Sudanian Savanna

Sudanian savanna with bunchgrass tufts of Andropogon gayanus, Pama reserve, Burkina Faso.

The Sudanian Savanna is a broad belt of tropical savanna that runs east and west across the African continent, from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Ethiopian Highlands in the east. The Sahel, a belt of drier grasslands and acacia savannas, lies to the north, between the Sudanian Savanna and the Sahara Desert. To the south the forest-savanna mosaic is a transition zone between the Sudanian Savanna and the Guinean moist forests and Congolian forests that lie nearer the equator.

Ecoregion

The World Wide Fund for Nature divides the Sudanian Savanna into two ecoregions, separated by the Cameroon Highlands. The West Sudanian Savanna runs from the Atlantic Ocean to eastern Nigeria, and the East Sudanian Savanna runs from the Cameroon Highlands east to the Ethiopian Highlands.

Physiographic province

The Sudanian Savanna is one of the three distinct physiographic provinces of the larger African Massive division. Physiography divides this province into three distinct physiographic sections, the Niger Basin, the Lake Chad Basin, and the Middle Nile Basin.

Vegetation

The Sudanian Savanna is characterized by the coexistence of trees and grasses. Dominant tree species are often belonging to the Combretaceae and Caesalpinioideae, some Acacia species are also important. The dominant grass species are usually Andropogoneae, especially the genera Andropogon and Hyparrhenia, on shallow soils also Loudetia and Aristida. Much of the Sudanian Savanna region is used in the form of parklands, where useful trees, such as shea, baobab, locust-bean tree and others are spared from cutting, while sorghum, maize, millet or other crops are cultivated beneath.

See also

• East Sudanian Savanna — ecoregion
• Neolithic Subpluvial — ancient Green Sahara
• Sahel
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Sudan (region)
• Sudd — swamp in South Sudan

Gallery

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  West Sudanian Savanna (green) in West Africa

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  East Sudanian Savanna (green) in Central–East Africa

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  Sudanian Savanna vegetation in Burkina Faso