Selous Game Reserve, Tanzania Photograph by David Olson   Southeastern Africa: Tanzania and Mozambique Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands   186,800 square miles (483,900 square kilometers) -- about the size of California and Maine combined Relatively Stable/Intact

· Woodland Wonders
· Special Features
· Did You Know?
· Wild Side
· Cause for Concern
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Woodland Wonders

The Eastern Miombo Woodlands ecoregion of East Africa forms the eastern part of a large expanse of woodlands that runs through Africa from the Congo Basin and eastern African savannas west to Angola. The landscape has undulating, gently sloping ridges interspersed with shallow, flat-bottomed valleys ("dambos") that are often seasonally waterlogged. The ecoregion is sparsely settled and possesses a great deal of biological diversity, including endemic lizards, herds of antelopes, and a few rare black rhinoceroses.

Special Features

This ecoregion extends from central Tanzania south into the northern half of Mozambique, including Lake Malawi. The habitats of the region include open grassland and woodlands. Fire plays an important role in the Miombo Woodlands. Average temperatures range between about 60 and 85° F (15-30° C) throughout the year, and rainfall averages about 24 to 40 inches (600-1,000 mm) annually. In the wettest areas, miombo trees can reach 40 to 60 feet (12-18 m) in height. Elevations are lowest near the Indian Ocean and higher in inland areas.

	African wild dog puppies are born blind and helpless in burrows--usually one that has been dug by an aardvark!

Wild Side

Few large-bodied herbivores occur in this ecoregion due to the harsh environmental conditions, such as the long seasonal droughts and the low nutritional value of the vegetation. Some of the antelope species that inhabit these woodlands include waterbuck, eland, and sable antelopes. In addition, you may spy the Lichtenstein's hartebeest feeding in the miombo woodlands. Over 20,000 hartebeest have been recorded in the Selous game reserve. Lions, cheetahs, leopards, and wild dogs are among the carnivores that can be found in parts of this ecoregion. Other species include African buffaloes, African elephants, hippopotamuses, Nile crocodiles, and small numbers of endangered black rhinoceroses. Due to annual droughts and frequent fires, many species are seasonally dependent on non-miombo sites in the ecoregion for food, water, or shelter. These "refuges" also provide a greater variety of habitats, resulting in much greater species diversity. For example, sable antelopes, which are largely confined to the miombo woodlands, move into more open grassy areas during the dry season. Other species in this ecoregion include birds such as Stierling’s woodpeckers and corncrakes as well as shovel-snout frogs.

Cause for Concern

In general, this region is relatively intact, in part because the human population density is so low. Hunting of bushmeat has reduced some species' populations. African blackwood trees are heavily harvested to make musical instruments such as clarinets and piano keys, as well as for traditional and tourist-trade carvings. Black rhinos have nearly been extirpated due to hunting.

For more information on this ecoregion, go to the World Wildlife Fund Scientific Report.