The Andohahela National Park is situated in Anosy in the south-east of Madagascar. It is remarkable for the extremes of habitats that are represented within it. The park covers 760 km2 of the Anosy mountain range, the southernmost spur of the Malagasy Highlands and contains the last humid rainforests in the southern part of Madagascar. The park was inscribed in the World Heritage Site in 2007 as part of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana.

Access

This park can be accessed by the unpaved Provincial road RIP118 from Soanierana.

History

Andohahela has been a protected area since 1939 but did not become a national park until 1998.

Geography

Andohahela National Park is 40 km north-west of Fort-Dauphin and at the southern end of the Malagasy Highlands. The park is divided into three zones. The first, Malio, ranges from 100 m to the summit of Pic d' Andohahela at 1956 m, and has dense lowland and montane rainforest with more than two hundred species of tree ferns, orchids, wild vanilla, lemurs and many birds. The second, Ihazofotsy-Mangatsiaka, contains dry spiny forest with rare birds and reptiles in altitudes ranging from 100 m to 1005 m at the summit of Pic de Vohidagoro. The third zone, Tsimelahy, is mainly at an altitude of 125 m and contains the unique Ranopiso transitional forest. The mountains form a natural barrier to the moist trade winds that blow from the east, causing on the eastern side a rainfall of 1500 - 2000 mm per year that supports one of the few rainforests south of the Tropic of Capricorn. At the western edge of the park, the rainfall is just 600 - 700 mm per year and the resulting vegetation is a dry spiny forest characteristic of southern Madagascar. Several circuits within each of the habitat types of the park can be accessed by road from the town of Fort-Dauphin.

Flora and fauna

The variety of habitats within Andohahela is mirrored in the richness of species that are found there, and the park is the richest place in Madagascar for lemurs. Fifteen species have been recorded, including two of Madagascar's most emblematic species, the ring-tailed lemur and Verreaux's sifaka. Some rare species of geckos, turtles and snakes are among the 67 species of reptiles found in the park, 130 species of birds and fifty species of amphibians. The Triangle palm is found only here.