Mount Mecula (

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

: ''Serra Mecula'') is a mountain in northern

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

. It is located in

Niassa Province Niassa is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 129,056 km2 and a population of 1,810,794 (2017). It is the most sparsely populated province in the country. Lichinga is the capital of the province. There are a minimum estimated 450,000 Ya ...

, near the center of Niassa National Reserve. Mount Mecula is an isolated granite outcrop or

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock () is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, a ...

, and is relatively isolated from other mountains. Mount Yao (altitude 1 313 m; 12°39′ S, 35°16′ E) is located to 128 km to the southwest in the national reserve. Mount Mecula is in the watershed of the

Rovuma River Ruvuma River, formerly also known as the Rovuma River, is a river in the African Great Lakes region. During the greater part of its course, it forms the border between Tanzania and Mozambique (in Mozambique known as ''Rio Rovuma''). The river is ...

, which runs to the north and forms the boundary between Mozambique and

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

. The

Lugenda River The Lugenda or Lujenda (alternate: Msambiti River) is a river of northern Mozambique. It flows in a south-north direction from Lake Amaramba/Lake Chiuta and is the largest tributary of the Ruvuma River. It joins the Luambala River at . The river ...

, a tributary of the Rovuma, runs to the south.

Miombo woodland The Miombo woodland is a tropical and subtropical grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome (in the World Wide Fund for Nature scheme) located primarily in Central Africa. It includes four woodland savanna ecoregions (listed below) characterized b ...

is the predominant plant community below 1000 meters elevation. At higher elevations, patches of broadleaf evergreen

Afromontane The Afromontane regions are subregions of the Afrotropical realm, one of the Earth's eight biogeographic realms, covering the plant and animal species found in the mountains of Africa and the southern Arabian Peninsula. The Afromontane regions ...

forest occur between 992 and 1370 meters elevation, along with grassland, montane scrub, and large areas of exposed rock. The Mecula girdled lizard (''Cordylus meculae'') is native to the mountain, and to the

Njesi Highlands The Njesi Highlands ( Portuguese: ''Serra Jeci'') are a range of mountains in northern Mozambique. Geography The highlands rise east of Lake Malawi in the western portion of Mozambique's Niassa Province. They are north of Lichinga, the provinci ...

further west.Tolley, K.A., Farooq, H., Verburgt, L., Alexander, G.J., Conradie, W., Raimundo, A. & Sardinha, C.I.V. 2019. Cordylus meculae. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019: e.T177561A120594696. https://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2019-3.RLTS.T177561A120594696.en. Downloaded on 11 February 2021.

References

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External links

image of Serra Mecula
Mecula Eastern miombo woodlands Geography of Niassa Province Inselbergs of Africa