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All Madagascar Antsalova Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park and Nature Reserve

Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park and Nature Reserve

Fabulous formations, weird and wonderful wildlife.

Antsalova, Madagascar

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About

The word tsingy is indigenous to the Malagasy language as a description of the badlands of Madagascar. The word can be translated into English as "where one cannot walk barefoot."

The tsingys are karstic plateaus where groundwater has undercut the elevated uplands, gouging caverns and fissures into the limestone. Because of local conditions, the erosion is patterned vertically as well as horizontally. In several regions on western Madagascar, centering on this National Park and adjacent Nature Reserve, the superposition of vertical and horizontal erosion patterns has created dramatic "forests" of limestone needles.

Surpassingly difficult to traverse, this landscape has created refuges within a refuge, where endemic species can be subdivided into pockets perhaps as small as a single limestone spike. Most expeditions to the area find a plant or animal previously undescribed by science. Wonders await around every corner - if your shoes haven't been chewed away by the harsh terrain.

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Animals Natural Wonders Geological Oddities Geology Nature

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Edited By

atimian, Collector of Experiences

  • atimian
  • Collector of Experiences

Published

November 23, 2011

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  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsingy_de_Bemaraha_National_Park
Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park and Nature Reserve
Antsalova
Madagascar
-18.67918, 44.622829
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Madagascar

Africa

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Explore the Destination Guide

Photo of Madagascar

Madagascar

Africa

Places 7
Stories 15

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