During 1996, a nine member Anglo-Malagasy team of biologists conducted baseline bird surveys of Zombitse-Vohibasia forests that were soon to  become Madagascar's seventh national park.

Funding for the project came predominantly from the BirdLife International/Fauna and Flora International BP Conservation Awards, the Royal Geographical Society, University of East Anglia (UEA) Travel and Exploration Society and the Shell International Ltd, Cambridge Expeditions Fund.

Zombitse and Vohibasia are situated 120km east of Toliara and are the largest of several forest fragments that form the southernmost tracts of dry forest in Madagascar.They have a combined area of about 750km² and are entirely surrounded by a vast area of anthropogenic savanna.