The Northern Congolian Forest-Savanna is a broad transitional band that arcs across central Africa from the Cameroon Highlands eastward through central Cameroon, the southern Central African Republic, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, southwestern South Sudan, and into Uganda, sitting between the equatorial Congolian forests to the south and the drier East Sudanian savanna to the north. It is a true mosaic of forest, open woodland, and grassland: gallery and semi-evergreen forest patches carry trees such as Afzelia africana, Khaya, Berlinia grandiflora, Pterocarpus santalinoides, and Terminalia, while the open ground is dominated by perennial bunchgrasses in the genera Andropogon, Hyparrhenia, and Loudetia dotted with scattered trees. The setting is a dissected plateau roughly 500 to 700 meters in elevation with a tropical savanna climate, a single wet and single dry season, and mean annual rainfall of about 1,200 to 1,600 millimeters. The African elephant is the ecoregion's flagship species, and protected strongholds include Garamba and Bénoué National Parks, though poaching and human-set fires that push grassland into forest remain major pressures. For gardeners, several native woody genera here are ornamental in their own right, including the flowering tree Stereospermum kunthianum and the African mahoganies of the genus Khaya.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 5.5°N, 22.0°E.
Climate snapshot for this ecoregion
°C
°F
Current zone range (2011–2040)
13a-13b
Plotwright
CHELSA-derived typical winter month at this ecoregion's bbox grid.
Projected (2041–2070)
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.
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
No catalog plants intersect this ecoregion's zone range. As the catalog grows to cover this region's climate band, suggestions will surface here.
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
Other tropical & subtropical grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: