Cross-Niger transition forests

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The Cross-Niger transition forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of Nigeria. It includes the lowland and coastal forests of southeastern Nigeria, between the Niger River on the west and the Cross River on the east. The ecoregion extends across the Nigerian states of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Enugu, and Imo, covering an area of 20,700 square kilometers (8000 square miles). The Niger River separates the Cross-Niger transition forests from the Nigerian lowland forests to the west, and from the Niger Delta swamp forests of the Niger Delta. To the north, the Cross-Niger transition forests yield to the Guinean forest-savanna mosaic of the drier interior.

The flora and fauna of the ecoregion is "transitional", blending elements from the Upper Guinean forests of West Africa and the Lower Guinean-Congolian forests of Central Africa, which constitute the largest blocks of tropical moist forest on the African continent. The ecoregion has sustained a dense human population for centuries, and much of the original forest cover has been cleared for agriculture or forest plantations. Only a few enclaves of the native forest remain, mostly in the Stubbs Creek forest reserve, together with some enclaves of sacred forest and patches of riverine forest.