Menabe Antimena


Menabe Antimena is a protected area in Menabe region of western Madagascar. It belongs to the municipalities of Tsimafana, Beroboka, Bemanonga, Belon'i Tsiribihina, and Tsaraotana.
Menabe Antimena is on the west coast of Madagascar, south of the Mania River. It covers an area of dry forest, succulent woodland, mangroves, and secondary grassland and scrub. It includes the northern portion of the Kirindy Forest and the Avenue of the Baobabs.
Large areas have been illegally logged, burned, and converted to maize fields, which threatens the area's wildlife, including the critically endangered Madame Berthe's mouse lemur, the smallest primate in the world.

Tsiribihina mangroves

The Tsiribihina mangroves extend along the coast around the mouth of the Tsiribihina River. The mangroves are mostly within the reserve, with the portion north of the river outside it. There are about 20,000 hectares of mangroves, 8.5% of Madagascar's mangroves by area, along with lagoons, marshes, sandbanks, salt flats, and mud flats. About 40,000 waterbirds from 44 species live in the wetlands, including large numbers of lesser crested tern, lesser flamingo, greater flamingo, crab-plover, curlew sandpiper and sanderling. Threatened species include the Madagascar fish eagle, Madagascar teal, Malagasy sacred ibis, Madagascar heron, Madagascar plover, and Madagascar pratincole.
The wetland is also home to the lemur Verreaux's sifaka the Madagascan flying fox, and the critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle.
The Tsiribihina mangroves and were declared a Ramsar site in 2017, with an area of 47,218 ha. Deforestation upstream threatens the wetlands and offshore coral reefs with siltation.

Bedo wetlands

The Bedo wetlands are also within the Menabe Antimena protected area. They are located on the lower Mandroatse River, south of the Tsiribihina and north of the Morondava River, at the western edge of the Marandravy and Analabe forests. The wetlands are habitat for water birds, including the vulnerable Madagascar plover and endangered Madagascar teal and Madagascar heron. The Mandroatse River is home to the Marakely fish, a threatened Madagascar endemic, and the Nile crocodile.
Local people depend on the wetlands for fish and bullrushes, which are harvested for basketry and house roofs.
The Bedo wetlands were declared a Ramsar site in 2007, covering an area of 1,692 ha.