Globally, tropical dry forests are under acute threats of anthropogenic disturbance, climate change, and fire. Hence it is urgent to understand their dynamics. Ankarafantsika National Park in NW Madagascar holds a rare example of primary tropical dry forests that support rich flora and fauna. We have established a 15 ha permanent monitoring plot in March 2019 to map all free-standing woody stems greater than 5 cm in diameter at breast height (DBH). By January 2020, we have completed mapping of 3 ha in the center, marking and recording locations of 8425 stems belonging to at least 103 species. The top 20 species account for 77% of the stems, including Dalbergia species (rosewood). We also started to record seed and litterfall in 120 trap 0.5 m2 each, in order to describe the reproductive phenology, fine litter production, and to study seed dispersal by endemic fauna, including lemurs, birds, and lizards. Our plan is to complete the mapping and analyze tree species community, and to start the annual census of seedling recruitment, with a goal of creating a research infrastructure to understand the biodiversity and resilience of this unique dry forest ecosystem.