Réserve Spéciale Ankarana is a striking and undeveloped fantasy-land, home to uniquely Madagascan sights: psychedelic fields of spiky tsingy (limestone pinnacle formations) next to dry forests. Running through and under the tsingy are hidden forest-filled canyons and subterranean rivers.The park is famed for its mysterious, bat-filled grottoes steeped in legend and history, where the Antakarana (the predominant ethnic group in northern Madagascar) took refuge from the Merina (the traditional ruling elite from the highlands) during the 18th-century tribal wars.
