Spiny Forest — Ifaty Madagascar

The spiny forest of southwestern Madagascar around Ifaty and Reniala is one of the world's most extraordinary botanical landscapes — a dense forest of tall Didiereaceae cacti found only in Madagascar, their spiny columns rising five to eight metres alongside enormous pachypodium succulents, baobabs in eight endemic species, and the tentacle-fingered octopus trees creating a surrealist vegetation community that appears to belong to another planet rather than the Indian Ocean coast. The Reniala Reserve near Ifaty allows walking among mature baobabs estimated at 800 years old, their bottle-shaped trunks three metres in diameter, the spiny forest canopy filtering the harsh Malagasy light into patterns of shadow and thorn that create a photographic landscape of extraordinary character. The spiny forest is home to the radiated tortoise — the most beautiful tortoise species in the world, with a starburst pattern of yellow on each black scute — and the lemur diversity of the southern forest, including the unique ring-tailed lemur and the sifaka, adds mammalian wildlife to the botanical spectacle. The running-leaping 'dancing' of the Verreaux's sifaka across the open areas of the spiny forest — propelling itself sideways on its hind legs with its arms raised — is one of Madagascar's most enchanting wildlife moments. The coastal setting of the spiny forest, with the Mozambique Channel's turquoise water visible through the cactus columns, adds a landscape drama of considerable beauty.