44 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



of the plains region. The lower altitudes of the zone 

 are typically acacia parks, grass interspersed with bush 

 country and scattered trees. The elevated grassy plains 

 above seven thousand feet, such as occur on the Mau sum- 

 mit and on Kenia, are covered by a dense perennial growth 

 of grass which crowds out all other vegetation. 



The riparian vegetation is dominated by the yellow- 

 barked tree. Acacia verugosa, which forms a narrow fringe of 

 forest along all the streams. Associated with this are often 

 trees of the rough-barked Acacia stenocarpa. In the lower 

 levels of the streams on the nyika border the large red- 

 fruited fig, Ficus stuhlmanni, is a conspicuous tree. In 

 this region the immense fronds of the Raphia palm are 

 often seen among the riverside trees. Throughout the 

 Uganda region and also much of East Africa the tall feath- 

 ery papyrus is the dominant swamp and watercourse plant 

 and is characteristic of this zone. On the Nile, however, 

 it covers large areas far down into the nyika to an altitude 

 of fifteen hundred feet. At the higher levels of the veldt 

 region the African clove, Eugenia cordata, grows abundantly 

 on the banks of streams, and with it are occasionally asso- 

 ciated a few willow-trees. A conspicuous riparian bush or 

 small tree is the Cassia didymohotrya, with its perennial 

 wealth of large yellow blossoms. 



In East Africa proper, that is, in the Rift Valley and 

 coast drainages, no forests occur in the high veldt zone, 

 but in Uganda much of this zone is occupied by a tropical 

 forest in character similar to that which spreads over the 

 Congo basin. This forest is found in patches from its east- 

 ern extreme, the Kakumega forest at the base of the Nandi 

 Escarpment westward to the Semliki Valley and the Congo 



