Expert Reviews of Zombitse-Vohibasia National Park (2 Reviews)

Surrounded on all sides by sweeping grasslands and cleared fields, Zombitse-Vohibasia is an oasis of protection for a surprising number of species. The park’s numbers are easy to state: 72 bird species and eight species of lemur call this forest home. But each one is a remarkable story of survival. And the story of one species in particular haunts me, because it brings into crystal-clear focus the extinction crisis facing our planet: this small patch of forest is the only place on earth where one bird species, the Appert’s greenbul, survives. Lose this forest, and we lose this species forever. To see it flitting through the undergrowth on my most recent visit was one of my all-time birding highlights. And finding the tiny, nocturnal and endangered Hubbard’s sportive lemur sleeping by day in tree hollows was a major lemur highlight, even by the standards of this lemur-rich country.

The RN7 cuts through the middle of the park, and guides (who really know their birds) wait

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by the roadside to take visitors along the short but rewarding network of walking trails that snake their way through this precious forest.