Sahel

The Sahel is a vast region in Africa that acts as a bridge between different lands.

It sits in a wide belt across North Africa. This belt stretches from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The region is a transition zone between two very different places. To the north lies the dry Sahara desert. To the south are the more humid Sudanian savannas.

Because it sits between these areas, it is often called the Sahelian acacia savanna. This name comes from the acacia tree, which is a very important plant there.

The landscape of the Sahel is mostly flat. Most of the land stays at a low elevation. You might see some isolated mountains or plateaus rising from the ground. These include the Aïr Mountains and the Ennedi Plateau.

However, these high places are often treated as separate areas because they have different plants and animals. The ground is mostly covered in grasslands and shrubs. Many different types of grass grow across the region. Acacia trees are the most common trees you will see. These trees are very good at living with very little water.

The weather in the Sahel is hot, sunny, and often windy.

It has a semi-arid climate, which means it is quite dry. The region has a very long dry season and a short rainy season. Most of the rain falls during four to six months in the middle of the year.

In the interior, the annual rainfall is usually between 200 mm and 700 mm. The sun shines for many hours every year. In places like Timbuktu, Mali, there are about 3,409 hours of sunshine. This makes the Sahel feel very much like a desert.

Many animals have lived in the Sahel for a long time. In the past, large groups of animals like the lion and the cheetah lived here.

Other animals included the dama gazelle and the African wild dog. Sadly, many of these larger animals are now rare or endangered. This happened because of over-hunting and competition with livestock. The seasonal wetlands are still very important for many migratory birds. These birds use the Sahel as a place to stop while they fly across Africa.

You can also see herders moving livestock through the land.

The Sahel has faced many hard times due to changes in the weather. For hundreds of years, the region has dealt with frequent droughts. One very long drought lasted for 250 years from 1450 to 1700. More recently, severe droughts happened between 1951 and 2004. These dry periods can make it very hard to grow food.

To help the land, people started big projects like the Great Green Wall. This project uses reforestation to fight desertification. Desertification is when healthy land turns into desert. People are working hard to protect the soil and the future of the region.