The Drakensberg Escarpment Savanna and Thicket stretches across the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal Provinces of South Africa, in the Afrotropic realm, threading along the river valleys that drain the Drakensberg foothills. It is a mosaic of savanna and dense, semi-succulent thicket, rich in drought-adapted genera such as Euphorbia, Crassula, Delosperma, and Aloe. The climate is seasonal and relatively dry, with most areas receiving under 800 mm of rain a year, and the region stays virtually frost-free with temperatures roughly between 12 and 26 degrees Celsius. The ecoregion is one of the most cycad-diverse places in Africa, home to endemic and near-endemic species including the Kei cycad and the Albany cycad, yet less than one percent of it is protected and it faces overgrazing, invasive plants such as Lantana camara, and illegal cycad harvesting. For gardeners in warm, low-frost climates, several of its natives, the aloes, Crassula, carpeting Delosperma, and the cycads, are familiar ornamental and succulent garden subjects.

At a glance

About the tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands biome

Warm grasslands and savannas where grasses dominate and trees are scattered, maintained by seasonal rainfall, grazing, and fire. They support large herbivore communities and respond sharply to wet–dry cycles.

Catalog plants suited to this ecoregion

Computed from each plant's stated USDA zone range against this ecoregion's CHELSA-derived current zone range, with the CHELSA mid-century warming delta applied for the projection. Plants whose stated range falls outside both the current and projected zone end up dropped; the rest land in one of the three buckets below.

Collections for this ecoregion

No curated collection's plants all fit this ecoregion's zone range. We surface a collection only when every member would grow here — partial fits get filtered out rather than mislead. As the catalog and the curated set both grow, this section will fill in.

Related ecoregions