The Coastal Forests of Tanzania are a part of the Eastern Africa Coastal Forests Ecoregion according to WWF. This ecoregion extends across six countries from southern Somalia to Mozambique. The ecoregion includes forest patches found on the islands of Unguja, Pemba, and Mafia.
The Coastal forests are characterized by a mosaic of vegetation types including evergreen forest, brachystegia woodland, scrub forest and dry forest. Mangrove forests are not considered to be Coastal Forest in this definition. Coastal Forests are distinct from the forests of the Eastern Arc in terms of climate, elevation, and dominant plant species.
In Tanzania, there are 66 coastal forest patches covering an area of 700 sq. km. While the highest levels of biodiversity are found in the closed canopy forest, this only makes up about 1% of the total area of the Coastal Forest Mosaic. Notwithstanding the small area covered by these forests, they retain high numbers of endemic plant and animal species: 554 plant, five bird, three mammal , 24 reptile, five amphibian, 86 mollusc and 75 butterfly.
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