The Zambezian and mopane woodlands is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands ecoregion of southeastern Africa.
The ecoregion is characterized by the mopane tree (Colophospermum mopane), and extends across portions of Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, including the lower basins of the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers.
The more humid Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic and Maputaland coastal forest mosaic ecoregions lie between the Zambezian and mopane woodlands and the Indian Ocean. The Zambezian and mopane woodlands lie generally at a lower elevation, and has lower rainfall, than the neighboring miombo woodlands ecoregions, which occupy the plateaus and escarpments above the river lowlands. It is bounded to the southwest by the Drakensberg Range and Southern African Bushveld and Drakensberg montane grassland, woodland, and forest ecoregions. To the west, it transitions to the drier Zambezian Baikiaea woodlands and Kalahari Acacia-Baikiaea woodlands on the Kalahari sands of the Southern African Plateau.
Protected areas Protected areas in the ecoregion include: Liwonde National Park, Malawi Banhine National Park, Mozambique Chipinge Safari Area, Zimbabwe Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe Gorongosa National Park, Mozambique Kruger National Park, South Africa Limpopo National Park, Mozambique Lower Zambezi National Park, Zambia Mana Pools National Park, Zimbabwe Matusadona National Park, Zimbabwe Save Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe Zinave National Park, Mozambique Moremi Game Reserve, Botswana Chobe National Park, Botswana
See also
References Burgess, Neil, Jennifer D’Amico Hales, Emma Underwood (2004). Terrestrial Ecoregions of Africa and Madagascar: A Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington DC.
External links
Zambezian and Mopane woodlands (Encyclopedia of Earth)