The Southern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic stretches across the south-central Democratic Republic of the Congo and the northeastern corner of Angola, forming a broad transitional belt between the equatorial Congolian rainforests to the north and the woodlands and savannas of the Zambezian region to the south. True to its name, it is a patchwork of habitats: ribbon-like semi-evergreen gallery forests follow the rivers that drain northward into the Congo Basin, while open miombo woodland, savanna, and grassland cover the uplands as the land rises from the lowlands toward plateaus exceeding 1,000 meters. The climate is warm and tropical with marked wet and dry seasons, annual rainfall averaging about 1,400 millimeters (dropping to 1,200 in the drier southeast and rising to 1,600 along the northern margin) and mean temperatures ranging from roughly 18 to 30 degrees Celsius through the year. Its forests shelter the bongo, one of the largest forest antelopes, alongside African elephant, buffalo, and several small mammals found nowhere else, yet only about four percent of the ecoregion lies within protected areas. Gardeners may recognize regional flora such as Albizia and Parkia among its characteristic forest trees.
Marker placed inside the RESOLVE 2017 polygon at 5.7°S, 21.9°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.
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.
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 grasslands, savannas & shrublands ecoregions to explore: