Rio Muni has less debilitating climatic conditions. Continental Equatorial Guinea is covered by dense tropical rain forest that is exploited by the lumbering industry. Intensive exploitation close to the coast led the Spanish timber companies to venture deeper into the interior. Reforestation is minimal, and a secondary forest growth has replaced the virgin rain forest. African subsistence farmers clear the land by burning off the vegetation cover, after which they grow cassava, beans, yams, roots, and some cash crops such as coffee and cocoa, to the extent that the heavily leached soils allow.
Mangroves fringe long stretches of the coast as well as riverbanks.
The continental region has a rich animal life that includes gorillas, chimpanzees, various rare species of monkeys, leopards, buffalo, antelope, elephants, hippopotamuses, crocodiles, and various species of snakes, including pythons. Insects, including the tsetse fly and the malaria-bearing Anopheles mosquito, as well as hosts of ants, beetles, spiders, and termites, abound. Bioko has no big game but has various monkeys, dwarf antelopes, and rodents, as well as the mosquito and other insects.