Nyanga

The Nyangan Free State is a small country, on the west coast of Central Africa bordering Gabon in the north and Congo in the south. Located on the Equator. It has an area of 21.285km square kilometres (8,218 sq mi) and its population is estimated at 1.6 million people. Its capital and largest city is Mayumba.

Nyanga has been colonised by two diferent counties since the 1840s and up until 1992, a province of Gabon. Nyanga joined the Africa Union in 2000. It is a Presidential Republic, with the seat of government in the capital. The country is made up of 4 districts Haute-Banio, Mougoutsi, Basse-Banio and Douigni.

Nyanga is moderately industrialised with a thriving oil and petroleum industry in the west and a steady tourist and agricultural industry in the east.

Geography
Nyanga is located on the Atlantic coast of central Africa. Located on the equator. Nyanga generally has an equatorial climate with an extensive system of rainforests covering most of the area. Nyanga has three distinct regions, the coastal plains, streching from Mayumba, north to the border of Gabon and the mountainous regions in the east, (Mpolo Range and Nkezi Plateu) and the karst regions of the southern coast, which hundreds of caves are located.

There is one major river, the Nyanga River which rises on Mount Berongou, in the Republic of Congo. The Nyanga River provides water and irrgation to many towns along its course and also gives way to some shipping routes from Tchibanga in the Mpolo valley.

Climate
Nyanga has the moist, hot climate typical of tropical regions. The hottest month is January, with an average high at Mayumba of 31°C and an average low of 23°C. Average July temperatures in the capital range between 20º and 28°C. From June to September there is virtually no rain but high humidity; there is occasional rain in December and January. During the remaining months, rainfall is heavy. The excessive rainfall is caused by the condensation of moist air resulting from the meeting, directly off the coast, of the cold Benguela Current from the south and the warm Guinea Current from the north. At Mayumba, the average annual rainfall is more than 2540 mm. Farther north on the coast, it is 3810 mm.

Flora
Nyanga has a wide variety of plants that differ from the coast and inland areas. The coastal areas have typically dense mangroves or forest behind a narrow sandy beach. They have developed on the coastal plains which has allowed water from the mountains in the east to form many rivers, streams and wetlands in these regions. Dense rainforest covers more than 75% of the land area.

Eastern Nyanga has two mountain ranges (Mpolop Range and the Nkezi Plateu), that change the way the forest looks. The forest becomes less dense, and in some parts of the Nkezi Plateu the forest becomes grassland. In the Mpolo valley, farming has been the main industry for centuries, leading to a loss of the natural forests this has changed much of land permantly to savannah.

In the south there a karst region, known by locals as Ebe Onwu where the flora is drastically different. There are many rocky inlets and coves, where caves and hollows have formed. Vines, shrubs and low trees are typically found here growing in amongst the caves systems.

History
Main Article: History of Nyanga