Gallery Forest through a Burned Savanna Mosaic

Gallery Forest through a Burned Savanna Mosaic is an original illustration set in Central African Republic. It lies in equatorial latitudes, where the climate is tropical savanna — a pronounced dry season.

Tall tawny grass covers a broad savanna broken by one monumental termite mound and irregular black patches from a dry-season burn. A narrow winding band of deep green gallery forest follows a river, sharply contrasting with the open woodland and floodplain beyond.

Why does a narrow dark forest follow the river through open tall-grass savanna?

Seasonal drought and frequent fire keep much of the Sudano-Guinean landscape open, while moist riverbanks shelter trees from the harshest burning and support a continuous gallery forest. Termite colonies build large mineral-rich mounds that alter drainage and vegetation locally, adding another repeated pattern. Open grass, burned ground, mound, and river forest reveal Central Africa's ecological transition between forest and drier savanna.

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