Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands

The Angolan Scarp savanna and woodlands is an ecoregion located on the coast of Angola, an area with a variety of habitats and rich in wildlife including many endemic birds and animals.

This ecoregion consists of the strip of land that runs along the coast of Angola and the steep west-facing ridge that rises from the Atlantic coast to Angola's large central plateau, to a height of about 1000m. The area contains a mixture of types of habitat:rain forest, cloud forest, grassland, mangroves, and swamp. This coast has a tropical climate with summer rains and high humidity all year round.

This diverse ecoregion can be divided into three different areas according to their type of habitat. North of the Cuanza River is a forest of tall trees surrounded by tall grasses, with areas of mangrove and swamp on riverbanks especially in the river estuaries. At higher altitudes on the western ridge patches of cloud forest, which shelter a rich variety of endemic plants and animals. Finally, on the coastal strip and the low slopes of the escarpment south of the Cuanza there are dry woodlands and wooded grasslands. (See Central African mangroves for a description of the coastal swamps).

The forests have been home to a variety of mammals including the African forest elephant, lion and cheetah, but uncontrolled hunting may have completely removed these. Remaining mammals include the yellow-backed duiker (Cephalophus sylvicultor), black-fronted duiker (Cephalophus nigrifrons), blue duiker (Cephalophus monticola), and smaller species such as the tree pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis), Beecroft's flying squirrel and forest giant squirrel. In the dry season animals migrate to the moister areas uphill. Larger mammals, which are found especially in the drier grasslands rather than the forests on the ridge, include roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus), African forest buffalo (Syncerus caffer nanus), African bush elephant (Loxodonta africana), southern reedbuck (Redunca arundinum), bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus) and eland (Taurotragus oryx).

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