According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), more than 1.6 billion people around the world depend on forests to some extent for their livelihood while some 60 million indigenous people are completely dependent on forests for all aspects of their survival.
About 10 million people are employed in forest management and conservation around the world.
In this age of climate change and pollution, forests have never been more important to the human existence.
Forests provide water storage, dictate weather patterns and, critically, act as the planet's lungs by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen into the atmosphere through photosynthesis.
The cradle of mankind is a big player in this race of keeping humans alive.
Africa has a high per capita forest cover at 0.8 ha per person compared to 0.6 ha globally.
On average, forests account for 6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa, which is the highest in the world.
Considering that, here are eight biggest forests in Africa, they hold the future of the continent and you will definitely get lost in them.
The Congo Basin is Africa’s largest contiguous forest and the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world. It covers about 695,000 square miles and is exceeded in size only by the Amazon.
This swamp-struck tropical forest covers portions of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.
The Congo Basin rainforest supports some 10,000 kinds of plants and a huge variety of animals, including big mammals like African forest elephants, forest buffalo, chimpanzees, bonobos and a number of subspecies of gorilla. It also shelters more than 100 different human cultures.
Located in Kenya, Mau forest is one of the biggest forests in East Africa with an area of 273,300 hectares (675,000 acres).
It is the largest water catchment area in Kenya and numerous rivers originate from the forest, including Southern Ewaso Ng’iro, Sondu River, Mara River and Njoro River.
These rivers feed Lake Victoria, Lake Nakuru and Lake Natron Westerns slopes of the Mau.
3. Cross-Niger Transition Forests
The Cross-Niger transition forests are a tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion of south eastern Nigeria, located between the Niger River on the west and the Cross River on the east covering an area of 20,700 sq km.
The Niger River separates the Cross-Niger transition forests from the Nigerian lowland forests to the west
The climate is wet, becoming drier further inland, with a dry season from December to February.
The forest is home to a number of wildlife including drill monkey, African buffalo, cheetahs, warthogs, hippos, caracal, leopards, lions, baboons and elephants and red-capped mangabey and more than 900 species of birds.
Ongoye Forest is situated on a granite ridge, inland from the town of Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa covering an area of 4000 hectares.
The vegetation in Ongoye Forest include natal olinia, natal palm-nut, giant umzimbeet, forest mangosteen, forest waterberry, Giant Pock Ironwood, Zulu bead-string, Natal Krantz Ash, Natal White Stinkwood and the Pondo Fig.
Woodward’s barbet, crowned eagle, yellow streaked bulbul, spotted thrush, red bush squirrel, dwarf chameleons, butterfly (Euryphura achlys) and ongoye centipede and bronze-naped pigeon are some of the wildlife found here.
5. Budongo Forest Reserve
This 825 square km forest reserve located about three hours drive from Kampala City is the Biggest Mahogany forest found in the whole of East Africa.
Budongo Forest Reserve is characterized by a medium altitude damp semi-deciduous verdant forests and is located in the districts of Hoima, Masindi and Buliisa in Western Uganda
Rhinos, lions, leopards, buffaloes, hippopotamus, cheetah, elephants, giraffe and zebra, chimpanzees and birds include puvel’s illadopsis roam these forests.
Newlands Forest is a conservancy area on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain, beside the suburb of Newlands, Cape Town. It is owned and maintained by the Table Mountain National Parks Board, along with the City Parks Department of Cape Town covering an area of 400 hectares.
Wildlife in the forest includes chaffinch, cape white-eye, grassbird, southern double-collared sunbird, African black swift, alpine swift, white-rumped swift, black saw-wing swallow, greater striped swallow, African olive pigeon, cape canary, monkeys, African wild dog and ground hornbill.
7. Mount Cameroon and Bioko Montane Forests
Located in a volcanic chain that extends northeast along the border between Cameroon and Nigeria, and southwest towards the Guinea islands of São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobo covering an area of 400 square miles is Mount Cameroon and Bioko Montane Forests.
With a size of 420 km2 Arabuko-Sokoke Forest is the largest remaining section of dry coastal forest found in Eastern and Southern Africa.
In this 420 sq km reserve there is an untold wealth of natural beauty. The air is filled with butterflies and birds, the trees alive with monkeys and the forest floor home to many smaller mammals.
Over 260 species of birds have been recorded in the forest including the six globally threatened ones: sokoke scops owl, sokoke pipit, east coast akalat, spotted ground thrush, amani sunbird and clarke's weaver.
The forest stretches to the headwaters of the mighty Sabaki River, and occasionally herds of elephant pass through the forest en route to the river.
Karura Forest Reserve is located in the northern part of Nairobi city. At 1,041 hectares, it is one of the largest urban gazetted forests in the world. The forest contains nearly all the 605 species of wildlife found in Nairobi including three types of antelope. It is managed by Kenya Forest Service (KFS).
The forest sits on million-year-old Late Tertiary volcanic rocks. Five perennial tributaries of the Nairobi River pass through the forest running roughly west to east and cutting through gently undulating landscape.
Other important attractions that visitors to Karura Forest enjoy are: Mau Mau caves, Scenic waterfalls and rivers, Picnic sites, Marked walking trails, Small wetlands that are habitats for birds, The incinerator formerly used by Central Bank of Kenya to burn old currency notes, The area about which the late Professor Wangari Maathai carried out a campaign against illegal acquisition of forest land.
