Montagne d'Ambre National Park is a
national park
A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...
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
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 park is known for 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 ...
flora and fauna, water falls and crater lakes. It is north of the capital,
Antananarivo
Antananarivo (Malagasy language, Malagasy: ; French language, French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known ...
, and is one of the most biologically diverse places in all of Madagascar with seventy-five species of
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
s, twenty-five species of
mammal
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...
s, and fifty-nine species of
reptiles
Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...
known to inhabit the park.
Geography
The park covers an area of on an isolated volcanic massif, of mostly
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
ic rock, above the surrounding dry region.
Attractions include spectacular waterfalls and several crater lakes. There are numerous rivers and streams and the park is a water catchment area for the town of
Antsiranana
Antsiranana ( ), named Diego-Suarez prior to 1975, is a city in the far north of Madagascar. Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region. It had an estimated population of 115,015 in 2013.
History
At the beginning of the 16th century, a Portugue ...
, which is surrounded by dry, sparse forests and semi-desert with succulent plants. Annual rainfall in the park is compared with around the town.
The area is named after the deposits of
copal
Copal is a tree resin, particularly the aromatic resins from the copal tree '' Protium copal'' ( Burseraceae) used by the cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica as ceremonially burned incense and for other purposes. More generally, copal includ ...
, a soft form of amber.
Amber is one of the most accessible parks in northern Madagascar. Bush taxis travel to
Joffreville daily from Antsiranana, taking about 45 minutes. On the trip up the mountain to the entrance of the park there are a few small villages and there is a lodge for guests at Joffreville.
Living in and around the park are the
Sakavala and
Antankarana peoples.
Flora and fauna
Most of the park is covered
montane rainforest
Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...
with trees up to tall and covered in
lianas
A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...
, orchids and ferns such as bird's-nest fern (''
Asplenium nidus
''Asplenium nidus'' is an epiphytic species of fern in the family Aspleniaceae, native to tropical southeastern Asia, eastern Australia, Hawaii (''ʻēkaha'' in Hawaiian), Polynesia,MacDonald, Elvin "The World Book of House Plants" pp.264 Popul ...
''). The forest is isolated from other rainforests by the surrounding
dry forests
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 ...
. There are plantations of
Eucalyptus
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...
and exotic conifers, pines, ''
Araucaria
''Araucaria'' (; original pronunciation: .ɾawˈka. ɾja is a genus of evergreen coniferous trees in the family Araucariaceae. While today they are largely confined to the Southern Hemisphere, during the Jurassic and Cretaceous they were glo ...
'' and an
invasive alien bush, ''
Lantana camara
''Lantana camara'' (common lantana) is a species of flowering plant in the verbena family (Verbenaceae), native to the American tropics. It is a very adaptable species, which can inhabit a wide variety of ecosystems; once it has been introduced i ...
''.
Over one thousand species of plants are recorded.
Of the twenty-five species of mammals in the park, endemics include eight species of
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, ...
, the
ring-tailed mongoose (''Galidia elegans'') and the
Malagasy civet (''Fossa fossana''). Thirty-five of the seventy-five species of birds are endemic including the
Amber Mountain rock thrush (''Monticola sharpei erythronotus'') which is only known from one area on the Amber Mountain massif.
The park is also known for its amphibians and reptiles such as the Amber Mountain leaf chameleon (''
Brookesia tuberculata''), which is one of the smallest reptiles in the world. There are thirty-five species of frog.
See also
*
List of national parks of Madagascar
*
Amber Forest Reserve
References
Sources
Official website (in French)
{{authority control
Diana Region
1958 establishments in Madagascar
Amber Mountain
Protected areas established in 1958
Madagascar subhumid forests
Important Bird Areas of Madagascar