[2] These dry deciduous forests span the coastal plain with its limestone plateaus emanating virtually at sea level to higher altitudes to roughly 600 metres (2,000 ft).

Rainfall, ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 mm, is more abundant than in the spiny thickets and succulent woodlands, but lower than in the eastern lowland rainforests.

Moreover, some species like baobabs and Moringa have adapted by evolving the ability to store copious water in their large bulbous trunks.

[1] They include:[2][1] The Ankarana Massif consists of a limestone shelf which imposes a picturesque land-form on the few adventurers who find this remote forest.

As the limestone has weathered over geologic time, this karst formation often exhibits spiry pinnacles, called "tsingy" locally.

[4] The name derives from the Malagasy word which means "walk on tiptoe", used by the earliest settlers from around 1500 years ago to describe the sharpness of the rugged limestone shelves.

The Ankarana Special Reserve is one of the northernmost reaches of the Madagascar dry deciduous forests, and is very hot from December through March with this equatorial proximity.

Access to wildlife viewing is through strenuous hiking, given the elevation differences, complex terrain and heat, but four-wheel drive vehicles can reach most of the actual campsites.

The canopy height is typically 15 to 25 meters high, and is at its lowest at the coastal verge, where growth may be impeded by saline rocky soils.

Access to this forest is difficult since there are no roads connecting this peninsula to the Madagascar highway system; however, arrival by sea and by air are accomplished with some effort.

[9] In many places at the ocean edge as well as forest interior, several tree species are capable of taking root directly in the tsingy rocks.

Considering the lower precipitation rates on the west coast (about 1,300 mm per annum at Anjajavy Forest), the vegetation is surprisingly verdant in the beginning of the dry season, but eventually will become mostly leafless by late winter.

A large variety of birds are present including the endangered Madagascar fish eagle, which has four (of the approximately 99 known) breeding pairs resident in Anjajavy Forest.