Eighteen countries running from the Horn of Africa down the Great Rift Valley and the East African plateau to the Zambezi, plus the Indian Ocean island states: Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Distinct from Middle Africa's Congo Basin rainforest core immediately to the west and from Southern Africa's temperate plateau to the south.