Marotandrano Special Reserve 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 ...

Mandritsara Mandritsara is a city and commune (commune urbain, ) in northern Madagascar. It belongs to the district of Mandritsara, which is a part of Sofia Region. The population of the commune was estimated to be approximately 17,000 in 2001 commune cens ...

Sofia Region Sofia is a Regions of Madagascar, region in northern Madagascar. It is named for the Sofia River. It is the second largest Malagasy region (behind Atsimo-Andrefana) with an area of 50,100 km² (19,300 sq mi), and had a population of 1,500,227 ...

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 ...

. It is 10 km from Marotandrano and 42 km from

. The reserve covers an area of 67,119 hectares. About 95% of the local population is of the

Tsimihety The Tsimihety are a Malagasy ethnic group who are found in the north-central region of Madagascar.Tsimihety
E ...

ethnic group An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, re ...

. The reserve is rich in wildlife consisting of a variety of animal species, different mammals, lemurs, amphibians, birds and reptiles. The climate has two seasons, experiencing warm, humid and rainy weather from November to March, when some of the areas in the reserve will be inaccessible, and then the dry and cool from April to September. There are two large rivers in the region: Simianona and Sofia. The park is home to 140 species of birds, 12 species of lemurs, and carnivorous mammals including fossa. The vegetation is mid-altitude, dense, humid evergreen forest, lying at the western limit of such habitat. Trees of ''Tambourissa'', ''Dalbergia'', ''Onchostemum'' and ''Canarium'' dominate the upper layer, while the mid-stratum is characterized by tree-ferns, bamboo-lianas and palms. On the ridges, the lower vegetation layer is dense and characterized by thick grass clumps.

References

Madagascar National Parks
Special reserves of Madagascar Madagascar subhumid forests Important Bird Areas of Madagascar {{Africa-protected-area-stub