Manongarivo National Park, Madagascar

Manongarivo Special

Reserve is located in Northern Madagascar, and straddles the border of the “Diana” and “Sophia” regions of the country. It is rugged, with an elevation ranging from 180 to 1800 meters within the 650 square kilometers of the park. The highest peaks are on the southern end of the park, with surrounding peaks dropping in elevation closer to the northwestern borders. The lowest elevations are found on the western edge, where the Ano Malaza flows past the hamlets of Analanantsoa and Prositra. Manongarivo is an excellent place to see wildlife, including predators like the fossa and many species of birds. The area is also the exclusive home to the Sambirano Mouse Lemur and the Sambirano Woolly Lemur. Manongarivo acts as a last refuge for these species from habitat destruction occuring in the Sambirano River Valley, which is being developed for agriculture and logging. Another example of an endemic species is the ant Leptogenys manongarivo, which is named after the park. Though Malagasy ants are generally less appreciated than vertebrates by the public, this species is fairly unique not only because it is endemic to Manongarivo currently, but because this is its natural range that was not restricted to the park by humans. Manongarivo was originally founded in 1956 under the French colonial government as a research area. Since Madagascar’s independence, the government has collaborated with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to manage the park as a haven for biodiversity. Both WWF and the IUCN helped the Malagasy government set up a comprehensive parks system by training staff, organizing the research and knowledge of local scientists, and codifying new principles for conservation. Manongarivo was declared a “Wildlife Reserve” under this new system, which means that the Malagasy government is focused on the conservation of animal and plant species. The mountains within Manongarivo are a very important reservoir of water for the area. Many streams and rivers that support surrounding agriculture start in the highlands. The Sambirano Valley, which is the historical range of the eponymous Woolly and Mouse Lemur, lies to the East of Manongarivo and is fed by streams that begin inside the borders of the park. The Ano Malaza River also begins its journey in Manongarivo and flows all the way out to the Mozambique Channel on Madagascar's West coast. It passes towns like Maromandia, where it aids in agricultural irrigation and creates a large delta habitat as it spills into the ocean. The forests both in and around the park are threatened by logging of ebony wood. Ebony wood, which comes from a slow growing tree desirable for its acoustic properties, grows especially well in protected areas like Manongarivo. Logging continues to some extent even within the borders of the park however, because although the restructuring of the parks systems of Madagascar included the hiring of law enforcement rangers, they are spread too thin to halt logging altogether. Within the park, there is an office for public information/access, as well as guides to lead tours which help support conservation efforts. The park is also pubicly accessible from Beraty. Manongarivo may be a more obscure protected area, but it is well worth any visitor's time.