Typical dry forest species include Manilkara sansibarensis, Pteleopsis myrtifolia, Warneckea sansibarica, and Baphia macrocalyx.

Dry forests subjected to human disturbance from timber harvesting, livestock grazing, and shifting cultivation are often more thicket-like.

A survey of forest cover from 2002 satellite data found that only 89 km2 of the plateau is still densely vegetated, a 96.2% reduction over more than a century.

[3] The soil is light and sandy but fertile, and the Makonde people on the plateau traditionally practiced a form of swidden agriculture with a three-crop rotation.

At the end of the growing season, the tree stumps were allowed to re-grow for a six- to nine-year fallow period.