Isalo National Park
Parc national de l'Isalo
Interesting facts
- A 2024 archaeological study dated rock-cut niches at a site called Teniky, in the Isalo area, to the 10th to 12th centuries, possibly of Zoroastrian origin.
- The sandstones of the Isalo Group, laid down by braided rivers, reach a thickness of up to 6,000 metres.
- Two members of Sarcolaenaceae, a plant family found only in Madagascar, grow nowhere in the world except Isalo.
- Of more than 400 plant species recorded in Isalo, only about 10 are non-native, and over 70 percent are endemic to Madagascar.
- The Malagasy rainbow frog, a vividly patterned burrowing frog, is one of four amphibians known only from the Isalo area.
- On bare rock grows the elephant's foot, a squat swollen-stemmed Pachypodium, alongside the aloe Aloe isaloensis, found only here.
- Isalo holds some of the largest intact stands of tapia woodland, a fire-adapted forest type found only in Madagascar's highlands.
- Besides Bara graves, the canyons hold older burial sites of the Sakalava people.
- More than 100 bird species have been recorded, and the natural pools are a favoured haunt of Benson's rock thrush.
- Systematic botanical study of Isalo began in 1910 with collections by the French naturalist Henri Perrier de la Bâthie.
Why it is worth it
Isalo is a sandstone massif rising out of the dry grass plains of south-central Madagascar, and the national park that protects it, created in 1962, covers some 815 km². The rock was laid down roughly 200 million years ago, around the turn of the Triassic and Jurassic, as sands carried by rivers onto a delta; once lifted up, it was attacked by seasonal streams and wind along its horizontal beds and vertical joints. The result is a ruined-city landscape of ridges, towers, arches and balanced boulders, cut by canyons up to 200 m deep, with the rock glowing ochre and rust-red at the ends of the day.
The contrast is what makes Isalo memorable. On the open plateau the vegetation is sparse — grassland, scattered tapia woodland and squat succulents clinging to bare rock — but down in the canyons, where water lasts all year, ribbons of humid evergreen forest shade clear streams. The best known of these refuges is the Piscine Naturelle, a basin of transparent water fed by a small waterfall, and the Canyon des Makis, where ring-tailed lemurs move through the trees; Verreaux's sifakas and red-fronted lemurs also live in the park. Botanists value Isalo for plants found nowhere else: more than a dozen species are known only from this massif.
Isalo is also sacred ground. For centuries the Bara, a cattle-herding people of the southern plains, have placed their dead in caves and sheltered niches in the canyon walls, and these burial sites are still venerated by the community. Just outside the park along the road south, a natural sandstone opening known as the Fenêtre de l'Isalo, the Window of Isalo, frames the setting sun and has become the classic end to a day here. Walks range from a few hours to several days, and every visit is made with a local guide, as the park requires.
Getting there
The gateway is the small town of Ranohira on Route Nationale 7, the main road across southern Madagascar between Fianarantsoa and Toliara; park entry and guides are arranged there. Trailheads such as the Canyon des Makis, about 17 km from town, and the Window of Isalo viewpoint lie along or off the RN7 and need a vehicle. The nearest larger town by straight line is Beroroha, about 86 km away, and the nearest airport is Toliara (TLE), about 191 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
Isalo National Park is a National Park in the Ihorombe Region of Madagascar, in the southwestern corner of the Province of Fianarantsoa. The closest town is Ranohira, and the closest cities are Toliara and Ihosy. It is a sandstone landscape that has been dissected by wind and water erosion into rocky outcrops, plateaus, extensive plains and up to 200 m (660 ft) deep canyons. There are permanent rivers and streams as well as many seasonal watercourses. Elevation varies between 510 and 1,268 m.
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