Country/territory: Madagascar
IBA criteria met: A1, A2, A3 (1999)
For more information about IBA criteria, please click here
Area: 11,490 hectares (114.90 km2)
Site description (2001 baseline)
The Ankaizina wetlands lie 5–10 km north of Bealanana and consists of Lakes Anakarefo, Beandrarazina and Matsaboramadio, Nanilezana marsh, and two other unnamed lakes. The area lies in an alluvial basin, ringed by hills of gneiss, granite, basalt and trachyte. The lakes are shallow and often turbid. The wetland complex is fed from the west by the Maevarano river and from the east by the Sofia and the Manampatrana. The water surface is partly covered by non-native water-hyacinth Eichhornia, and bordered in places by stands of sedge Cyperus, Raphia palms and grasses.
Key biodiversity
See Box and Tables 2 and 3 for key species. Ardea humbloti is a species normally associated with the West Malagasy biome.
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Ankaizina wetlands (Madagascar). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/ankaizina-wetlands-iba-madagascar on 24/12/2024.