsiranana, and protects some 182 km². It is one of the oldest national parks in the country.

The massif is volcanic in origin and rises to about 1,475 metres above a dry plain. That altitude intercepts the moisture and creates a rainy, cool microclimate completely unlike its surroundings: the result is an island of rainforest and cloud forest isolated in the middle of an arid region, with lakes occupying old craters, waterfalls and a permanently misty atmosphere.

That isolation has produced very marked local endemism. The park is home to species that exist nowhere else, among them several dwarf chameleons of the genus Brookesia — some of the smallest reptiles in the world, little more than a centimetre long — and leaf-tailed geckos of extraordinary camouflage. Among the lemurs, the crowned lemur and Sanford's brown lemur stand out. Its accessibility from Antsiranana and a well-maintained network of paths have made it one of the most visited parks in the north, and its name refers to the amber-coloured resin that some of its trees exude.