Ranomafana National Park
is located in the Fianarantsoa Province of southeastern Madagascar, it is
about 2 hours drive from the city of Fianarantsoa and about 10 hours drive
from Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar. It became the fourth national
park in Madagascar when it was inaugurated on May 31, 1991.
Rano is Malgache for water; mafana is Malgache for hot. About a hundred years ago a Malgache discovered hot springs down in the valley, and the French created a spa around them. This has become the town of Ranomafana. In 1986 Hapalemur aureus were discovered in the forest about 6km from the town (and at about the same time Hapalemur simus were rediscovered) and Dr. Patricia Wright worked with the government of Madagascar to create a National Park to protect the two species.
The Park is on the edge of Madagascar's High Plateau, it is extremely mountainous, with elevations ranging from 600m to 1400m. The steepness of the slopes had preserved the park from exploitation before 1986. The range of altitudes allows for many different forest types, from lowland rainforest to cloud forest and high plateau forest.
The park is divided into a core protected zone of 41,500 hectares surrounded by a peripheral zone in which some exploitation of the forest is permitted. The peripheral zone contains more than 100 villages with over 25,000 residents total, most of whom are subsistence farmers.
(Photographs copyright © 1998-1999 by George Williams, text copyright © 1999,2000,2001 by George Williams)
Version: 12 June 2001