The Arid Region?

Why do so many Americans identify Africa as an arid region, when the continent has such large expanses of rainforest and savanna climate? As a child, I did always think that Africa was a very dry, struggling continent. As I read more about Africa I seem to find out the real climates. There are three main regions that I have read about. One, The Sahara. The Sahara takes up twenty-five percent of Africa but is not the largest vegetation zone. While I also thought that Africa was full of the rain forest because I watched Tarzan many times. But in fact, the rainforest in Africa only covers a small part of Africa. This is right along the Guinea Coast and in the Zaire River Basin. The largest vegetation zone in Africa is tropical grassland, or also known as the savanna. As I continued to read about this question I read that the deforestation in Africa is very bad. Taking out a lot of the forest area in Africa. I then read that there were two types of savannas, the savanna, and the man-made savanna. The man-made savannas come from the deforestation problem. I feel like the reason a lot of Americans think that Africa is an arid region is because that is what is perceived as. Like in movies, pictures, commercials, and news articles. While there are some things that show the other regions of Africa. But, I feel like most of what Americans see first hand is the arid areas of Africa.