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As you’ll see from the photographs he made for this month’s story “Living on a Razor’s Edge,” it is hard. Really hard. To begin, it took him fi ve days to trek to Tsingy de Bemaraha national park and reserve from Madagascar’s capital, Antananarivo. When he, writer Neil Shea, and a team of scientists reached the area’s rugged limestone towers, they had to pick their way along knife-edge ridges that dropped off into 400-foot-deep canyons. “It was like walking on a pile of steak knives,” Stephen says. “I had little fear of falling 400 feet. The real fear was falling six inches and slicing my femoral artery.”
Because the going was so arduous, the team felt lucky to cover half a mile in a single day. One afternoon Neil tripped over a vine and landed on a sharp spike of limestone that punctured his knee nearly to the bone. It took two painful days for him to reach a nurse who treated the wound. She asked why he would ever want to go to a place like the tsingy. The answer is easy. Really easy. It’s because the tsingy is the kind of exotic, unexplored place National Geographic magazine has taken readers to for more than a century.
Photo: Luke Padget
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Comments
Oct 15, 2009 10AM #
i dont have words to describe the fantastic sight from this high near to the clouds , breathing pure air.
congratulations "Stephen Alvarez"
Oct 15, 2009 10AM #
Several years ago I had gone to the tsingy as well. At the time, we saw lemurs balancing along the tip of the razor sharp peaks. Madagascar is an amazing country and the people were so hospitable.
Anne
Oct 15, 2009 10AM #
Amazing is all I can say! There are no words to describe the photography. Thank you for sharing your adventure; after reading your article makes me want to visit Madagascar. I am intrigued by the razor sharp peaks of the limestone formations. Awesome! Please do share more....
Oct 15, 2009 10AM #
The Madagascar Stone Forest is a gorgeous, unique place to be able to visit but tourism may be a factor in harming the different species that live within the forest. From rock jumping lemurs, long tailed geckos, to colorful wildflowers, the Madagascar Stone Forest is the home for many types of animals, plants, and amphibians. The harmful impact of tourism could potentially harm this magnificent place through pollution, lack of respect, and the endangerment of animal habitats and destruction of plant life. People should consider the pristine beauty of this one of a kind forest.
Oct 15, 2009 10AM #
I didn't know exactly where to post this.
It just struck me - as I was reading this article on Borneo (November 2008) - that National Geographic is the only magazine whose writing has consistently blown me away over the past twenty years that I have been reading it - starting as an 8 yr old growing up in a small town in India - And I am not even referring to the depth of content or the fabulous photographs. Sometimes the writing is elevated beyond reportage to great literary works - I can't say the same of any other reportage that i read more or less consistently (Newsweek, Time, VQR, Foreign Policy or The New York Times).
The opening of this particular article reminded me of Steinbeck's opening pages in the East of Eden, where he describes the richness of the Salinas Valley.
I cannot thank you enough for illuminating me about our world since I was eight years old and helping me make conscious decisions to do my part in living gently on this planet.
Oct 15, 2009 10AM #
I actually read this very article in the national geographic magazine that it was in and loved it. Such a unique place!
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