Eastern miombo woodlands

The Eastern miombo woodlands (AT0706) are an ecoregion of grassland and woodland in southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique.

These species-rich savanna ecosystems cover wide areas of gentle hills and low valleys containing rivers and dambo wetlands. The region is located on the East African Plateau, extending from inland south-eastern Tanzania to cover the northern half of Mozambique, with small areas in neighbouring Malawi. They are a section of the belt of miombo woodland that crosses Africa south of the Congo rain forests and the savannas of East Africa. The ecoregion covers an area of 483,900 square kilometers (186,800 sq mi). It is bounded by the Northern and Southern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic to the east along the Indian Ocean, and by the Zambezian and mopane woodlands in the Zambezi lowlands to the southwest, and by Lake Malawi to the west. To the north and northwest, the forested Eastern Arc Mountains separate the eastern miombo woodlands from the Southern Acacia-Commiphora bushlands and thickets of central Tanzania.

The region has a hot, tropical climate with a wet summer from November to March and a long winter drought. The woodlands are vulnerable to fire, particularly at the start of the summer.

The predominant tree is miombo (Brachystegia spp.), along with Baikiaea woodland.

Despite the low rainfall and relatively nutrient-poor soil the woodland is home to many species. The miombo and other vegetation in and around the region have historically a variety of food and cover for several miombo specialist endemic bird and lizard species as well as more widespread mammals including herds of African elephant (Loxodonta africana), giraffe, Burchell's zebra (Equus burchelli), wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) and hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) and antelopes including greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros), eland (Taurotragus oryx), impala (Aepyceros melampus), Roosevelt sable antelope (Hippotragus niger) and Lichtenstein's hartebeest (Sigmoceros lichtensteinii) (Campbell 1996). The roan antelope is mysteriously absent from the Eastern Miombo woodlands, and the long dry season and poor soils do not support the large herds of herbivores found further north in Tanzania. Large carnivores in the region include lion (Panthera leo), leopard (Panthera pardus), cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus), spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) and side-striped jackal (Canis adustus). The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus) population of the Selous Game Reserve is the largest known population on the continent

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