Major Plateaus and Plains of Africa

Africa is often described as the “Plateau Continent” because a large portion of its landmass consists of elevated tablelands, sloping down towards narrow coastal plains. Interspersed within these plateaus are vast plains — home to some of the world’s most iconic ecosystems.

Let’s divide this into two sections:

Major Plateaus of Africa

🗺️ South African Plateaus

📍 Location: Covers most of South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini (Swaziland)
🗻 Elevation: 900–1,800 m (avg)

🔹 Key Features:

• These plateaus are part of the broader African Highlands.
• Terrain: Predominantly flat landscapes, occasionally interrupted by hills or isolated mountains.

🔹 Three Subdivisions:

1. Interior Plateau:
   • Lies between the Drakensberg Mountains and Kalahari Basin
   • Semi-arid; includes Bushveld and Highveld areas.
2. Drakensberg Plateau:
   • Near the Drakensberg Mountains in the east
   • Forms a natural escarpment descending sharply to the coastal plain.
3. Great Karoo:
   • Arid to semi-arid plateau inland of Cape Fold Mountains.
   • Known for unique desert flora and fossils.

🧭 Significance: These plateaus are the foundation for South Africa’s mining industry (gold, diamond, coal), and rivers like Orange and Limpopo flow across them.

🗺️ East African Plateaus

📍 Location: From Ethiopia to Tanzania, including parts of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, and Somalia
🗻 Elevation: 900–1,800 m (avg)

🔹 Physiography:

• Form part of the Great African Plateau.
• Marked by rolling hills, escarpments, and volcanic mountains.
• Traversed by the East African Rift System, which has led to the formation of rift valleys and volcanoes.

🔹 Subregions:

1. Masai Steppe (Tanzania) – Semi-arid plateau with grasslands.
2. Serengeti Plateau – Home to one of the most diverse wildlife ecosystems.
3. Ethiopian Plateau – Divided by the Ethiopian Rift into the Abyssinian Massif (NW) and Harar Massif (SE).

🐘 Famous for wildlife reserves (e.g., Serengeti, Ngorongoro) and volcanic lakes (e.g., Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika).

🗺️ Sanetti Plateau

📍 Location: Bale Mountains, southeastern Ethiopia

🔹 Geological Nature:

• Formed by successive lava flows millions of years ago.
• A high-altitude volcanic plateau, rising over 4,000 m in places.

🌿 Ecological Significance:

• Part of Bale Mountains National Park.
• Habitat for endemic species like the Ethiopian wolf and giant mole rat.

🧬 Note: Sanetti Plateau is one of the few Afro-alpine environments south of the equator.

Major Plains of Africa

🏞️ Bushveld Plains

📍 Location: Northern South Africa and Southeastern Botswana

🔹 Landscape Features:

• Lies between the Highveld Grasslands and the Kalahari edge.
• Gently undulating terrain interspersed with low mountains (e.g., Waterberg Mountains).

🌿 Vegetation:

• Dominated by mopane trees and woodland savanna.
• Climate: Tropical seasonal – hot wet summers, cool dry winters.

🐾 Biodiversity:

• Rich in wildlife reserves (e.g., Kruger National Park).
• Geological presence of platinum and iron ore belts.

🏞️ Serengeti Plains

📍 Location: Spans Northern Tanzania and Southwestern Kenya

🔹 Size: ~30,000 sq. km

🗺️ Includes:

• Serengeti National Park (Tanzania)
• Maasai Mara Reserve (Kenya)

🐃 Ecological Marvel:

• Hosts Africa’s greatest wildlife spectacle:
  → Annual migration of over 1 million wildebeest, along with zebras and gazelles — in a loop following the rains.

🌍 Serengeti–Mara Ecosystem:

• Transboundary conservation area.
• One of the largest protected ecosystems on Earth.

🏞️ Olduvai Gorge – Cradle of Humanity

📍 Location: Within the eastern Serengeti Plain, in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

🔹 Paleontological Significance:

• Geological deposits range from 2.1 million to 15,000 years ago.
• Contains fossils of over 60 hominin individuals.
• Record of stone-tool evolution over millennia.

🧠 Why important: Provides direct evidence of human evolution, including the Leakey family’s excavations of Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and early Homo sapiens.