Tanzania Vegetation

The East African plateau - most of Tanzania, in fact - is covered by open grassland, woodland, and savannah (sparsely vegetated grassland).

The enormous Serengeti plains are an archetype of this kind of habitat, dotted with acacia trees; generally short and thorny with sparse foliage.

Forest (with interlocking canopy) makes up less than 1% of Tanzania's surface, but the forests contain more than 2000 plant species and are therefore the most diverse of the country's habitats.

Most of Tanzania's little true forest is montane, located on the Eastern Arc mountains, which form an unbroken range between 50 and 200km inland.

A belt of miombo woodland, which typically grows on infertile soil, stretches from southern and western Tanzania to Zimbabwe. It is characterised by brachystegia species, acacia species and a plethora of baobabs.

You can also find mangrove swamps on Tanzania's coast, and, rather surprisingly, alpine moors on the slopes of Mounts Kilimanjaro and Meru.

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