This is the Western Madagascar chapter from Lonely Planet’s Madagascar guidebook.

Madagascar’s western region is famous for its bizarre-looking tsingy (karst) that create the kind of landscapes described in sci-fi novels. It is also prime baobab country, with some of the most iconic specimens looking every bit like their folk nickname ‘roots of the sky’.

• follow the sensational via ferrata (fixed-cable) mountain route in the Grands Tsingy at Parc National des Tsingy de Bemaraha
• maps
• travel through regions where no road goes during a boat trip on the Tsiribihina River
• transport
• splash about in the emerald-green water of the natural swimming pools at Grottes d’Anjohibe
• restaurants & accommodation

Coverage includes: Majunga (Mahajanga) & around, Parc National d’Ankarafantsika, Tsiribihina River Region, Miandrivazo, Belo-sur-Tsiribihina, Parc National des Tsingy de Bemaraha, Morondava & around, Réserve Forestière de Kirindy, Belo-sur-Mer and Parc National de Kirindy-Mitea.