Limestone Kharst Formation (Tsingy)

Madagascar Ankarana

  The stony face of the Ankarana Reserve is uniquely and immediately recognizable. It boasts gigantic limestone massifs worn and shaped by the heavy Madagascar rains over hundreds of millions of years. Throughout the reserve the erosion has created large landscapes filled with pointy pinnacles known as “tsingy.” The term comes from the local Malagasy word for tiptoeing, evoking the way one might traverse the terrain by hopping from one stone spire to the next.

   In this image, a full 360 degree panorama of the Ankarana terrain is in view. Vast fields of the tsingy stretch as far as the eye can see, while the foreground displays the furrowed limestone textures in fine detail. Look close and you can make out fossil shells within the stone. 

Madagascar Ankarana NP-0833