After yesterday’s rather adventurous – yet somewhat inactive – journey to Bekopaka, we had finally reached our destination: the Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park. This UNESCO World Heritage Site is famous for one of the most unusual landscapes in Madagascar – vast areas of limestone formations that look like a forest of stone needles.
The formation of the Tsingys started millions of years ago, when the area was covered by the sea, leaving behind thick layers of limestone. Over time, rainwater and erosion gradually dissolved and reshaped the rock, creating a complex landscape of deep fissures, narrow canyons and razor-sharp limestone pinnacles. The result is what is known locally as Tsingy – a Malagasy word often translated as “where one cannot walk barefoot”. Having seen the formations, that description makes perfect sense.
Today we were heading for the so-called Small Tsingys, a first opportunity to explore this unusual terrain on foot. The hike turned out to be quite an adventure in its own right. The route led us through the limestone formations, sometimes squeezing through remarkably narrow crevices where there was barely enough room to pass. We explored caves, climbed through passages in the rock and reached several viewpoints offering a good overview of the bizarre landscape surrounding us.
It was a fascinating combination of hiking, a bit of scrambling and occasional contortions to get through the tighter sections. And all of this in a landscape that looked as if somebody had taken a giant collection of stone knives and simply planted them in the ground – a parachutist’s nightmare.
The views from above were equally impressive, revealing just how extensive this rocky labyrinth really was. The landscape brought back memories of the Pinnacles in Gunung Mulu National Park in Borneo … same, same – but different.
This was an amazing introduction to the Tsingys. The funny thing was that, at this point, we thought we’d already seen quite a lot. Little did we know what was waiting for us the following day – the Great Tsingys. Our training session was over. Tomorrow would be the main event!
