Torotorofotsy Wetlands Guided Walk

Torotorofotsy is the largest and most intact natural marsh in eastern Madagascar. It is located about 7 kilometres north-west of Andasibe, being delimited in the west by the Angavo River and in the east by the Betsimisaraka escarpment.

The marsh lies in a basin, elongated along a north-east–south-west axis, and has an indented boundary. It is surrounded by convex hills, with three isolated hillocks in its centre. The Sahaparasy River flows across the marsh and 70% of the site’s area is covered by marshy grassland, with permanently waterlogged and peaty soils in the basin, dominated by spike-rushes, ferns, and sedges.

At the basin overflow and along the western edge there is marshy forest, with abundant screw-pines, palms and Voacanga trees, while the whole marsh is surrounded by degraded humid evergreen forest and wooded savanna.

Sixty-nine bird species are known from the site, of which 33 are endemic to Madagascar. Torotorofotsy is one of two sites currently known for Sarothrura watersi, while Anas melleri probably also breeds at the site.