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Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park

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Bemaraha National Park
Map showing the location of Bemaraha National Park
Map showing the location of Bemaraha National Park
LocationMelaky, Madagascar
Coordinates18°40′00″S 44°45′00″E / 18.6667°S 44.75°E / -18.6667; 44.75
Area723.4 km2 (279.3 sq mi)
DesignationNational park
Established1 August 1997
Visitors10,093 (in 2011)[1]
Governing bodyMadagascar National Parks
Websitehttps://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.[2][3]

It is crossed by the Manambolo River.

Geology

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Satellite image of the park.

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.[2]

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.[3]

Biology

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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[4] 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.[3]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Plus de 255.000 touristes à Madagascar en 2012". Linfo.re. Antenne Reunion Télévision. Retrieved 2023-02-24.
  2. ^ a b "Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve". UNESCO. Retrieved 2009-11-01.
  3. ^ a b c 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.
  4. ^ 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.
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Media related to Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park at Wikimedia Commons

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