Marojejy National Park

Marojejy National Park is located in the SAVA region in the northeast of Madagascar. Geographically the park lays between the Androranga river valley to the north and the Lokoho river to the south, the Andapa basin to the west and coastal plains and foothills to the east. Marojejy National Park is characterised by its impressive massif, its primary forest that covers almost the entire site and its great richness in biodiversity and endemic species.

Marojejy National Park was classified as a Natural Reserve in 1952, as National Park in 1998 and UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. The park covers an area of 60,050ha at an altitude of 2,132m.

The predominant climate of Marojejy is tropical humid with an average annual rainfall of 1,936mm, with the maximum between November and June. The altitude plays an important role in the variation of climate. The rainfall is higher in altitude and more irregular and less in the north and northwest. In the lowland the average temperatures are about 22.3°C in July and 26.9°C in February, while on the Marojejy peaks they can go down to 1.5°C in the winter.

Two types of soil occur in Marojejy: Ferralitic soils at lower elevations and sandy peat soils beyond 1,800m. The park is dominated by a granite massif characterised by very rugged forest reliefs. It has a complex shape comprising a succession of parallel or divergent ridges from many sharp peaks with steep and irregular slopes.

The Marojejy National Park with its heavy rainfalls has a very branched and deeply embedded river system. This corresponds to powerful mountain stream characteristics with very steep gradients and a predominance of large boulders in the river beds. This river system consists of several rivers having their source in the park, of which the eight most important are: Andranomadio, Andranomifototra, Manantenina, Sambava, Soahitra, Andrahanjo, Andalangy and Antsaberaoka.

The dominant ethnic group is Tsimihety.

65km from Sambava along the tarred RN3B, the Marojejy National Park office is located 200m before Manantenina on the left side. From there it is 2.7km along a secondary road to the village of Mandena. From Mandena it is a 2.9km walk along a trail to the park entrance.

The approximate travel time by car from Antananarivo to the park is about three days. The first stretch goes along the RN4, thereafter along the RN6 (poorer condition) until Ambilobe, where the road splits direction Vohemar. This road is not passable during the rainy season from December to April! On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday a taxi-brousse leaves from Antananarivo (station Andranobevava and Anosibe Angarangarana) direction Andapa. A ticket costs 80,000 Ariary (2015). Alternatively, Air Madagascar and Madagasikara Airways offer regular scheduled flights.

Creation and Management

Before the independence of Madagascar, the Marojejy Massif has already attracted the attention of the colonial administration. On 3rd January 1952, Marojejy was classified Natural Reserve. Tis status was changed to National Park on 19th May 1998. In 2007, Marojejy National Park was declared UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The management of the reserve has undergone successive phases:

• During the first phase of the Environmental Program (1991-1998), it was jointly managed by the Forestry Department and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

• During the second phase, the main operator for its management was the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), under the coordination of ANGAP.

• From July 2004, this National Park is managed by ANGAP, today Madagascar National Parks, with its office in Andapa (Marojejy National Park, B.P. 19, Andapa 205, Madagascar, Tel: +261 (0)20 88 070 27).

Strategic Roles

Marojejy National Park plays a strategic role in the national network managed by Madagascar National Parks. Indeed, it is a gene pool for the network:

• It is one of the two protected areas of the network which is home to the lemur Propithecus diadema candidus - Silky sifaka or Simpona malandy in Malagasy (simpona = lemur and malandy = white).

Links

• Marojejy in Crisis - article from 2009