Isalo National Park

Established in 1962, the Isalo National Park is located approximately 700 km southwest of Antananarivo and protects 815 km² of sandstone massif wildly eroded by wind and rain into bizarre ridges (known as “runiformes”) featuring wild forms, impressive gorges and canyons and tiny stalagmite pinnacles. The far Wild West reminiscent of the landscape, dominated by rugged massive that rises up from the flat surrounding grassy plain, attracts hikers from the whole world that gather here to admire the sweeping colours of this Jurassic scenery. The climate is dry tropical with warm temperatures all year around.
Though wildlife is here not as prominent as in other parks of the country, there are still a couple of species worth to look out: Ring-tailed lemurs, brown lemurs, sifakas and  14 nocturnal lemurs hide in dense vegetation along the streams.
The park homes also approximately 80 species of birds (including the rare Benson’s rock-thrush, the knob-billed duck or the crested ibis), 35 of reptiles and several endemic frogs.
The flora is indeed more interesting than the fauna. There are several local endemic plants among the 500 species which are found within Isalo, such as the elephant´s foot and some rare palms and aloe species.