The East Sudanian savanna is a hot, dry,

tropical savanna Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands is a terrestrial biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. The biome is dominated by grass and/or shrubs located in semi-arid to semi-humid climate regions of subtropical and t ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

and

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

Geography

The East Sudanian savanna is the eastern half of the Sudanian savanna belt which runs east and west across Africa. The eastern lies east of the

Cameroon Highlands The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...

, and west of the

Ethiopian Highlands The Ethiopian Highlands is a rugged mass of mountains in Ethiopia in Northeast Africa. It forms the largest continuous area of its elevation in the continent, with little of its surface falling below , while the summits reach heights of up to . ...

. The

Sahel The Sahel (; ar, ساحل ' , "coast, shore") is a region in North Africa. It is defined as the ecoclimatic and biogeographic realm of transition between the Sahara to the north and the Sudanian savanna to the south. Having a hot semi-arid c ...

belt of drier

acacia ''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...

savanna lies to the north, and beyond that is the

Sahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. More humid

forest–savanna mosaic Forest–savanna mosaic is a transitory ecotone between the tropical moist broadleaf forests of Equatorial Africa and the drier savannas and open woodlands to the north and south of the forest belt. The forest–savanna mosaic consists of drier f ...

ecoregions lie to the south. The

Sudd The Sudd (' or ', Dinka language, Dinka: Toc) is a vast swamp in South Sudan, formed by the White Nile's ''Mountain Nile, Baḥr al-Jabal'' section. The Arabic language, Arabic word ' is derived from ' (), meaning "barrier" or "obstruction". The ...

flooded grasslands in

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the C ...

divide the ecoregion into eastern and western blocks. The land is mainly flat, although there are some hillier sections around Lake Albert and in western

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. * the western block covers portions of northern

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, southernmost

Chad Chad (; ar, تشاد , ; french: Tchad, ), officially the Republic of Chad, '; ) is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to the north, Sudan to the east, the Central African Republic ...

, northern

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

, and southeastern

. It is bounded on the south by the

Northern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic The Northern Congolian forest–savanna mosaic is a forest and savanna ecoregion of central Africa. It extends east and west across central Africa, covering parts of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Suda ...

ecoregion. * the eastern block lies in a belt stretching from northern

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

along the

Ethiopia–Sudan border The Ethiopia–Sudan border ( ar, الحدود الإثيوبية السودانية; ''ye’ītiyo sudani diniberi'') is a disputed border between the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Republic of the Sudan since the 19th centur ...

region, bounded on the east by the

western lowlands The Western Lowlands ( sq, Ultësira Bregdetare or Ultësira Perëndimore) is a physiogeographical region encompassing the western edge of Albania. It comprises the flat plains extending in the west along the Albanian Adriatic and Ionian Sea Co ...

of Ethiopia, on the southeast by the

Northern Acacia–Commiphora bushlands and thickets The Northern ''Acacia''–''Commiphora'' bushlands and thickets are a tropical grasslands, savannas and shrublands ecoregion in eastern Africa. The ecoregion is mostly located in Kenya, extending north into southeastern South Sudan, northeastern ...

ecoregion, on the south by the

Victoria Basin forest–savanna mosaic The Victoria Basin forest–grassland mosaic is an ecoregion that lies mostly in Uganda and extends into neighboring countries. The ecoregion is centered north and west of Lake Victoria, with an outlier on the border of Ethiopia and South Sudan.Bu ...

in Uganda, and on the southwest by the Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic.

Climate

The climate is a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry winter) and ''As'' (for a dry summer). The driest month has less than of p ...

and a hot

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

''Aw'' and ''BSh'') with a dry season and a wet season and the temperature being warm and hot year-round.

Examples

Flora

Typical species are deciduous ''

Terminalia Terminalia may refer to: * Terminalia (festival), a Roman festival to the god of boundaries Terminus * ''Terminalia'' (plant), a tree genus * Terminalia (insect anatomy), the terminal region of the abdomen in insects * ''Polyscias terminalia'', a ...

'' trees with an undergrowth of shrubs and grasses such as ''

Combretum ''Combretum'', the bushwillows or combretums, make up the type genus of the family Combretaceae. The genus comprises about 272 species of trees and shrubs, most of which are native to tropical and southern Africa, about 5 to Madagascar, but ther ...

'' and tall

elephant grass The term Elephant grass may refer to the following grass species: * The Asian '' Miscanthus giganteus'', also known as giant miscanthus, commonly used as a biomass crop * The African '' Cenchrus purpureus'', also known as Napier grass, Uganda grass ...

(''Pennisetum purpureum''). There are more than 1,000 endemic plant species.

Fauna

Threatened species include the

African bush elephant The African bush elephant (''Loxodonta africana'') is one of two extant African elephant species and one of three extant elephant species. It is the largest living terrestrial animal, with bulls reaching a shoulder height of up to and a body ...

(''Loxodonta africana'') (in Chad and the CAE),

East African wild dog The African wild dog (''Lycaon pictus''), also called the painted dog or Cape hunting dog, is a wild canine which is a native species to sub-Saharan Africa. It is the largest wild canine in Africa, and the only extant member of the genus '' L ...

(''Lycaon pictus lupinus''),

Northeast African cheetah The Northeast African cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii'') is a cheetah subspecies occurring in Northeast Africa. Contemporary records are known in South Sudan and Ethiopia, but population status in Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan is ...

(''Acinonyx jubatus soemmeringii''),

African leopard The African leopard (''Panthera pardus pardus'') is the nominate subspecies of the leopard, native to many countries in Africa. It is widely distributed in most of sub-Saharan Africa, but the historical range has been fragmented in the course ...

(''Panthera pardus paruds''),

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; short, rounded head; round ears; and a hairy tuft at the end of its tail. It is sexually dimorphi ...

(''Panthera leo''), and

giant eland The giant eland (''Taurotragus derbianus''), also known as the Lord Derby eland and greater eland, is an open-forest and savanna antelope. A species of the family Bovidae and genus ''Taurotragus'', it was described in 1847 by John Edward Gray. ...

(''Taurotragus derbianus'').

Urban areas and settlements

In Cameroon the region is more or less contiguous with the North Region, where

Bénoué National Park Bénoué National Park is a national park of Cameroon and a UNESCO designated Biosphere Reserve. It is in size. The park has a wide frontage to the Bénoué River, which stretches for over , forming the eastern boundary. The public road to Tcho ...

and

Bouba Njida National Park Bouba Njida National Park is a List of national parks of Cameroon, national park of Cameroon. A total of 23 antelope species occur in the park. The painted hunting dog, ''Lycaon pictus'', had been observed in Bouba Njida National Park at the start ...

contain some of the endangered species mentioned above. In Chad East Sudanian savanna covers the south including the industrial city of

Moundou Moundou () is the second largest city in Chad and is the capital of the region of Logone Occidental. The city lies on the Mbéré River (a tributary of the Western Logone) some 475 kilometres south of the capital N'Djamena. It is the main cit ...

, Chad's second largest city, the oil town of Doba and the cotton-growing towns of

Sarh Semi-active radar homing (SARH) is a common type of missile guidance system, perhaps the most common type for longer-range air-to-air and surface-to-air missile systems. The name refers to the fact that the missile itself is only a passive det ...

and

Pala Pala may refer to: Places Chad *Pala, Chad, the capital of the region of Mayo-Kebbi Ouest Estonia * Pala, Kose Parish, village in Kose Parish, Harju County * Pala, Kuusalu Parish, village in Kuusalu Parish, Harju County *Pala, Järva County, vi ...

. In the Central African Republic the region covers the sparsely populated north of the country, the larger towns include

Bossangoa Bossangoa is the capital of Ouham, one of the 14 prefectures of the Central African Republic. The town has a population of 36,478 (2003 census). It is located 303 km (189 mi) north of the country's capital, Bangui. The Ouham River pa ...

. In Sudan west of the

swamp east Sudanian savanna covers the

Bahr el Ghazal Bahr el-Ghazal (Arabic بحر الغزال , also transliterated ''Bahr al-Ghazal'', ''Baḩr al-Ghazāl'', ''Bahr el-Gazel'', or versions of these without the hyphen) may refer to two distinct places, both named after ephemeral or dry rivers. Chad ...

area including the town of Wau. East of the Sudd the ecoregion runs north to south from northern Uganda, through south-eastern Sudan east of the

White Nile The White Nile ( ar, النيل الأبيض ') is a river in Africa, one of the two main tributaries of the Nile, the other being the Blue Nile. The name comes from the clay sediment carried in the water that changes the water to a pale color. ...

(including the area around the southern cities of

Juba Juba () is the capital and largest city of South Sudan. The city is situated on the White Nile and also serves as the capital of the Central Equatoria State. It is the world's newest capital city to be elevated as such, and had a populatio ...

and

Eastern Equatoria Eastern Equatoria is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 73,472 km². The capital is Torit. On October 1, 1972, the state was divided into Imatong and Namorunyang states and was re-established by a peace agreement signed on 22 Febru ...

around

Torit Torit is a city of Eastern Equatoria State in South Sudan. History On 18 August 1955, the Equatoria Corps mutinied at Torit, starting the First Sudanese Civil War. In 1964 the military government in Khartoum closed "all the Christian mission ...

), and up along the Ethiopia–Sudan border. Much of this area has seen combat in recent decades and is in various states of reconstruction.

Threats and preservation

Seasonal cultivation and herding are lifestyles which lead the population of the savanna to overgraze,

overharvest Overexploitation, also called overharvesting, refers to harvesting a renewable resource to the point of diminishing returns. Continued overexploitation can lead to the destruction of the resource, as it will be unable to replenish. The term app ...

the trees for firewood or charcoal and cause fires. This has reduced the woodland considerably. However large areas of unspoilt habitat remain even outside protected areas, especially compared with the more heavily populated

West Sudanian savanna The West Sudanian savanna is a tropical savanna ecoregion that extends across West Africa. Geography The ecoregion stretches east and west across West Africa, from the Atlantic coast of Senegal to the Mandara Mountains on Nigeria's eastern borde ...

. Poaching is another problem, indeed the

black rhinoceros The black rhinoceros, black rhino or hook-lipped rhinoceros (''Diceros bicornis'') is a species of rhinoceros, native to eastern and southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Tanzania ...

(''Diceros bicornis'') and

northern white rhinoceros The northern white rhinoceros or northern white rhino (''Ceratotherium simum cottoni'') is one of two subspecies of the white rhinoceros (the other being the southern white rhinoceros). Formerly found in several countries in East and Central Afr ...

(''Ceratotherium simum cottoni'') were formerly native to the ecoregion but have been eliminated through over-hunting.

Protected areas

24.68% of the ecoregion is in protected areas. Protected areas include

in Cameroon,

Bamingui-Bangoran National Park and Biosphere Reserve The Bamingui-Bangoran National Park complex is a national park and biosphere reserve located in the northern region of the Central African Republic. It makes up part of the Guinea-Congo Forest biome. The Vassako Bolo Strict Nature Reserve is in ...

Andre Felix National Park The Andre Felix National Park is a national park found in Central African Republic, contiguous to Radom National Park in Sudan. It was established in 1960 and its area is 951 km. Park consists of a lowland, a fairly open forest in the nort ...

, and

Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park Manovo-Gounda St. Floris National Park is a national park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Central African Republic prefecture Bamingui-Bangoran, near the Chad border. It was inscribed to the list of World Heritage Sites in 1988 as a ...

in the Central African Republic,

Zakouma National Park Zakouma National Park is a national park in southeastern Chad, straddling the border of Guéra Region and Salamat Region. Zakouma is the nation's oldest national park, declared a national park in 1963 by presidential decree, giving it the highes ...

in Chad,

Gambella National Park Gambella National Park, also spelled Gambela National Park, is a large national park in Ethiopia. It is the nation's largest national park and is located several hundred kilometers from Addis Ababa. It was established in 1974, but is not fully p ...

in Ethiopia, Dinder National Park and

Radom National Park Radom National Park (alternate Al-Radom Reserve; ar, محمية الردوم الطبيعية) is a biosphere reserve in South Darfur, Sudan, Africa. Most of it is disputed nowadays between Sudan and South Sudan, as the area of Kafia Kingi, whic ...

in Sudan, Boma National Park and

Kidepo Game Reserve The Kidepo Game Reserve is a protected area located in Ikotos & Budi County, Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan, Africa. With an area of 1200 km2, this reserve is located 4° 04'N and 33° 28'E on the South Sudan/Uganda border, where it forms a ...

in South Sudan, and

Kidepo Valley National Park Kidepo Valley National Park is a national park in the Karamoja region in northeast Uganda. Kidepo is rugged savannah, dominated by the Mount Morungole and transected by the Kidepo and Narus rivers. Location Kidepo Valley National Park is loc ...

in Uganda. Most protected areas are severely under-resourced, and apart from hunting for sport in the

there is little wildlife-based tourism.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Sudan Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Cameroon Ecoregions of the Central African Republic Ecoregions of Chad Ecoregions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Ecoregions of Eritrea Ecoregions of Ethiopia Ecoregions of Sudan Ecoregions of South Sudan Ecoregions of Uganda Grasslands of Sudan Grasslands of the Central African Republic Grasslands of Cameroon Grasslands of Chad Grasslands of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Grasslands of Eritrea Grasslands of Ethiopia Grasslands of Uganda Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands