Avenue of the Baobabs

The Avenue of the Baobabs, or Baobab Alley, is a group of baobabs that line the dirt road between Morondava and Belon’i Tsiribihina in the Menabe region of western Madagascar.

Named “roots of the sky” by the Malagasy people, this ensemble is one of the most visited sites of the region, and the sunrises and the sunsets make this location truly spectacular.

Two dozen 30-metre high trees of the Adansonia grandidieri species, endemic to Madagascar, border this 260 metre long avenue. The baobabs, more than 800 years old, are known locally as renala (Malagasy for “mother of the forest”), and they are a legacy of the dense tropical forests that flourished in Madagascar. Trees did not grow in isolation in this dry and bushy landscape but were part of a dense forest that has now disappeared (there are only 10% of primary forests left in the country today).

This has been a protected area since 2007 and its conservation is the subject of local efforts including temporary protection in July 2007 by the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forests, which is the first step towards the classification of “National monument” in Madagascar. Conservation International, in partnership with Fanamby, a Malagasy NGO, has launched an ecotourism project aimed at conserving the area and improving economic conditions for the local community.