Madagascar from Diego Suarez (Antsiranana): Red (Rouges) Tsingy – Half-Day Tour

A real spectacle of sculpture and colors, the Tsingy Rouges or the Red Tsingy will offer a magnificent recollection to the fascinated and patient visitors. Shaped by the wind and the rain, they are unique in Madagascar…
The beauty of the tsingy, real hidden treasures, is really worth the travel. Certainly beautiful pictures of your journey.
The resemblance of form with the Tsingy of Ankarana gave its name to this set of circuses whose nature is quite different. This sight worth seeing is a sandstone formation made of small sandstone needles, which are located inside a small canyon and very photogenic. In contrast to all other Tsingys of Madagascar, the red ones are not of limestone and much smaller, restricted to only this single canyon. They are not sharp monoliths but ephemeral formations sculpted by erosion in sandy lateritic soil that gives them magnificent colors, from red to ocher to white and pink. The beautiful red color origins from laterite and gleams most brightly if the sun is shining on the needles.
It was not before the middle of the 20th century when these sandstone needles were discovered. Since the Tsingys are made of sandstone, they have been and will be eroded by weather and time – but at the same time, “new” Tsingys appear through new erosions along the canyon all the time. They have just been waiting for their discovery beneath the soil like their relatives did.