Sub-Saharan Africa - Climate Zones and Ecoregions

Climate Zones and Ecoregions

Further information: Afrotropic ecozone, Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands, and List of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions

Sub-Saharan Africa has a wide variety of climate zones or biomes. South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular are considered Megadiverse countries.

  • The Sahel shoots across all of Africa at a latitude of about 10° to 15° N. Countries that include parts of the Sahara proper in their northern territories and parts of the Sahel in their southern region include Mali, Niger and Chad.
  • South of the Sahel, there is a belt of savanna, (Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic) widening to include most of South Sudan and Ethiopia in the east (East Sudanian savanna).
  • The Horn of Africa includes arid semi-desert along its coast, contrasting with savannah and moist broadleaf forests in the interior of Ethiopia.
  • Africa's tropical rainforest stretches along the southern coast of West Africa and dominates Central Africa (the Congo) west of the African Great Lakes
  • The Eastern Miombo woodlands are an ecoregion of Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.
  • The Serengeti ecosystem is located in northwestern Tanzania and extends to southwestern Kenya.
  • The Kalahari Basin includes the Kalahari Desert surrounded by a belt of semi-desert.
  • The Bushveld is a tropical savanna ecoregion of Southern Africa.
  • The Karoo is a semi-desert in western South Africa.

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