Mount Kupe or Mont Koupé is a
plutonic mountain in the
Western High Plateau
The Western High Plateau, Western Highlands or Bamenda Grassfields is a region of Cameroon characterised by high relief, cool temperatures, heavy rainfall and savanna vegetation. The region lies along the Cameroon line and consists of mounta ...
of
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
, part of the
Cameroon line of volcanoes. It is the highest of the
Bakossi mountains, rising to .
The mountain is revered by the local
Bakossi people
The Bakossi people are a Bantu ethnic group that live on the western and eastern slopes of Mount Mwanenguba and Mount Kupe in the Bakossi Mountains of Cameroon. They number about 200,000, mostly engaged in subsistence farming but also producing ...
as the home of their ancestral and forest spirits.
[
Missionaries in the 1890s observed that the mountain had a strong magical reputation, and it still has an important role in beliefs related to ''ekong'', a form of witchcraft.
The mountain used to be forest-covered apart from a few small grassy areas near the summit. The causes of deforestation in the Bakossi landscape, are shifting cultivation, logging for timber, felling for fuelwood, growth and expansion of human settlements and establishment of pasture lands.
All sides of the mountain have been steadily converted to agricultural use.
Forest has been cleared up to 1,500m on the eastern slopes and up to between 750m and 1,100m on the western and northern sides, above the villages of Mbule and Nyasoso.][
As of 2010, there was still primary mid-altitude and montane rainforest on the northern side.][
The cloud forest supports rich biodiversity, and is home to chimpanzees and several species of threatened primates.][
The Mount Kupe bushshrike ''Telophorus kupeensis'' is known to be endangered due to its small range and declining quality of its habitat.
The Mount Kupe Forest Project was at first managed by BirdLife International, later by WWF-UK and then by WWF-Cameroon. As of 2010 the project was dormant.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kupe
Volcanoes of Cameroon
Mountains of Cameroon
Cameroonian Highlands forests