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The Glossary
Parc National de Isalo Travel Guide
The Isalo National Park is a real-life Jurassic Park. It covers almost 90 thousand hectares of Jurassic sandstone formations smacked in the middle of a bizarre, Arizona-like landscape of canyons, valleys, and waterfalls that are home to sacred burial sites, endemic lemurs, and some of the world's weirdest plants, including one that looks like an elephant's foot.
One of Madagascar's most popular parks, Isalo is the pride of the Toliara Province for its trails that can be hiked from several days to more than a week. Some of its paths can be trudged with a car. The best time to trek is between April and October, dry season. Among the sights to behold are brown, ringtail, and sifaka lemurs, green jeweled chameleons, and the rare Benson's rock-thrush. About 350 plant variants coexist with the park's 82 species of birds, 33 kinds of reptiles, 15 frog types, and 14 species of mammals.
Canyon des Singes (Canyon of Monkeys) is an interesting day walk from the nearest town, Ranohira. Here, hikers wait until nighttime when they can do a torchlight safari to see nocturnal animals. From Canyon des Singes, hikers journey along the Isalo Massif to Piscine Naturelle, a hot long walk but the landscape is breathtaking with hidden canyons, vivid ranges and eerie strata to observe. At Piscine Naturelle, a natural stone cave overlooks to a waterfall that plummet into a deep, green pool, which invites for a refreshing swim amid a surrounding of pandanus trees.
Upon climbing up the stony cliffs, one may come across the Bara people's burial sanctuaries, which are considered sacred and are flanked by visitors to ask favors from the dead. It is fady (taboo) to point at the tombs. Once the wish has been granted, it is customary that the visitor returns to express some gratitude.
Nonetheless, even without asking a deed from the dead, hikers will be immediately rewarded by an unearthly beauty donned by the park's terracotta horizon especially during sunrise and sunset. Campers may set up tents in crisp grasslands and bathe in creeks or oases with sparkling, turquoise waters, which sometimes gush from waterfalls like Ranohira Falls.
Outside the park, the La Maison d'Isalo has an admission-free interactive eco-museum that provides information about the Bara, the natives living in the park, as well as their harmonious relationship with the park's wilderness and biodiversity.
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