Analamerana Special Reserve (or Analamera) is a

wildlife reserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, funga, or features of geologi ...

in the north of

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. The reserve was created in 1956 to protect its

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

plants and animals, such as the

critically endangered An IUCN Red List critically endangered (CR or sometimes CE) species is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. As of December 2023, of t ...

Perrier's sifaka Perrier's sifaka (''Propithecus perrieri'') is a lemur endemic to Madagascar. It was formerly considered to be a subspecies of diademed sifaka It has a very small range in northeastern Madagascar where its habitat is dry deciduous or semihumid fo ...

(''Propithecus perrieri''), which is considered to be one of the most endangered primates in the world.

Geography

Analamera is in the

Diana Region Diana is a region in Madagascar at the northern part of the island. It borders the regions of Sava to the southeast and Sofia to the southwest. It covers an area of 19,266 km2, and had a population of 889,736 in 2018. The regional capital is ...

, of northern

and the range in altitude is between sea level on the east coast, up to , within the highlands of

Ankarana Ankarana Special Reserve is a protected area in northern Madagascar created in 1956. It is a small, partially vegetated plateau composed of 150-million-year-old middle Jurassic limestone. With an average annual rainfall of about , the underlying r ...

. The reserve is a

karstic Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. There is some eviden ...

eroding limestone plateau, between the Indian Ocean and the Ankarana-Analamerana massif. It is bordered by the mouth of the Irodo River on the east, by the Iloky River to the south, in the west by streams flowing into the Anivorano River and on the north, steep rocks in the

Sava Region Sava is a Regions of Madagascar, region in northern Madagascar. Its capital is Sambava. Until 2009 Sava belonged to Antsiranana Province. The region is situated at the northern part of the east coast of Madagascar. It is bordered by the region Dian ...

. The wet season is from November to March and the annual rainfall is from to . Due to the lack of infrastructure the reserve is difficult to access, with the best time to visit, during the dry season from May to September. The nearest town is

Anivorano Nord Anivorano Nord or Anivorano Avaratra is a municipality in Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Antsiranana II, which is a part of Diana Region. Primary and junior level secondary education are available in town. It is also a site of indust ...

. The roads around the reserve are poor and Diego Suarez provides the easiest access point.

Flora and fauna

Along the coast there is

mangrove forest Mangrove forests, also called mangrove swamps, mangrove thickets or mangals, are productive wetlands that occur in coastal intertidal zones. Mangrove forests grow mainly at tropical and subtropical latitudes because mangrove trees cannot withsta ...

and inland,

dry forest The tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest is a habitat type defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature and is located at tropical and subtropical latitudes. Though these forests occur in climates that are warm year-round, and may receive ...

with many rare species, including three species of

baobab ''Adansonia'' is a genus of medium-to-large deciduous trees known as baobabs ( or ). The eight species of ''Adansonia'' are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barb ...

, several

palm trees The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially ...

species and

wild coffee Wild coffee is a common name for several plants and may refer to: *''Coffea'', genus of flowering plants *''Diospyros whyteana'', tree native to Africa and cultivated as an ornamental *''Polyscias guilfoylei'', shrub cultivated as an ornamental *'' ...

. This is one of the last remaining areas where Perrier's sifaka remain. Other

lemur Lemurs ( ; from Latin ) are Strepsirrhini, wet-nosed primates of the Superfamily (biology), superfamily Lemuroidea ( ), divided into 8 Family (biology), families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are Endemism, ...

s on the reserve are the

crowned lemur The crowned lemur (''Eulemur coronatus'') is a lemur that is long and weighs . Its tail is about long. Description The crowned lemur is endemic to the dry deciduous forests of the northern tip of Madagascar. It eats a diet of mostly flowers, f ...

(''Eulemur coronatus'') and

Sanford's brown lemur Sanford's brown lemur (''Eulemur sanfordi''), or Sanford's lemur, is a species of strepsirrhine primate in the family Lemuridae. Sanford's brown lemur was previously considered a subspecies of the common brown lemur (''Eulemur fulvus'') but was ...

(''Eulemur sanfordi'').

References

External links

Madagascar National Parcs - Analamerana Reserve
{{authority control 1956 establishments in Madagascar Diana Region Special reserves of Madagascar Protected areas established in 1956 Madagascar subhumid forests Madagascar dry deciduous forests Important Bird Areas of Madagascar

Geography

Flora and fauna

See also

References

External links