Southern Zanzibar–Inhambane coastal forest mosaic

The Southern Zanzibar–Inhambane coastal forest mosaic, also known as the Southern Swahili coastal forests and woodlands, is a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of eastern Africa. It is a southern variation of Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic. The ecoregion supports habitats of forest, savanna and swamps. The southern portion of the ecoregion is not as well studied due to the 1977-1992 civil war in Mozambique.

Geography

The ecoregion extends along the coast of Tanzania and Mozambique, from Tanzania's Lukuledi River south almost the whole way to the mouth of the Limpopo River.

It is mostly coastal, generally within 50 km of the Indian Ocean. It encompasses coastal lowlands, rolling hills, and isolated plateaus and inselbergs, including the Rondo and Makonde plateaus in southern Tanzania, the Mueda Plateau in northern Mozambique.

It includes some isolated mountainous enclaves further inland, including Mount Chiperone, Mount Mabu, Mount Morrumbala, Mount Namuli, and Mount Tumbine in northern Mozambique, and the southeastern slopes of the Eastern Highlands, including Moribane forest. The mountains intercept humid southwesterly winds from the Indian Ocean, which form clouds and rain and create a cooler, wetter climate than the surrounding lowlands. These mountains are home to lowland evergreen forests with a similar flora to the coastal lowland forests, and higher-elevation montane forests, woodlands, grasslands, and heathlands which are home to many Afromontane species.