Marojejy National Park

Marojejy National Park (/məˈroʊdʒɛdʒiː/) is a national park in the Sava region of northeastern Madagascar. It covers 55,500 ha (214 sq mi) and is centered on the Marojejy Massif, a mountain chain that rises to an elevation of 2,132 m (6,995 ft). Access to the area around the massif was restricted to research scientists when the site was set aside as a strict nature reserve in 1952. In 1998, it was opened to the public when it was converted into a national park. It became part of the World Heritage Site known as the Rainforests of the Atsinanana in 2007. "Unique in the world, a place of dense, jungly rainforests, sheer high cliffs, and plants and animals found nowhere else on earth", Marojejy National Park has received plaudits in the New York Times and Smithsonian Magazine for its natural beauty and rich biodiversity that encompasses critically endangered members of the silky sifaka. To that end, a global consortium of conservation organizations, including the Lemur Conservation Foundation, Duke Lemur Center and Madagascar National Parks, have sought to promote research and conservation programs in Marojejy National Park, neighboring Anjanaharibe-Sud Reserve and Antanetiambo Private Reserve, to protect the endemic flora and fauna that reside in northeastern Madagascar. In addition, these organizations have implemented a variety of community-based initiatives to mitigate human encroachment on the park, such as poaching and selective logging, by encouraging local communities to engage in afforestation and silvicultural initiatives to promote a sustainable alternative to mining, slash-and-burn agriculture, and wood collection.

The wide range of elevations and rugged topography of the massif create diverse habitats that transition quickly with changes in altitude. Warm, dense rainforest can be found at lower elevations, followed by shorter forests at higher elevations, followed still by cloud forest, and topped near the peaks with the only remaining undisturbed mountain scrub in Madagascar. Better growing conditions for plants can be found on the eastern side of the mountains, which receives more rain than the western side. This habitat diversity lends itself to high levels of biodiversity. At least 118 species of bird, 148 species of reptile and amphibian, and 11 species of lemur are known to occur within Marojejy National Park. One of the lemurs, the silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus) is listed among "The World's 25 Most Endangered Primates". The helmet vanga (Euryceros prevostii) is considered the iconic bird species of the park.

One path leads from the entrance of the park to the summit. There are three camps along the route: Camp Mantella at 450 m (1,480 ft) in elevation in lowland rainforest, Camp Marojejia at 775 m (2,543 ft) at the transition between lowland and montane rain forest, and Camp Simpona at 1,250 m (4,100 ft) in the middle of the montane rainforest. Camp Simpona acts as a base camp for the trek to the summit, a route that stretches 2 km (1.2 mi) and can take up to four or five hours to traverse.

Marojejy National Park is located in the northeast of Madagascar between the towns of Andapa and Sambava and extends approximately 32 km (20 mi) from east to west and 22 km (14 mi) from north to south. It is centered on the chain of mountains known as Marojejy Massif. Despite a scientific survey of some of the other mountains in the region by the 1929 Mission Zoologique Franco-Anglo-Américaine, Marojejy was not surveyed until 1937 when L.-J. Arragon of the Service Géographique de Madagascar ascended Marojejy Est. Arragon did not conduct any field research during his visit. The massif was not geologically described until after the French botanist Jean-Henri Humbert from the National Museum of Natural History in Paris explored the mountains in 1948. Humbert had previously explored numerous mountain ranges in continental Africa before going to Marojejy. Between November 1948 and November 1950, he spent five months collecting 4,039 dried plant (herbarium) specimens for study. After several expeditions, he published the book "A Marvel of Nature" in 1955, in which he claimed the massif was the most impressive range in all of Madagascar because of its size, floral diversity, and pristine natural state.

Marojejy was set aside as one of Madagascar's strict nature reserves in 1952 largely due to Humbert's enthusiasm and support. Under this protection, only research scientists were permitted to visit the site. In 1998, Marojejy was converted into a national park and thus became open to visitors.

Originally seen as a transition zone between the eastern rainforests and the central highlands, Marojejy is now recognized as having its own unique features, with some of the richest biodiversity on the island. Several studies from the early 1970s through the 1990s surveyed the mountain ecosystems and inventoried the flora and fauna. In 2007, Marojejy was listed as a World Heritage Site as part of the Rainforests of the Atsinanana. Due to illegal logging and trafficking of valuable hardwoods, and especially after the 2009 political crisis in Madagascar, the Rainforests of the Atsinanana was added to the list of World Heritage in Danger in 2010.

The boundaries of Marojejy National Park were originally established by approximation when the park was established in 1952. With a second decree (no. 66-242) from the government of Madagascar in 1966, the park's status as a strict nature reserve was reaffirmed, and its boundaries were marked by 89 points. From these markers, the size of the park was estimated at 60,150 ha (232.2 sq mi). At the time, two families were living 450 m (1,480 ft) within the park boundaries, which initially was permitted under the conditions that they did not extend their cultivated land into the park or allow others to join them. The families were later expelled for violating these conditions. Many families from the local communities did not understand why such a large area so rich in resources and necessary for their survival was forbidden to them, and between the late 1980s and 1993, they stopped honoring the status of the park. They began clearing the outer edges of the reserve to start plantations of vanilla and coffee. In 1993, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the Service des Eaux et Forêts renewed conservation efforts in the area, evicted the people living inside the reserve, and renegotiated the borders with the local community, based on the 1966 decree. Trails and posts were then used to clearly mark the edges of the reserve. In the years following these events, many communities living near the borders of the park have become more involved in forest surveillance, and deforestation has fallen off sharply to only a few hectares a year.

In 1998, the WWF requested that the government of Madagascar relax the restrictions on the reserve to allow for ecotourism, the revenue from which could benefit the people living in the periphery of the park. With a decree (no. 98-375) in May 1998, the reserve became a national park. The boundaries were renegotiated, particularly in the western and northwestern regions of the park, and this time using clear natural landmarks, such as ridge crests, as markers. The size of the park was adjusted to 60,050 ha (231.9 sq mi), with some western communities gaining access to untouched forest zones while communities in the northwest lost agricultural land. Approximately 5,000 ha (19 sq mi) had been illegally cleared within the park and are still part of the park. There are now 91 boundary markers and the boundaries are georeferenced. Intermediate boundary markers are placed between existing markers to demarcate the edges of the park during disputes with the local community.