The East African montane forests form a chain of isolated highland "islands" scattered across South Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, and northern Tanzania, crowning peaks such as Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Elgon, and the Aberdare Range above roughly 1,000 to 3,500 meters. These Afromontane forests shift with elevation, from moist broadleaf stands of Olea, Podocarpus, and tree ferns through drier single-dominant African juniper (Juniperus procera) woodland, into Hagenia abyssinica and dense montane bamboo near the upper limit. The climate is cool and tropical-highland, with distinct wet seasons around October to December and March to June, annual rainfall generally between about 1,200 and 2,000 millimeters, and frosts possible on the highest slopes. Though much reduced and now considered critically threatened, the ecoregion harbors many endemic birds, mammals, and reptiles and shelters megafauna including the black rhinoceros and African bush elephant.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 0.5°S, 35.6°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
13a-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +4.0°F by mid-century. SSP3-7.0 (current trajectory) · CHELSA v2.1 bio06 sampled across 10 of 10 points within this ecoregion's bounding box.
At a glance
Dominant biome
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Realm
Afrotropic
Approximate area
23,850 sq mi
Conservation tier
Nature Could Recover (Dinerstein NNH 3)
About the tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests biome
Warm, wet, highly productive forests — including tropical rainforests — with closed canopies, near year-round growing seasons, and the richest terrestrial biodiversity on Earth. Low seasonality and high rainfall sustain dense, layered vegetation from canopy to forest floor.
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.
Currently suited · 4
These plants fit the ecoregion as it is today, but the mid-century projection moves them outside their stated zone range — plan for them to struggle by 2070.
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
Other tropical & subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions to explore: