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Marojejy National Park is a national park in the Sava Region of northeastern Madagascar. It covers and is centered on the Marojejy Massif, a mountain chain that rises to an elevation of . 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. Despite its rugged terrain, poaching and selective logging are still persistent problems, particularly since the start of the 2009 political crisis in Madagascar. Mining, slash-and-burn agriculture, and wood collection also pose threats to the park and its wildlife. 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 in elevation in lowland rainforest, Camp Marojejia at at the transition between lowland and montane rain forest, and Camp Simpona at in the middle of the montane rainforest. Camp Simpona acts as a base camp for the trek to the summit, a route that stretches and can take up to four or five hours to traverse. ==History== Marojejy National Park is located in the northeast of Madagascar between the towns of Andapa and Sambava and extends approximately from east to west and 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 Henri Jean 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 transitional 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.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Marojejy National Park」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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