Page 65 - Super Earth Encyclopedia

LIMESTONE

BLADES

FOREST OF KNIVES

In western Madagascar, an immense sheet of limestone
has been transformed into thousands of knife-like vertical
blades by the erosive power of tropical rain. The naturally
acidic rainwater has seeped into cracks and dissolved the
rock. This has created an extraordinary stone forest of
limestone pinnacles divided by deep canyons, and a
hidden network of limestone caves. The pinnacles have
dangerously sharp edges, and locally this terrain is
known as Tsingy, or “where you cannot walk barefoot.”

AT A GLANCE

• LOCATION Tsingy de Bemaraha
National Park, Madagascar
• AREA 255 sq miles (660 sq km)
• CLIMATE Tropical

• STATUS Protected as a World Heritage
Site due to its unique landscape
and wildlife

STATS AND FACTS
200
MILLION CAVES LEMURS
YEARS AGO The cave Eleven species
network beneath of lemur that
the stone forest are endemic to
FORMATION remains largely Madagascar live
unexplored. in the stone forest.
The Tsingy de
Bemaraha is one HIKING REPTILES
of two stone forests FORMIDABLE FORMATIONS
in Madagascar. The rocks are so More than 30
sharp that they species of reptile
can pierce the soles live among the
PINNACLES of hiking boots. stone pinnacles.
UP TO
230

FEET
(70 M)
HIGH
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