Marojejy

The Marojejy massif was discovered by French botanist Henri Jean Humbert of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris in 1948. Humbert had previously visited numerous mountains in continental Africa and Madagascar, before coming to Marojejy. It was while climbing the Tsaratanana massif in 1937 that Humbert spotted the silhouette of the Marojejy massif in the Andapa district from the summit of Amboabory at 2,800 m altitude. He decided to organize a special mission to study these mountains. Between November 1948 and November 1950, he spent five months collecting a herbarium of 4,039 samples for study. After his intense fieldwork and analysis of the specimens, he published the book Une Merveille de la Nature in 1955, in which he describes the massif as “the most impressive in all of Madagascar, both in terms of its size and diversity of flora, and its totally untouched state”.

As soon as he returned from the field, Humbert redoubled his efforts to defend Marojejy and get it classified. On August 28, 1951, Pierre Boiteau was appointed rapporteur for a request for an opinion from François Mitterrand, Minister for Overseas France5. The massif became Madagascar's 12th and last integral nature reserve in 1952. The decree creating the reserve was issued on January 01, 1966. Under this status, the reserve was off-limits to all but duly authorized scientific expeditions. In so doing, it undoubtedly enabled the massif to survive the demographic growth and multiple anthropic pressures of the area.

In 1952, management was taken over by the Malagasy government through the Administration des Eaux, des Forêts et de la Conservation de Sol.

In 1993, the WWF was delegated by the Ministry of the Environment to manage the park under its supervision.

With a view to granting maximum benefits to the surrounding communities, the Ministry of the Environment, Water and Forests, together with WWF, carried out a study to change the park's status to that of a National Park.

Thus, in 1998, Marojejy became National Park n°13 (decree n° 98- 375 of May 19, 1998), finally allowing the public to visit. This status will enable the local population to benefit from economic spin-offs through job creation in the ecotourism sector.

In 2007, Marojejy National Park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Atsinanana rainforest block, including Marojejy, Masoala, Zahamena, Ranomafana, Andringitra and Andohahela.

In 2009, during the political crisis on the Big Island, the illegal exploitation of precious woods in this World Heritage site was difficult to manage. In 2010, rosewood logging led to the Atsinanana rainforest being placed on the list of World Heritage in Danger.

In terms of management, WWF's involvement ended in December 2004.

In January 2005, the Association Nationale pour la Gestion des Aires Protégées took over management of the park.

On November 14, 2008, in order to promote management, the park was rebranded and its name changed to Madagascar National Parks, which continues to manage the park today.