Savannah―Biomes, By GeoDivide

Biomes is a documentary series created by GeoDivide, which explores our planet with beautiful high-quality documentaries including the latest in timelapse and drone technology.


The Savannah is the vast open country of the tropics. It consists of a patchwork of trees and shrubs on a bed of grass. It is a place of deluge and drought. It dominates the continent at the center of our world. Of all the world’s habitats, it supports the earth’s most famous wildlife, the safari.

The tropics of our planet have two habitats that are instantly recognizable. The first of these is the tropical rainforest. The other, much drier one is that of the tropical savannah. Spreading out over vast plains across three continents, the Savannahs of the tropics make up for any lack of biodiversity compared to their richer rainforest cousin in the sheer quantity of large mammalian wildlife, feeding on the endless grass, and on the animals that eat that grass.

So where in the world do we find Savannah? Well if we apply the strict definition of a natural mix of trees, shrubs, and grass, then they can occur in temperate and subtropical latitudes as well as the tropics. But these areas are relatively small compared to the tropical savannah that dominates the tropics, in South America, Australia, and above all, Africa.

Indigenous Communities Using Technology to Monitor Illegal Logging in the Amazon

A growing number of Indigenous communities in Central and South America are harnessing the power of high-resolution satellite imagery, sophisticated drone equipment, and the latest smart-phone technology to precisely document and act on threats to their lands such as fires, gold-mining, logging, and deforestation for agriculture.

But it’s not without its risks: community forest monitors have had their lives threatened.

Rainforest Alert explores the groundbreaking research linking community-based monitoring and forest protection from the Eden de la Frontera community in the Peruvian Amazon.

Early results show a “measurable reduction of deforestation”. Find out more about the study: https://rainforestfoundation.org.

Project run by Rainforest Foundation US, The Indigenous Organization of the Eastern Peruvian Amazon (ORPIO-AIDESEP) and World Resources Institute.