Savannas – where going on holiday to see the wildlife is called going on safari - are hot plains that lie between the rainforests of the Equator and the hot deserts at the edge of the Tropics. Here are the four main things about a savanna.

1. The savannas are mainly grasses with a few trees. As a result, some people call them ‘savanna parklands’. Savannas trees do not close over to make a forest. Only very special trees grow here and many have roots that spread far and wide as they need to be able to get every last drop of moisture from the soil in the dry season. Some trees store water in their trunks and look like giant bottles. Some trees lose their leaves in the dry season. They effectively ‘go to sleep’, that is they are deciduous.

2. The savanna grasses make great grazing land. That is why there are so many grazing animals, like zebra, elephant, giraffe and antelope.

3. With so many animals about, it is a good place for hunters. But the grazing animals are fast, so hunters need to be faster still. That is why you find the big cats, like lions and cheetahs.

4. Savannas are very different places in the dry season and the rainy season. Many animals leave the savannas in the dry season for there is too little grass to eat. At the end of the dry season lightning is common, and then the savannas can catch fire. But this is quite natural and a way of recycling nourishment from the dried and dead grass stems.



See also the search term 'safari' and indivudual animals and plants, for example, dung beetle.