maximum water level in the inland delta area. While the wet season lasts three months from July till September, the western and southern edges of the delta area are not flooded until early to mid-October. The consequence is that parts of the delta are flooded while the dry season is well under way. Note that only the lowest patches are flooded annually: higher elevations receive flooding in more intermittent periods due to the changing degrees of waterlevel rises. This division in roughly three zones (flooded, periodically flooded and not-periodically flooded), makes for patches that vary in their nature according to their proximity to a main body water and elevation. In turn, this strongly affects land use in and around the inland delta, as human impact is driven by agriculture, both irrigated and rainfed, grazing and browsing of herds and flocks and the collection of wood for fuel, all dependent on the availability of water. Flora The Inland Delta forms a green oasis in its semi-arid surroundings. Its vegetation growth is limited by the availability of water, thus giving patches more often or longer subject to flooding a denser and more tree-like vegetation cover. As said, flooding cycles follow the precipitation cycle. The vegetation cycle in its turn follows the flooding cycle with a certain delay: it takes days for grasses to germinate after flooding, but months before trees die of a lack of water when floodwater has once again receded. When classifying vegetation in a grass, shrub and tree layer, up to 80% of vegetation cover in the Sahel consists of grass. In the delta area however, water is more readily available and a larger proportion of cover consists of bushes and trees. Vegetation cover itself changes as well, reaching 100% during and shortly after the flood season. Only low lying patches near a persistent water body are vegetated year-round. The area is not uniform: according to relief, proximity to a water body and soil type, different species exist. Roughly, three regions with characteristic species can be discerned: Southern Delta The low-lying floodplains can sustain aquatic plants and grasses including the grasses Acroceras amplectens and Echinochloa pyramidalis, burgu millet (Echinochloa stagnina) and the lovegrass Eragrostis atrovirens. Outer fringes - The grasslands on the edges of the watercourses, are heavily grazed. Plants include the beardgrass Andropogon gayanus, dūrvā grass Cynodon dactylon, and the thatching grass Hyparrhenia dissoluta. Along the many watercourses,