Tsaratanana Reserve is a

nature 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 geologic ...

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 ...

.Madagascar National Parks - Tsaratanana
The park is located at a high altitude and is closed to the public. The reserve provides a significant amount of water to the area, and many rivers exist in the area, such as the Bemarivo River, Sambirano River and the Ramena or Mahavavy River. The reserve also has two

waterfalls A waterfall is any point in a river or stream where water flows over a vertical drop or a series of steep drops. Waterfalls also occur where meltwater drops over the edge of a tabular iceberg or ice shelf. Waterfalls can be formed in several ...

and thermal baths. It includes Maromokotro peak which is the highest mountain of Madagascar at The forests in the park are threatened with

illegal logging Illegal logging is the harvest, transportation, purchase, or sale of timber in violation of laws. The harvesting procedure itself may be illegal, including using corrupt means to gain access to forests; extraction without permission, or from a p ...

due to obtaining areas for illegal cultivation of marijuana, vanilla and rice.

Geography

It is located north of Bealanana 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 ...

. The park covers an area of 48,622 ha.

Flora and fauna

Most of the park is in the

Madagascar subhumid forests The Madagascar subhumid forests are a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion that covers most of the Central Highlands (Madagascar), Central Highlands of the island of Madagascar. They are inclu ...

ecoregion. Some high-elevation areas are in the Madagascar ericoid thickets ecoregion.Tsaratanana
DOPA Explorer. Accessed 28 August 2022. The reserve is home to animal species that cannot be found anywhere else in the world, including at least four species of endangered frogs: ''

Rhombophryne guentherpetersi ''Rhombophryne guentherpetersi'' is a frog of the family Microhylidae. It is endemic to northern Madagascar and known from the Tsaratanana Massif. It inhabits high-elevation forest and, perhaps, montane grassland, at elevations of above sea leve ...

,'' ''

Rhombophryne ornata ''Rhombophryne'' is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It is currently estimated to include more than 23 species, but only 20 of these are currently described. The common name 'diamond frog' has been proposed and used for members ...

'', ''

Rhombophryne tany ''Rhombophryne'' is a genus of microhylid frogs endemic to Madagascar. It is currently estimated to include more than 23 species, but only 20 of these are currently described. The common name 'diamond frog' has been proposed and used for members ...

'', and '' Cophyla alticola''.

References

Protected areas of Madagascar Diana Region Madagascar subhumid forests Important Bird Areas of Madagascar {{Africa-protected-area-stub