6 Incredible Trees That Thrive In the Savana

Of the major types of biomes in the world, the savanna remains an interesting and unique mash-up of grassland and forest. While many assume savannas are closer to deserts, the wet season on savannas brings dozens of inches of rain — ensuring the parched land doesn’t stay dry year-round.

The most well-known savanna is in East Africa: the Serengeti. Located in Tanzania, the Serengeti plains have several different types of trees that provide food and shelter to the animals. Serengeti National Park is one of the best ways to experience the savanna, as it covers a third of the park.

Keep reading to discover the six incredible trees that thrive in the African savanna of the Serengeti.

Acacia Trees

In the savanna, perhaps the most pervasive tree is the family of acacia trees. These not only thrive in savannas because they have access to full sunlight; they can also survive in almost any type of soil with little access to water. A veritable icon of Africa itself, the acacia tree remains a standard in savannas. Giraffes, one of the savanna’s permanent residents, mainly eat acacia twigs and leaves.

In the Serengeti specifically, two species of acacia trees grow in abundance: the acacia senegal and the umbrella thorn acacia.

The acacia Senegal, also known as Senegalia senegal, gum acacia, or the gum arabic tree, grows in both African and Indian savannas. In conversation with AZ Animals, Lindsey Hyland, the founder of Urban Organic Yield and an environmental expert, shared a bit about the role acacia Senegal trees play in the savanna.

“This tree is an icon of the Savanna ecosystem, thriving under harsh conditions thanks to its deep roots that tap into underground water sources. It also contributes to sustaining local wildlife with its foliage and seed pods.”

Umbrella acacia (Vachellia tortilis) grows slightly larger than the acacia senegal. It roots itself in sand dunes, rocky grounds, and other barely hospitable soils. The tree’s deep taproot can grow to over 115 feet underground, affording it the luxury to live in places with significant dry seasons. On the Serengeti, giraffes and elephants eat the tree’s seedlings. It provides much-needed shade for animals, and some of the flowers even produce honey. While elephants and giraffes eat umbrella acacia seedlings, only the giraffe remains immune to its thorns.

Finally, most umbrella acacia trees in the Serengeti are either 125 or 45 years old because of the bushfires occurring on the Serengeti plains. Seedlings can’t survive the flames, so these trees have only had the ability to grow their numbers twice in the last 125 years.

Fig Trees

Serengeti National Park, where you can experience the beauty of the Serengeti plains, has several species of fig trees within the savanna. For the most part, these trees grow on the banks of the rivers or in the clefts of kopjes.

One of the notable species, the strangler fig (Ficus aurea) actually grows on top of other trees. It begins as a seed left behind by mammals or birds and then grows its roots along the host tree’s branches and trunk until it completely covers it. Roots will enter the soil, leaves grow, and suddenly there are two trees in one.

Strangler figs get a bad rap as a “tree killer” — for good reason. Their growth process can harm mature trees and once their roots enter the soil, they’ll often usurp the water and nutrients on which the host tree relies.

Commiphora (Commiphora africana)

Most dominant in the eastern section of the Serengeti National Park, the Commiphora tree thrives in the dry expanses of the Serengeti. This is one of the Serengeti’s most common trees, growing plentifully in lowlands and grasslands because it doesn’t need as much water as other vegetation.

The Commiphora africana species remains the most common. Also known as African myrrh, the paramount tree has solidified itself in the environment of Africa. Its bark, berries, and resin are used for many different functions — from curing stomach aches, to carved into utensils and used as fungicides insecticides, and aphrodisiacs.

Sausage Tree (Kigelia africana)

A rarer — but still thriving — tree on the savanna of the Serengeti is the unique sausage tree. Unlike its name suggests, the sausage tree does not produce links of meat. Instead, it grows massive fruits of a foot or longer that, unripe, are poisonous to ingest for humans. Animals like baboons will dine on the large “sausage” fruit while kudu and elephants use the twigs and leaves as their meals.

Sausage trees will grow near dry river banks on sparsely vegetated woodlands and in floodplains. Their dense foliage provides a rare sight for many savanna residents: shade. Like the umbrella acacia, the sausage tree offers scarce shade on the hottest days.

Wild Date Palm (Phoenix reclinata)

The Serengeti’s most common palm tree is the wild date palm that grows along rivers and swamps. Keeping itself to savannas’ woodlands, the wild date palm has edible — but horrible-tasting to humans — fruit. It needs access to a permanent water source, even if it’s meters below the ground.

The palm tree usually grows in thick clumps and bears fruit between February and April. The animals that use the tree most are birds, monkeys, and baboons — they eat the ripe fruit and climb its branches for nests and shelter. Pigs, bucks, and caterpillars also find uses for fallen fruit and leaves.

Yellow Fever Tree (Vachellia xanthophloea)

Sourcing its name from early settlers who blamed malaria fevers on the yellow-barked tree rather than the mosquitos congregating around its waterlogged base, the yellow fever tree remains common among the dampest parts of savannas. It grows tall (between 50 and 90 feet) and has white thorns. This is also one of the few trees in which photosynthesis happens within the bark of the tree rather than the leaves.

Trees that Thrive in Other Savannas

Did you know there are also savannas in Brazil, India, and Australia? Some of the most common trees found in these biomes include the candelabra tree, the gum eucalyptus, the baobab, and the jackalberry tree.

Candelabra Tree

Growing on dry lands and savannas, the candelabra tree or Euphorbia ingens can thrive in dry, hot climates thanks to its adaptability. Its strong roots can take hold in both rocky soil and deep in sand dunes, making it flexible as well.

The candelabra tree has a poisonous latex that is toxic to humans and animals when ingested. Some in Africa use the plant to ward off cancer while others use it to poison fish.

Despite its toxicity, insects like bees and butterflies pollinate the flowers of the tree. Woodpeckers and other birds use the tree’s thick withered segments to create nests and feed on bloomed segments’ seeds.

Gum Tree Eucalyptus

The Eucalyptus mannifera grows mainly in Australian savannas. Endemic to the continent, this tree likes to grow in shallow, rocky soil and will flower from January through May of a given year. These trees have an easy-to-identify whitish-gray bark and grow less than 60 feet tall. Koalas make use of the tree’s leaves as food, and some species of birds that eat honey will come to nibble on the fruit of the tree.

Jackalberry Tree

The ​​Diospyros mespiliformus tree, which grows mostly in African and Indian savannas, is a massive species found in X and Y. Reaching up to 80 feet tall with a trunk circumference of nearly 16 feet in the largest recorded trees, the jackalberry tree serves as both a habitat and a food source for several animals on the savanna. The fruits, in particular, make up diets of nyalas, baboons, jackals, and baboons, among other savanna-roaming mammals and birds.

Jackalberry trees survive on termite mounds. The aerated soil the termites live in provides nutrients and moisture for the tree to thrive.

Manketti Tree

Also known as the mongongo tree by locals, the manketti tree doesn’t need a lot of water and can thrive in sandy soils. It prefers to grow in hot and dry climates, making the East African savanna grasslands a great place to grow.

While it doesn’t need much water, it does need some. To secure the moisture it needs, the manketti tree’s taproot grows underground until it reaches a vein of water. Once it discovers water, the taproot will route the moisture to the branches of the tree and store as much as it can in the trunk. With this water storage, as well as thick bark, manketti trees can weather savanna wildfires better than other plants.

Baobab

The interesting baobab trees, like acacia trees, have become icons of African grasslands, savannas, and woodlands. They’re a sturdy, hardy deciduous tree that can weather dry seasons well. While iconic in Africa, baobab trees aren’t actually on the Serengeti. They grow in Australian savannas and throughout Western and Southern African countries.

When it comes to ecosystems with baobabs, the plant essentially acts as a tree of life. Baobabs keep soil conditions humid, recycle nutrients, produce food and shelter, and even provide moisture in the most desperate of times.

Climate of the Serengeti

So, why do some trees grow in the Serengeti but not in other savannas or biomes? For example, the Serengeti doesn’t have a plethora of baobab trees, but other African savannas, as well as Indian savannas, do.

It all comes down to the climate, the weather, and the soil.

Despite popular mix-ups, the Serengeti is not the Sahara. Serengeti National Park has a pleasant climate throughout the year for the most part. The Serengeti has two precipitation seasons — the wet and the dry season — and the dry season persists between May and October. In these months, the weather is cool between May and August but still dry. September and October have higher daily temperatures and remain dry as well.

It’s not until November that the plains of the Serengeti get doused in rain. Two rain seasons occur on the Serengeti: one between November and December and another between March and May. With these wet seasons, a massive growing season occurs for grasses. Not for trees on the plains, though.

Thanks to a hardpan created over three million years ago from blown-in volcanic ash, the hard shell creates an impenetrable layer just under the soil surface, disallowing most trees to grow because the shallow soil dries so quickly.

So where do the trees grow? The grasslands and woodlands, of course!

That’s right — the Serengeti has a few different spheres of vegetation in addition to plains. Woodlands, specifically, provide the grassy space without a hardpan for trees to anchor themselves and grow. Woodlands are also different from forests — they have spans of grass between trees so that a leafy canopy doesn’t form.

Hardy Trees Growing High in the Savanna

The many trees of the savanna grow heartily despite the weather conditions for much of the year. Situated in the grasslands and woodlands of the Serengeti, trees like the Commiphora, Yellow Fever tree, and whistling thorn thrive in the hot, dry biosphere of East Africa.