Somalia Channel and Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. It lies between latitudes 2°S and 12°N, and longitudes 41° and 52°E. Strategically located at the mouth of the Bab el Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, the country occupies the tip of a region that, due to its resemblance on the map to a rhinoceros' horn, is commonly referred to as the Horn of Africa. Somalia has the longest coastline on the mainland of Africa, with a seaboard that stretches . Its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands. The nation has
Coastal forests of eastern Africa Coastal forests of eastern Africa The Coastal forests of eastern Africa is a tropical moist forest region along the east coast of Africa. The region was designated a biodiversity hotspot by Conservation International. The forests extend in al narrow band along the coast of the Indian Ocean, from southern Somalia in the north, through coastal Kenya and Tanzania to the mouth of the Limpopo River in southern Mozambique. The World Wildlife Fund divides the coastal forests into two ecoregions: the Northern Zanzibar-Inhambane coastal forest mosaic, which extends from southern Somalia through coastal Kenya to southern Tanzania, and includes the islands