Further information: Afrotropic ecozone; Tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands; and List of tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests ecoregions

Climate zones of Africa, showing the ecological break between the hot desert climate of North Africa and the Horn of Africa (red), the hot semi-arid climate of the Sahel and areas surrounding deserts (orange) and the tropical climate of Central and Western Africa (blue). Southern Africa has a transition to semi-tropical or temperate climates (green), and more desert or semi-arid regions, centered on Namibia and Botswana.
Sub-Saharan Africa has a wide variety of climate zones or biomes. South Africa and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in particular are considered Megadiverse countries.

The Sahel shoots across all of Africa at a latitude of about 10° to 15° N. Countries that include parts of the Sahara Desert proper in their northern territories and parts of the Sahel in their southern region include Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan. The Sahel has a hot semi-arid climate.
South of the Sahel, there is a belt of savanna, (Guinean forest-savanna mosaic, Northern Congolian forest-savanna mosaic) widening to include most of South Sudan and Ethiopia in the east (East Sudanian savanna).
The Horn of Africa globally includes hot desert climate along the coast but hot semi-arid climate can be found much more in the interior, contrasting with savannah and