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Plants and Vegetation
Vegetation and climate varies in Africa compared to other parts of the world. African vegetation can often be linked to its annual climate and rainfall. In particular, the tropical rainforest zone has quite a dense surface covering of mosses, shrubs and ferns because the annual rainfall here reaches to more than 1270mm, overpowering tower evergreens, oil palms and species of tropical hardwood.
Secondly, the mountain forest zone has an average annual rainfall of only slightly less than in the rainforest zone. This mountain forest zone can be located in Cameroon, Angola, parts of Ethiopia and generally eastern Africa, where there is a ground covering of shrubs allowing oil palms, hardwood trees and primitive conifers to grow.
Thirdly, the savanna woodland climate has an annual rainfall of 890 - 1400 mm covering large areas of grass and shrubs, above which deciduous and leguminous fire-resistant trees can be found. The Savanna grassland zone, is covered by low grassland, shrubs and small deciduous trees with little rainfall.
The thornbush zone has a steppe vegetation and a thinner grass covering with scattered succulent or semisucculent trees in some areas. The subdesert scrub zone similarly has low shrubs and a covering of different grasses, although the annual rainfall is only 130 - 300 mm.
CLIMATE
The
climate of Africa, more than any other continent, is generally similar
throughout. This results in the impact of cool ocean currents, and the important
absence of mountains acting as climatic barriers.
There
are seven main African climatic zones, which are recognizable today . The
central area of the continent and the eastern coast of Madagascar
have a tropical rain forest climate. Here
the average annual temperature is about 26.7° C (about 80° F), and the average
annual rainfall is about 1780 mm (about 70 in). The climate of the Guinea
coast is almost similar to the equatorial
climate, except that rainfall is thick and heavy once a year; however
no months are rainless.
To
the north and south the rain forest climate is surrounded by a tropical
savanna climate zone that covers about one-fifth of Africa. Here the
climate is recognized and known for a wet season during the summer months
and a dry season during the winter months. Total annual rainfall varies from 550
mm (20 in) to more than 1550 mm (more than 60 in). Away from the equator, the
savanna climate zone gradually becomes a steppe climate
zone. Average annual rainfall varies between 250 and 500 mm (10 and 20 in) and
is very heavy in one season.
Africa
has much larger areas in desert or
extremely dry land, than other continent apart from Australia . Each of these
areas—the Sahara in the north, the Horn
in the east, and the Kalahari and Namib
deserts in the southwest—has less than 250 mm (less than 10 in) of
rainfall annually there fore many species have to adapt to the situation in hand.
In the Sahara, daily and seasonal temperatures are very high. The average July
temperature is more than 32.2° C (90° F); although the nighttime temperature
can often drop below 0° C during the cold season.
Mediterranean
climate zones are mainly found in the northwest of
and southwest of Africa. These regions are characterized by mild, wet
winters and warm, dry summers. In the highlands
, particularly in Kenya and Uganda,
rainfall is well scattered throughout the year, and temperatures are manageable.
The climate here is moderate.
