Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests

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The Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of central Africa, covering portions of Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Democratic Republic of the Congo.

[edit] Setting

The Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests cover an area of 189,700 square kilometers (73,200 square miles), extending along the Atlantic coast. The forests cover Cameroon's southwest corner, mainland Equatorial Guinea (Río Muni), the western half of Gabon. A narrow strip of forest extends southeast through Republic of the Congo and the eastern portion the Cabinda enclave of Angola to just north of the Congo River in Kongo Central province of Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests form the southernmost part of the Lower Guinean forests complex, a region of coastal moist broadleaf forests that extend north and west into southwestern Cameroon and southern Nigeria. The Atlantic Ocean lies to the east, and pockets of the Central African mangroves can be found along the brackish river mouths and estuaries along the coast. The Sanaga River in Cameroon marks the boundary between the Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests and the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests to the north. To the east, the coastal forests transition to the Northwestern Congolian lowland forests, part of the vast Congolian forests complex that covers the Congo Basin. The Western Congolian forest-savanna mosaic bounds the Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests to the southeast.