What natural areas of Africa exist. What natural areas are in Africa? Characteristics of the natural zones of Africa

Africa is a rare place on Earth where geographical zoning triumphs. Nowhere are the natural zones of the continents so clearly demarcated. Africa shows this division right on the map. The extreme north and south are distinguished by hard-leaved evergreen forests with shrub undergrowth, followed by semi-deserts and deserts, then savannas, and in the center - variable-humid and permanent-humid forests. Such latitudinal zonality is slightly disturbed in the mountains and highlands, but there are few of them on the continent. This is Africa - the natural zones are delimited unusually clearly, with regard to climate, flora and fauna.

Attractions

In addition to the mainland, Africa also includes islands. There are not so few of them: let's compare the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe mainland - 30,300,000 square kilometers and the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe islands - 1,100,000. Madagascar - the largest island - has 587,000 square kilometers.

The most beautiful waterfall in the world is Victoria. This is one of the most outstanding sights of the continent. The Zambezi River plunges into a hundred-meter (very narrow!) crevice, more than a kilometer long and more than a hundred meters high. The noise of the water is heard within a radius of forty kilometers, while the spray and fog from falling water rise half a kilometer up, they can be observed at a distance of fifty kilometers. Nowhere else are there such amazingly beautiful lunar rainbows from the refraction of rays.

Northeast Africa is no less famous. Here, in the middle of the desert, Mount Kilimanjaro rises. This is an ancient volcano, which is the highest point of the continent (5895 meters above sea level). The fact that Kilimanjaro is amazingly beautiful can be seen for many tens of kilometers from any direction - the volcano, like a pillar, rises among the even Kenyan and Tanzanian savannahs. The sloping slopes look up to a flat elongated top - a two-kilometer giant calier, a vast basin at the peak of the volcano.

The lowest point of the mainland - Lake Assal - is 153 meters below sea level. This crater lake is located in Djibouti. Below this lake is only the Dead Sea.

It remains to add that there are fifty-seven countries in Africa, the largest in terms of area is Sudan. The climate in Africa is very hot, which is probably why the population overtakes all other continents except Asia. In terms of area, Africa also ranks second.

equatorial forest zone

On both sides of the equator, along the Congo Basin and on the coast of the Gulf of Guinea, there are both permanently humid and variable humid forests that Africa is famous for. Natural zones here were formed due to the difference in the amount of heat and moisture. The soils of the local forests - red and yellow - get all this in abundance.

Tropical forests are diverse. There are more than a thousand species of trees. The upper tiers - more than eighty meters high - formed ficuses, oil palms, cola trees and others. Below settled bananas, tree ferns, coffee trees (Liberian species), valuable sandalwood, rubber and redwoods,

Fauna of the rainforest

The animal world is rich and varied in these places. Numerous monkeys. In addition to monkeys and chimpanzees, they are represented by a dozen more species. Dog-headed baboons raid African plantations. These monkeys are distinguished by their rare ingenuity - they are only afraid of armed people, even a man with a stick in his hands will not force them to take to their heels. African gorillas - great apes - reach two hundred and fifty kilograms of live weight, are up to two meters tall and are afraid of few people at all.

East Africa is rich in coral fauna - more than four hundred species. Marine mollusks are especially widespread in the waters of the Western region of the Indian Ocean - more than three thousand species of gastropods alone. East African lakes are rich in freshwater molluscs.

South of the Sahara Desert settled up to twenty percent of the global diversity of the world of insects - more than one hundred thousand species. Many are very dangerous to humans - malarial mosquitoes, for example, or tsetse flies.

Freshwater fish in the lakes of the continent number three thousand species. There are more than two thousand marine fish in the Indian Ocean only in coastal waters. Among amphibians, the giant goliath frog is especially famous.

African reptiles

Reptiles, of which Africa is especially rich - the natural zones of the continent, one might say, are teeming with a variety of their species - settled almost everywhere. These are pelomedusa and land turtles, as well as belt-tailed lizards, skinks, agamas, monitor lizards of various species ... And the largest number of chameleons lives in Madagascar.

There are many dozens of species of snakes, among which the most dangerous for travelers are mambas, cobras, African poisonous vipers, and huge pythons. Crocodiles in Africa are also the most real and extremely dangerous - as many as three species: African blunt-nosed, African narrow-nosed and Nile.

Reptiles have settled everywhere, as geography allows - the natural zones of Africa, differing in climate, we repeat, are suitable for reptiles to live almost everywhere.

Birds and mammals

The inhabitants of Africa are more than two and a half thousand species of birds, among which many species are threatened with extinction. Typical for the continent: secretary bird, sunbirds, African ostriches.

There are especially many species of parrots, of the most famous, for example, Jaco. The most interesting birds are marabou storks, guinea fowls, turacos, hornbills, there are even penguins. A huge number of passeriformes - up to one and a half thousand species.

There is also a great variety of mammals in Africa - more than a thousand names. The East African Plateau is especially distinguished by the number of animals. Where the climate of Africa is changing, natural areas are characterized by the distribution of certain species of mammals. Tropical forests are inhabited by exotic species: viverras, needle-tailed flying squirrels, bushy-eared pigs, pygmy hippos, many species of antelope, okapi, duikers, bongos. There are only four species of great apes. And in Madagascar, charming lemurs and little arms have taken root.

The megafauna of Africa is represented most widely. There are no places in the world where such large animals as elephants, lions, hippos, giraffes, cheetahs and leopards, black and white rhinos have been preserved from prehistoric times ... It is possible to list which animals of the Mediterranean natural zone of Africa exist to this day. for a long time. These are antelopes, and buffaloes, and zebras, and hyenas, and porcupines, and warthogs. And all the rodents - hares and meerkats - are probably known only by specialists.

Savannah

The climate of Africa is also clearly divided by natural zones. To the south and north of the equator, the moisture content of the equatorial forests rapidly decreases, they become poorer in composition, and patches of savannas are introduced into the continuous forest massif. The jungle first thins out, then generally remains only within the boundaries of river valleys. Evergreen tree species are replaced by deciduous ones.

African savannahs cover about forty percent of the total area. Of course, they differ sharply from the forests of the equator. You can immediately see what natural zones are in Africa and how they are divided. The length of the rainy season greatly affects the appearance of the area - soils and vegetation change.

Not far from the equatorial forests, the rainy season lasts seven to nine months, so red or ferralite soils are formed, grass grows up to three meters high. Further to the north and south, where it rains for less than half a year, the soils are red-brown, the grasses are lower. But baobabs and umbrella-shaped acacias appear.

Closer to the border with the semi-desert, humidity decreases significantly, since the rainy season lasts only two to three months a year. Here the savannahs are deserted, thorny bushes and grasses grow: spurges and tree-like plants.

Sahara Desert

The natural zone of the deserts of Africa also occupies a significant area in both the northern and southern parts of the mainland. The largest desert is the Sahara, five thousand kilometers from east to west and two thousand kilometers from north to south. It crosses the mainland from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean.

In fact, there is a group of deserts, some very large, for example, Libyan, Arabian. In the north of the country Sudan - Nubian. In Algeria, the desert is called the Great Western and Great Eastern Ergi.

Here is the highest temperature on the globe - +59 in the shade. The most interesting thing is that the city of Tripoli is located on this territory. Here is the largest area in the world occupied by sandy deserts - six hundred thousand square kilometers. It is in these places that the smallest amount of precipitation on Earth - in a number of areas they never fall at all. And in Western Sahara, daytime and nighttime temperature differences exceed thirty degrees.

islands of life

Only in the oases of the Sahara is life beautiful: the vegetation is rich, the animal world is diverse. However, many animals have adapted to the climate of the desert itself: antelopes oryx, addax, gazelles run great distances in search of water. Rodents of the Sahara are numerous: hamsters, mice, jerboas, squirrels. Therefore, there are predators: hyenas, jackals, cheetahs, foxes. There are many birds - both migratory and permanently living in the desert. And of course, an abundance of reptiles: turtles, snakes, lizards.

Kalahari and Namib

South of the equator, two other famous deserts are the Kalahari and the Namib. The coastal Namib is large - one and a half thousand kilometers long - cool and very harsh. Vegetation, however, is diverse: spurges, crassula, endemic species. The velvichia plant is generally unique and grows only here - it has a short and thick stem, from which three-meter leaves spread along the ground.

The Kalahari is one of the hottest deserts in the world. In South Africa, it is also the largest - it spreads with sand across South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana. The most important thing is that it grows constantly and inevitably, moves forward in space: the desert has already come to Angola, Zambia and Zimbabwe, although this kingdom of sand already occupies about six hundred thousand square kilometers.

The desert scenery of the Kalahari is varied and magnificent. The sand is colored by nature in all shades of red - from pale pink to almost brown. The iron oxides contained in the sand have done their best here, but it seems that this ruthless sun has burned the earth red-hot. And it’s hard to believe that not too far to the north, multi-tiered tropical forests have been grown on their land by Africa, whose natural zones are distinguished by such sharp contrasts.

Everyone remembers a map of Africa's natural zones from a school geography course: the correct horizontal stripes that define the boundaries of climatic zones are almost symmetrical about the equator. The correct zonality is slightly violated only in the highlands, which are few on the African continent.

Rainforests

Variably and permanently humid tropical forests are located in the equatorial part of the mainland. The red phosphate soils of this part of Africa are rather poor, but the proximity of the equator, year-round hot and humid weather, support lush rich jungle vegetation in the Congo Basin and on the Atlantic coast near the Gulf of Guinea. The equatorial forests of Africa in the north and south of this range turn into deciduous and deciduous-evergreen, mixed forests. Here some or all of the trees lose their leaves during the dry season (3 - 4 months) and overgrow during the rainy season. Palm rainforests occupy the territory of Madagascar and the East coast adjacent to it.

Savannah

The savannah zone surrounds the forests of Central Africa. In the north, it occupies Sudan and the states surrounding it, in the south it extends to the southern tropic, to the whole of southern and eastern Africa. The savannah is heterogeneous: with the removal from the tropical forests, it becomes typical from the tall grass, and then deserted.

In the tall grass savannah, up to 1200 mm of precipitation falls annually, the rainless season lasts no more than 4 months. Here the soils of Africa are covered with dense and high grass cover. Elephant grass growing in high savannahs can reach 5 m in height. Groves and large mixed or evergreen forests occur in river valleys and along watersheds.

The dry season in a typical savannah zone lasts an average of six months or more. It rains up to 800 mm a year. The spaces are covered with grass, which can either completely burn out or grow up to 1 m in height. The dry savannah is characterized by solitary trees: various types of acacias and baobabs, as well as palm trees and tree-like euphorbia in the south and east of the continent.

The desert savannah zone, with a meager annual rainfall (up to 500 mm) and a long dry period (9 months), is still overgrown with grasses and thorny shrubs.

Deserts cover a huge part of North Africa. The largest desert in the world, the Sahara, is located there. Here there is an extremely rare hard-leaved vegetation adapted to arid conditions. In the north of the Sahara - these are cereals and shrubs, and in the south - only bushes. Vegetation can be found in the beds of periodically drying up rivers - oueds. For the economy of North Africa, the most important desert plant is the date palm. They are bred in oases.

In the deserts of South Africa: Karoo and Namib, poor African soils, many succulents grow: aloe, spurge, and shrubby acacia. Behind the southern deserts, semi-deserts begin, overgrown with succulents, tuberous, and bulbous plants. There are also deciduous-coniferous forests and forests of hard-leaved trees such as cork oak.

In the northern part of the African continent, deserts pass into subtropics, semi-deserts, overgrown with grasses (feather grass) and shrubs.

resources of the african continent

Once, almost the entire space of the African savannas was occupied by forests and light forests. Such a large number of steppes on the continent is the result of centuries of deforestation and burning of the equatorial forests of Africa, and grazing. Despite this, the plant and animal resources of all the natural zones of Africa are diverse, great and unique. More than 40 species of trees grow in the central regions of the continent, giving valuable wood (ebony, mahogany). Date palms and oil palms provide quality food for export, as does coffee, which is native to the Ethiopian highlands. Grains endemic to Africa: millet, sorghum, sesame, arose, castor beans, etc., have become part of the world's cuisine and culture. The new crops acclimatized on the mainland include: cocoa, hevea, peanuts, cassava, cotton.

The resources of the African fauna are no less rich: ivory and animal skins are widely known. Less well known is that attempts are being made to farm ungulates for meat: antelopes, hippos, zebras, etc. Breeding of European livestock breeds on the African continent is difficult due to the high mortality from tsetse fly bites. In the twentieth century, the number of endemic African animals of many species has declined sharply due to their uncontrolled shooting. Only in the second half of the century did the situation begin to improve thanks to the network of national parks created throughout the continent, in all natural zones of Africa. Now the number of many populations is being restored and maintained.

Travel to Africa with website

Do you want to see the equatorial forests of Africa or the Namib Desert with your own eyes? The site site will help you prepare in the best way for a trip to any corner of exotic and mysterious Africa. Reservation and selection of tickets for an airplane and other transport, reservation of a hotel room - the site for independent tourism will help with all this.

Natural areas have common characteristics of flora and fauna, as well as climatic conditions and landscape. Africa has several such zones, and the summary table shows well what their main differences are. The peculiarity of the location of the natural zones of the hottest continent is that they move symmetrically north and south from the equator.

Africa's climate is influenced by its proximity to 2 oceans. For example, the Atlantic Ocean significantly cools the climate of the western coast, so it is not as popular as the eastern one, warmed by the warm currents of the Indian Ocean. The natural zones of Africa (the table of climatic zones shows their main differences) can have different weather conditions.

So the savannah of Central Africa has completely different characteristics than the savannah in the south:

What natural areas is Africa located in?

Natural areas are largely affected by climate. Geographically, these zones do not have clear boundaries and are unevenly distributed.

There are 4 zones:

• Moist equatorial forests.
• Savannah.
• Tropical deserts and semi-deserts.
• Evergreen forests and shrubs.

Moist equatorial forests

Moist equatorial forests are located in the middle of the continent - along the equator. These forests occupy 8% of the continent.

Humid air and high temperatures create conditions for the growth of lush vegetation. Also, this area is densely populated with hippos and crocodiles, parrots, birds of paradise and vultures. Local predators are leopards and viverras, and ungulates are forest pigs, okapis, wild boars and antelopes.

Here is the largest variety of animals that live in trees - monkeys, monkeys, chimpanzees, gorillas and mandrills.

The natural areas of Africa (the table shows that this belt has the highest amount of precipitation) do not have an even distribution of flora and fauna. Most of the plants are located in this zone - about 13 thousand. Large trees predominate here. There are also many flowers, especially orchids and herbs. Due to regular rainfall, there are many swampy areas.

More than 3000 mm of precipitation falls here annually - this is a large amount of rain. Also, this zone has reserves of inland waters from the Congo River. The average annual temperature is + 28, here the air humidity is high - 80%. The farther from the equator, the lower the humidity.

Savannah

The natural zones of Africa, the table of which was given earlier, are inferior in area to the shrouds, which occupy 40% of the land. Rainfall here is up to 1200 mm per year, which creates completely different climatic conditions.

Therefore, there are 3 regions:

• Tall grasses.
• Low herbs.
• deserted.

Tropical deserts and semi-deserts

The natural zones of Africa, the table of which separately distinguishes tropical deserts and semi-deserts, have the feature of an arid climate. This zone is characterized by irregular and short-term rains. Its area clearly corresponds to the borders of the Sahara, Namib and Kalahari deserts.

This is the next natural belt after the savannas, which has the poorest flora and fauna on the African continent.

Semi-deserts are a transition from a dry landscape to savannahs, where annual precipitation does not exceed 300 mm. Plants are mainly shrubs, cereals and herbs, and the animal world is represented mainly by rodents, reptiles, various birds and herds of ungulates. A visual area of ​​semi-deserts is the Sahel, it separates the Sahara from the savannas.

Subtropical evergreen hardwood forests and shrubs

The natural areas of Africa have many differences from the evergreen forests that are located on the coasts of northern and southern Africa. Although the typical temperature here is +28 degrees, cold winds balance the weather and make it more enduring.

The Atlas Mountains, in Morocco, have a height of about 3 thousand meters. Because of this, there are frosts down to -15 in winter, a lot of snow. At the foot of these mountains, broad-leaved forests and meadows are developed. A distinctive feature of this natural belt in southern Africa is leguminous woody plants, which are the main food for many animals.

Table and map of natural areas of Africa

According to studies of local flora and fauna, 4 main natural zones are distinguished on the mainland. But they are not evenly distributed, so scientists divide them into another 10 natural areas - with more specific descriptions.

Natural areas are unevenly distributed. To better understand the nature of each part of Africa, the table will help:

Natural phenomena and environmental problems

Over the past decades, environmental problems have worsened here due to natural and industrial changes. The global problem of the inhabitants of the mainland - only 50% of the population has constant access to fresh water. The situation is aggravated by industrial centers that pollute water.

The problem with water is also manifested by droughts. The consequences of drought are typical in the zone near the Sahara, the area of ​​\u200b\u200bbecause of this, every year it expands deeper into the continent. Droughts also appeared in southern Africa - in 2013. In Namibia, a state of emergency was proclaimed, 90% of the crop died.

Africa is rich in raw materials. Therefore, here the states are constantly fighting against poaching by deforestation and hunting for animals. The scale of felling is catastrophic, it is the consequences of changes in the flora that already have climatic consequences. New seedlings simply do not have time to grow.

Another problem is the capture and depletion of agricultural land. International conflicts arise because of the extraction of diamonds, oil and gas.
Africa's global problem is the export of garbage from all over the world. This entails air pollution with mercury, complex metals and the destruction of local nature.

resources of the african continent

Africa is rich in a variety of natural resources, which are unevenly distributed throughout the mainland. Natural resources and raw materials are the main source of income for the local population, since industry and industry in African countries are underdeveloped.

The main income of local residents is from fishing and deforestation - legal and illegal.

Africa is considered to be a continent with a huge water supply, but it is unevenly distributed. The continent has impressive inland waters from the flow of the Nile, Niger, Congo, Zambezi, Limpopo and Orange rivers. Lakes Victoria, Nyasa, Tanganyika and Chad play an equally important role in water supply. It is important that 9% of fresh water reserves are concentrated in Africa.

The soils here are mostly wild. These are very large, but not particularly fertile areas. Therefore, only 10% of the area is legally cultivated. Also, self-grasping of soils is still very common here. 30% of the world's mineral resources are concentrated on the mainland. The most valuable here are diamonds, gold, platinum, uranium, cobalt and oil.

Fauna of the rainforest

The most popular inhabitant of the rainforests are gorillas. They live in families of up to 15 individuals and the weight of each of them reaches 300 kg. The peculiarity of these forests is a small number of predators. Only the leopard lives here. Hippos, antelopes and giraffes also live in the tropics. Also, 8 endemic reptiles live here, and the most popular is the tailless goliath frog.

Along the tropical coasts - there is a unique world of corals and mollusks. Tropical waters have good conditions for the aquatic world. About 3 thousand species of marine and freshwater fish are recited here.

The tropics are famous for various insects, of which more than 100 thousand species live here: tsetse flies, malarial mosquitoes, termites, Diptera, bees, ants and butterflies.

African reptiles

There are a lot of reptiles on the continent, regardless of the natural area. Most of all in Africa there are snakes. In addition to them, 10 species of lizards and 3 species of crocodiles are considered endemic.

The most popular turtles here are the land and pelomedusa.

Birds and mammals

In addition to migratory birds, another 2.5 thousand species live here, of which 111 bird species are on the verge of extinction. Africa is considered the owner of the richest animal world - a fifth of the world's fauna - African representatives. Only the number of mammals alone is 1.1 thousand varieties.

Their habitat is often limited to the eastern African plateau and the coast of the Indian Ocean. The highest number of representatives of megafauna is distributed here - animals weighing more than 45 kg - hippos, lions, elephants, leopards, giraffes, cheetahs, antelopes, buffaloes.

Africa is home to 45 species of primates - monkeys, galagos and baboons, gorillas and chimpanzees. They are not found only in Madagascar. The absence of monkeys in Madagascar is the main reason why the island has a unique and diverse population of lemurs - more than 100 species.

Sahara Desert

Sahara is the largest desert in the world, located in North Africa, occupies the territory of 8 states - Chad, Algeria, Niger, Mali, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania and Sudan. This is equal to 10% of the area of ​​the continent - about 8.6 square meters. km. At the same time, the Sahara, due to a decrease in water supply in this region, continues to grow towards the equator.

According to the amount of annual precipitation, the Sahara is divided into northern (200 mm), central and southern (20 mm). The entire Sahara is divided into 11 geographical regions.

The desert landscape is represented by 4 types: plains, insular mountains, highlands and depressions. Rocky deserts predominate in the Sahara, they occupy 70% of the area. In addition to rocky areas, there are also sandy and clayey areas in the Sahara. Throughout the territory there are oases - drainless pools of water. The only permanent watercourse is the Nile River.

The climate here is extra-arid. Most of the year, the Sahara is affected by the northern trade wind, it reaches even the central regions of the desert. The presence of strong winds significantly affects the temperature, they also cause frequent sandstorms and tornadoes here. The average daily temperature fluctuates from + 35 to +10.

The flora here is small due to difficult conditions. Most of the representatives of the animal world are nocturnal.

islands of life

Oases are literally islands of life in the middle of the desert. Their occurrence is facilitated by the proximity of groundwater to the surface of the earth, therefore, in oases there are always lakes or water sources with vegetation unusual for the desert.

Such islands of life exist throughout the Sahara, it is there that people live. They provide their inhabitants with the necessary conditions for an isolated existence.

Kalahari

The Kalahari Desert is located in the countries of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. But it is growing - over the past decades, its range has spread to Zimbabwe, Angola and Zambia. Desert area - 600 thousand square meters. km.

Although the Kalahari is called a desert, but according to geological studies, it is a xeromorphic savannah with deserted steppes. Geologically, it resembles the Sahara. But here there is a little more annual precipitation - 500 mm, which mainly falls in the summer, and the winter, although dry, is mild. Droughts are relatively rare here - about once every 5 years.

Kalahari is the hottest part of South Africa, the highest temperature here is + 29, and the minimum is +12. In the central desert, there is an extreme temperature difference - from daytime +45 during the day to +3 at night.

The desert landscape is heterogeneous. Part of the Kalahari is covered with red sand dunes. There is a version that the appearance of red dunes here is the result of strong winds that brought this sand from the Namib Desert.

The Kalahari has impressive underground water, but it is at a depth of 300 m. And since the vegetation of the desert is mainly shrubs, cereals, grasses and woody plants without a powerful root system, they do not receive this supply of water. The same can be said about the trees common here - acacia, shepherd's tree. In terms of the number of endemics, the Kalahari is the poorest ecotype in Africa.

Namib

According to geological studies, the Namib is the oldest desert, which arose about 80 million years ago.. Its area is 100 thousand square meters. sq., the length along the coast is 1900 km, and the width increases in places from 50 km to 160 km.

The Namib Desert is located at the crossroads of 3 countries - Angola, Namibia and South Africa. It has a hot extra-arid oceanic climate. Therefore, significant daily temperature fluctuations are characteristic here, from daytime +45 degrees to 0 degrees at night.

The average height of the relief is 1500 m, mainly high dunes, the color of the sand of which in some places has a pronounced red tint. These are the largest dunes in the world. They are often carried by the winds, so the landscape of the desert is always changing. There are no dunes only in the central desert, which is covered with pebbles.

Its climate is influenced by the proximity to the Bengal current, which brings cold winds and heavy fogs - the main source of moisture. Another source of moisture is dew. Therefore, the annual precipitation is catastrophically low, about 13 mm. The Namib is the driest desert in the world. Such climatic conditions affect the scarce flora and fauna of the desert - there is little that can survive.

The natural areas of the Namib Desert itself are divided by geologists into 3 parts. These are oblong natural areas from the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, deep into Africa. The table of natural areas distinguishes the coastal strip, the inner and the inner Namib. The last part is the coldest, even night frosts are possible here.

Article formatting: Vladimir the Great

Video about Africa

Interesting facts about Africa:

It occupies the 2nd place in terms of area, and is also symmetrically located relative to the equator. The northern part is wider than the southern part. The location of natural areas looks very interesting. From north to south to: subtropics, savannas, variable-moist forests, moist evergreen equatorial forests. After the equator, they go in mirror image.

Variable rainforests

They are characterized by high humidity during the rainy season and severe drought. Vegetation is able to drop leaves during a drought. During the rainy season, they resemble equatorial forests with an abundance of vines. There are also much fewer species here than in moist and hard-leaved forests.

The tsetse fly lives in the forests and tropics of Africa - the most dangerous insect that can infect a person with a virus that causes unbearable pain and fever.

Variable rainforests are found adjacent to savannahs and are frequently intersected by animal species. Tropical birds, monkeys of various species, wild cats also live here. Brown-yellow ferrolitic soils predominate, on which bananas, ficuses, and coffee grow well.

Savannah

The natural zone occupies up to 40% of the mainland. Dry seasons give way to periods of rain. A large area here is occupied by red-brown soils, on which mainly grasses, cereals, some shrubs and baobabs grow, but trees are extremely rare. The subequatorial climate prevails.

In the savannas, everything turns green during the rainy season, and brown-yellow during the dry season.

Despite the hot conditions, many unique birds live here, such as ostriches and pelicans. A huge number is also represented: rhinos, giraffes, hippos, antelopes, elephants, buffaloes. Here live such as lions, hyenas and leopards.

There are a huge number of insects in the savannas, the most annoying of which are mosquitoes and flies. There are also many species that can survive for a long time without water, and dangerous snakes.

Deserts and semi-deserts of tropical type

Located at a distance from the equator, they occupy most of the north and south of the continent. Moreover, the farther the northern and southern points, the drier the air and less precipitation. Tropical deserts are gradually replaced by savannahs. The climate prevails here.

In the south of the mainland, the Namib Desert extends, but the largest and driest is located in the north - the Sahara. Precipitation per year here falls no more than 50-100 mm. But even in such hot conditions, there are different types of animals and insects.

But there are few plants here. Date palms grow in oases, acacias, succulents, xerophytes are found in places in the desert itself. Creatures such as scorpions, various lizards, chameleons and snakes can easily go without water for many days, and therefore survive in the harsh conditions of the Sahara. Sandy and stony, desert soils predominate in the desert belt.

Altitudinal zones of Africa

- These are the Ethiopian Highlands, Kilimanjaro, the Atlas Mountains, as well as the Dragon Mountains. At the foot of all these regions there are evergreen shrubs and thickets, as well as savannah zones. At an altitude of 1200 to 2000 m there are mixed pine-oak and cedar forests. Even higher, in the zone of 2600-2900 m, coniferous forests grow.

Above 3000 m, alpine meadows begin, and a gradual approach to 5000 m is associated with the complete disappearance of vegetation. Here begins the Nivalny belt, that is, a zone with eternal glaciers. One of the features of the altitudinal zonality of Africa can be considered a clear division of the belts: savannas, snow, forests and meadows distinctly replace each other.

Africa is a huge continent with a rich, unique flora and fauna. However, most of its expanses are covered with savannahs, life in which is associated with alternating felt drought and intense rains. There are also many dangerous insects, the bite of which can be fatal to humans.

Table "Natural zones of Africa"

In Africa, natural zones are elongated mainly from west to east.

Moist equatorial forests

The equatorial belt of Africa is covered with Gilea - moist evergreen forests that develop in a humid, hot equatorial climate on red-yellow ferralite soils.

There are up to 3,000 species of woody plants in the Hylaea of ​​Africa. Iron tree, sandalwood, red, black (ebony) tree, rubber trees, oil palm, rattan palm, breadfruit tree, cocoa tree, coffee tree, nutmeg grow here. The trunks and crowns of trees are intertwined with vines and orchids.

The fauna of the humid equatorial forests is rich and varied. Only here live great apes. The ground layer is inhabited by small ungulates, pigs, okapis, pygmy hippos. From predators there is a leopard. Snakes, shrews, lizards, termites are found in the soil and forest litter. Insects—mosquitoes, ants, and others—are common in the forests. There are relatively few birds in humid forests.

Savannahs and woodlands

The zone of variable-moist forests is replaced by savannahs and light forests. The savannas are dominated by grass cover, among which rise single or small groups of low trees and shrubs of the hot zone.

In drier places, red-brown soils are formed by deserted savannahs, and closer to moist forests, red ferrallitic soils of tall-grass savannahs are formed. During the dry season, the grasses burn out, many trees shed their leaves. As soon as the rains come, the grasses rise, the trees are covered with leaves. Where it rains for a long time, thick and tall grasses grow. Of the trees in the savannah, baobabs, umbrella acacias, mimosas and some types of palm trees are common. In the arid regions of the savannah, aloe and spurge are found.

There are many large herbivores in the savannas: a variety of antelopes, zebras, giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, rhinos, hippos. Lions, cheetahs, jackals, hyenas are common among predators. The thunderstorm of many animals and humans is crocodiles.

There are many birds in the savannas of Africa: sunbird, African ostrich, secretary bird, flamingos, ibises, storks, marabou. Tsetse fly bites are fatal to cattle and horses. It causes sleeping sickness in humans.

Deserts and semi-deserts

In Africa, savannahs and light forests turn into tropical semi-deserts and deserts. In the Sahara, huge areas are occupied by rocky deserts, with which clay and sand alternate, where dunes and dunes accumulate in places.

The vegetation of the Sahara is very poor, and in some places it does not exist at all. In the stony desert, lichens are common, on saline soils - saltwort and wormwood. At large springs and in river valleys, where groundwater comes close to the surface, rich vegetation (oases) develops. A widespread plant in the oases is the date palm.

Animals of the Sahara are adapted to the conditions of the desert climate. Lizards, turtles and snakes can go without water for a long time. Numerous are also various beetles, locusts, scorpions. On the outskirts of the desert there are hyenas, lions.

In South Africa, deserts occupy the coast of the Atlantic Ocean (Namib Desert). In the west of the mainland, in areas with a Mediterranean climate, there is a zone of subtropical yellow-leaved evergreen forests and shrubs.

Hot dry summers and relatively warm (+4 ... +10 ° C) wet winters are favorable for evergreen vegetation that grows on chestnut soils. On the plains of North Africa, this zone to the east is replaced by a zone of subtropical deserts and semi-deserts.

Human impact on nature

The result of deforestation, burning, mismanagement was the reduction of forests, the depletion of their species composition, the increase in the area of ​​savannahs and deserts. Reserves and national parks have been organized to save many species of plants and animals from extinction. They are of great importance for both the study and conservation of nature.

A well-known national park in Africa is the Serengeti, where landscapes of grassy savannahs with patches of shrubs and individual trees are protected, and gallery forests along the river valleys. Elephants, lions, leopards, wildebeest, Grant's and Thomson's gazelles live here.

Natural phenomena and environmental problems

Natural natural phenomena in Africa are droughts, locust attacks, sandstorms in deserts (sumum). The main environmental problems of Africa: an increase in the territory of deserts, the destruction of moist and variable-humid forests of the equatorial belt, a decrease in the number of wild animals.