The West Saharan montane xeric woodlands is an ecoregion that extends across several highland regions in the Sahara. Surrounded at lower elevations by the largely barren Sahara, the West Saharan montane xeric woodlands are isolated refuges of plants and animals that can survive in the higher humidity and lower temperatures of the highlands.
Setting
The Sahara stretches across northern Africa from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea. Some mountains ranges (such as the Ahaggar, Tassili n'Ajjer, Tibesti and Aïr) rise up from the desert and receive more rainfall and mostly present slightly cooler summer temperatures. These highlands support dry woodlands and shrublands distinct from the hot dry desert lowlands.
This ecoregion has an area of . The boundaries for the largest part of this ecoregion, which includes the Tassili n'Ajjer Ahaggar and Aïr (or Azbine) massifs, follow the 'regs,' 'hamadas' and 'wadis' above the 1,000 m contour. This covers a good part of southeast Algeria. These areas reach almost 3,000 meters in elevation. Additional areas further south were included within this ecoregion, including the Aïr ou Azbine in northern Niger, Dhar Adrar in Mauritania, and Adrar des Iforas in Mali and Algeria, using the 500 m-elevation contour.