{"id":1809,"date":"2018-04-08T04:57:50","date_gmt":"2018-04-07T18:57:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bluedottravel.com.au\/?p=1809"},"modified":"2022-11-18T16:07:42","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T05:07:42","slug":"the-big-tsingy-madagascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sydney-websites.com\/bluedotold\/the-big-tsingy-madagascar\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Tsingy &#8211; Madagascar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The highlight for many of us on our Madagascar trip has been the trip to the\u00a0Big Tsingy.\u00a0Just getting there is an adventure! After passing through ancient baobab forests we finally reached the Tsiribihina River where we loaded our 4WD vehicles onto the flimsy rafts that we shared with the local Malagasy. We were on our final leg to the village of Bekopaka, the entrance way to the remote and mysterious limestone labyrinths that make up the Tsingy National Park.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The spectacular mineral\u00a0forest\u00a0of\u00a0Tsingy de Bemaraha, affectionately known as the Big Tsingy, stands on the western coast of\u00a0Madagascar. Tsingy is the Malagasy word for \u201cwalking on tiptoes\u201d and the nearly impenetrable maze of limestone needles justifies this name.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The whole protected area, designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO in 1990, comprises a surface of 1.575 km\u00b2. This remote area was not a tourist trek until 1998, when the southern part was declared a National Park. The reserve\u2019s canyons, gorges, undisturbed forests, lakes and mangrove swamps display an astonishing richness of fauna and flora which have still not been completely recorded.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We started our ascent out of Bekopaka early in the morning and trekked through the shadows of the forest. Along the way we spotted several lemur species. The area has 11 species in total, including Decken&#8217;s sifaka, red-fronted brown lemur, fat-tailed dwarf lemur, grey mouse lemur or the Cleese&#8217;s woolly lemur and the Sambirano lesser bamboo lemur, which only occur here. Other resident mammals are the small carnivorous falanouc and the ring-tailed mongoose which predominantly hang out in the canyon floors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Once we had passed through the lush surrounding forest, we then entered the Big Tsingy by sliding through a series of narrow cave passageways to start our ascent to the top. \u00a0We climbed past layer after layer of razor sharp limestone pinnacles using our harness carabiners to hook on and off as required.\u00a0 A series of strategically placed ladders took us from ledge to ledge. Finally we made it to the top and crossed a swinging suspension bridge to reach the centre.\u00a0 The exhilaration of reaching our destination evaporated all of our anxieties \u2013 none of us had ever used a carabiner\u00a0before! But that was just all part of the Madagascar adventure and our special trip to the Big Tsingy. It should be on everyone&#8217;s top list of attractions in Madagascar.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">We have scheduled small group tours, family tours and private tours for 4 or more people to Madagascar.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The highlight for many of us on our Madagascar trip has been the trip to the\u00a0Big Tsingy.\u00a0Just getting there is an adventure! After passing through ancient baobab forests we finally reached the Tsiribihina River where we loaded our 4WD vehicles onto the flimsy rafts that we shared with the local Malagasy. We were on our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[260,258],"class_list":["post-1809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","hentry","category-africa","tag-madagascar","tag-the-big-tsingy","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Big Tsingy - Madagascar - Blue Dot Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Spectacular mineral\u00a0forest affectionately known as the Big Tsingy, stands on the western coast of\u00a0Madagascar. 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