Notes

CLIMATE AND PHYSICAL TRAITS
Much of the African continent is flat and covered by sprawling savannas set on a series of plateaus that are like giant geological "steps." These steps are lower in northern and western Africa and higher moving east and south.( For this reason, the Ethiopian Highlands that begin in Ethiopia and reach into South Africa are among the most elevated parts of the continent.)

South Africa and Lesotho have one of the few ranges on the continent, the Drakensberg.

These are long, deep, narrow openings in the Earth formed by moving tectonic plates and prehistoric volcanic activity.

valley starts in southern Africa at the Zambezi River, Africa's fourth largest river.

Zambezi flows north through the eastern part of the continent and empties into the Indian Ocean.( The Great Rift Valley contains many lakes)

due to the great basins found along this part of the continent. Created by the folding, shifting, and crumpling of tectonic plates, the basins and valleys of the Great Rift now hold deposited water. One of these is Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake and the source of Earth's longest river, the Nile. The 4,132-mile Nile empties into the Mediterranean Sea near the Egyptian city of Alexandria.

Most of East Africa sits on a plateau, which has an average elevation of 3,000 feet above sea level.

Ethiopian Highlands have a highland climate and an average elevation of 5,000 feet.

Colder weather zones exist in arid and semiarid climates

South of the Ethiopian Highlands in the country of Tanzania is Mt. Kilimanjaro, an extinct volcano

a summit of 19,345 feet, it is Africa's highest mountain

Surrounded by flat steppe country, the isolated Mt. Kilimanjaro can be seen in the distance for hundreds of miles.

eastern central countries of sub-Saharan Africa generally have a tropical wet and dry climate.( Much of this region is grassland and savanna)

Rainfall averages about 30 inches a year, but the range is broad. Some areas get 10 inches or less, while others get more than 80 inches each year.

higher rainfall patterns are more common in central and western Africa, some places in this region, like Mozambique, see higher totals. Malawi experiences higher rainfall totals around Lake Nyasa, which makes up much of the country's eastern border.