The sights of the BOENY - the caves of BELOBAKA
The caves of Belobaka is away 11 km east of the city centre of Mahajanga, in the rural Commune of Belobaka, District of Mahajanga II, Boeny region.
Accessible year-round, by car, by bike or motorbike, the visit to the caves of Belobaka can be done in June in December. In rain season, the visit is deprecated because the soil becomes slippery and landslide hazards are frequent.
The formation of the caves of Belobaka dated from the secondary era (worms 65 Million years) and continuing its process in Quaternary (worms 2,4 Million years). This period is marked by a high rainfall and a characteristic temperature giving Karst formations. Waters, over the years, have dissolved and corroded the pure limestone rocks and formed the caves.
Seepage, arriving air abandon a portion of the limestone they hold in dissolution and deposit it on the walls of caves in the form of "stalactite" and "stalagmites".. The caves of Belobaka consist of aragonite that contains unstable calcite.
The caves of Belobaka consist of 7 independent including caves 5 are inside a fence and are officially recognized and 2 recently discovered.
From the scientific point of view, these caves are a real bargain for paleontologists : discovery of the subfossil lemur and hippo (Hippopotamus laloumena) aged 18 000 years including the specimens are stored at MOZEA AKIBA of the University of Mahajanga. The Belobaka caves are also home to small mammals, bats, owls and ferns. A sizeable floristic diversity is also observed on the site.
On the cultural map, the first cave is home to a place of traditional worship where you can see the offerings, signs of gratification and appreciation.
In addition to the caves, the site has other attractions : lime kilns where villagers make fat lime from the limestone rocks ; the quarry and its paleontological dig site (site of hippos) at the West entrance and the careers of limestones of Mahajanga industrialists operating (CONCRETE West and STRAMCO).
