African waves are the major synoptic system over North Africa in the summer. Previous studies have reported that African waves could be distinguished into the two different waves (African easterly waves and Burpee waves) on either side of the African easterly jet. Burpee waves (BWs) have been studied by numerous researchers, therefore, they are well known in the literature. In contrast, African easterly waves (AEWs) are not understood very well, due to the lack of data gathered over the desert. Previous studies have reported that vertical structures of the AEW is shallow near the surface on the north side of the jet. However, they do not explain the shallow structure of AEWs. Thus, the first objective of this study was to explore the limited height of AEWs by analyzing NCEP reanalysis data. According to these results, the mid-level high over North Africa plays an important role in limiting the height of AEWs. In addition, vorticity budget and streamfunction budget analysis indicate the vortex stretching term is the major dynamic process for vertical development and limitation of AEWs at the low and mid levels. Previous studies have mentioned the African jet is also weakened by African waves, but they did not explain the real-time interaction between them. Therefore, the second objective of this study was to explore the interaction between the jet and the wave. The results of Fourier analysis indicate the relationship between the perturbation and the jet depends on the relative positions between them. Vorticity budget analysis also indicates that zonal vorticity advection is an important term for perturbation on the south side of the jet to develop rotation to increase the jet. In contrast, the planetary vorticity advection is the key dynamic process enabling AEWs to develop on the north side of the jet, causing it to weaken.