The Inner Niger Delta flooded savanna occupies the vast inland delta of the Niger River in central Mali, a green oasis set within the semi-arid Sahel just south of the Sahara between the towns of Djenné and Tombouctou. It is the largest inland wetland in West Africa and the second largest on the continent after Botswana's Okavango Delta. Its defining rhythm is seasonal flooding: rains falling on Guinea's Fouta Djalon highlands from roughly May to September send a flood surge that reaches the delta around October, expanding the wetland dramatically before it contracts in the hot dry months. Characteristic plants include bourgou (Echinochloa stagnina) and beardgrass (Andropogon gayanus) on the floodplains, flooded forests of Acacia kirkii with some Ziziphus mauritiana, and stands of doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica) and African fan palm (Borassus aethiopum). The delta is a globally important bird wintering ground, drawing over a million waterbirds in wet years including hundreds of thousands of garganey and northern pintail, with the Nile monitor as its flagship species and several Ramsar sites recognizing its value. Gardeners in hot, strongly seasonal climates may know the heat- and flood-tolerant doum and Borassus fan palms as striking architectural ornamentals native to this region.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 15.7°N, 4.1°W.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
12b-13a
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
12b-13b
Plotwright
Where the CHELSA models say the typical winter month is heading.
Average warming this ecoregion is on track for: +3.8°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
Flooded Grasslands & Savannas
Realm
Afrotropic
Approximate area
17,771 sq mi
Conservation tier
Half Protected (Dinerstein NNH 1)
About the flooded grasslands & savannas biome
Grasslands and savannas subject to seasonal or year-round flooding, including large wetland complexes. Exceptionally productive, they concentrate waterbirds and aquatic life.
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.
Climate-resilient picks · 4
These plants fit this ecoregion today AND remain in range under the mid-century SSP3-7.0 projection. Lead with these for a planting that holds up as the climate shifts.
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 flooded grasslands & savannas ecoregions to explore: