<P> The area between the east and west coast highlands , which north of 17 ° N is mainly desert , is divided into separate basins by other bands of high ground , one of which runs nearly centrally through North Africa in a line corresponding roughly with the curved axis of the continent as a whole . The best marked of the basins so formed ( the Congo basin ) occupies a circular area bisected by the equator , once probably the site of an inland sea . </P>
<P> The area between the east and west coast highlands , which north of 17 ° N is mainly desert , is divided into separate basins by other bands of high ground , one of which runs nearly centrally through North Africa in a line corresponding roughly with the curved axis of the continent as a whole . The best marked of the basins so formed ( the Congo basin ) occupies a circular area bisected by the equator , once probably the site of an inland sea . </P>
what geographic feature separates north africa from the rest of africa
what geographic feature separates north africa from the rest of africa
desert
desert