Mount Moco (Portuguese: ), at , is the highest mountain in
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
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, capital = Luanda
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. It is located in
Huambo Province
Huambo is a province of Angola. With an area of 34,270 km2, it is one of the geographically smaller provinces, situated in the Central Region approximately 450 km south east of the capital, Luanda.
The province had a population of 2,01 ...
in the western part of the country, west of the city of
Huambo
Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa (English: ''New Lisbon''), is the third-most populous city in Angola, after the capital city Luanda and Lubango, with a population of 595,304 in the city and a population of 713,134 in the municipality of Huambo (Cens ...
.
[''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition'', p. 754.] Mount Moco was named one of Angola's "seven wonders" in 2014.
The mountain is a destination for birdwatchers, hikers, and people participating in rappelling and paragliding.
Flora and fauna
The mountain's
Afromontane forests are part of the
Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic bioregion.
Flora
Mount Moco is largely under-researched and has been visited by very few botanical surveyors. It is known to have several species of ''
Protea
''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos'').
Etymology
The genus ''Protea'' was named in 1735 by Carl Linnaeus, possibly after the Greek god Proteus, who could change his form a ...
'' and other flowering plants,
many of which appear in July through September after grassland fires have settled.
Birdlife
Mount Moco is home to many birds, with around 233 species recorded at the site.
It has been designated an
Important Bird Area (IBA) by
BirdLife International and is part of the Western Angola
Endemic Bird Area.
The mountain provides a home for a number of endangered and threatened bird species including the Swiersta's Francolin (''
Pternistis swierstrai
Swierstra's spurfowl (''Pternistis swierstrai'') is a species of bird in the family Phasianidae. It is found only in Angola in the rapidly shrinking Afromontane forests of peaks such as Mount Moco and Mount Soque.
Its natural habitat is subtropic ...
''),
Angola Cave Chat (''
Xenocopsychus ansorgei''), Angola Slaty Flycatcher (''
Dioptrornis brunneus'') and Ludwig's Double-collared Sunbird (''
Cinnyris ludovicensis'').
Conservation
Mount Moco is a particularly threatened habitat due to unsustainable wood collection for construction-based logging and for firewood. Uncontrolled bush fires are also an environmental threat. Though a Mount Moco Special Reserve has been proposed, the area currently has no protection status or measures in place.
The forest continues to be at risk from the local residents of the village of Kanjonde, which sits at the foot of Mount Moco. As they depend primarily on subsistence farming, the villagers frequently burn vegetation and fell trees to make way for food cultivation in the mountain's valleys. Kanjonde has no electricity, so the residents also depend on wood fuel for cooking.
The Mount Moco Project is a charitable foundation working to gain protection status for Mount Moco and to educate the Kanjonde villagers about more sustainable practices.
The Project began a native tree nursery in July 2010 at Kanjonde, and this nursery was expanded in 2012 with permission of the village's ''soba'' (chief), Amândio Cabo.
Notes
References
* ''Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary, Third Edition''. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Incorporated, 1997. {{ISBN, 0-87779-546-0.
Mountains of Angola
Highest points of countries