The Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic ecoregion is located on the east-facing inland side of the belt of mountains that stands parallel to the coast of

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, 50–100 km inland.

Geography

These inland slopes are mostly covered with grassland and savanna. The woodland once covered a much larger area but today only patches survive, mainly in deep ravines and on the higher peaks in

Huambo Huambo, formerly Nova Lisboa (English language, English: ''New Lisbon''), is the third-most populous List of cities and towns in Angola, city in Angola, after the capital city Luanda and Lubango, with a population of 595,304 in the city and a pop ...

and Cuanza Sul provinces, such as

Mount Moco Mount Moco (Portuguese: ), at , is the highest mountain in Angola. It is located in Huambo Province Huambo is a Provinces of Angola, province of Angola. With an area of 34,270 km2, it is one of the geographically smaller provinces, situated ...

(2,620 m), Mount Mepo (2,582 m), Mount Lubangue (2,554 m), Mount Namba (2582 m), and on the Serra da Chela in

Huíla Province Huíla is a Provinces of Angola, province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 2,497,422 (2014 census). Lubango is the capital of the province. Basket-making is a significant industry in the province; many make baskets out of reeds. ...

. The towns of

and

Lubango Lubango, formerly known as Sá da Bandeira, is a municipality in Angola, capital of the Huíla Province, with a population of 914,456 in 2022. The city center had a population of 600,751 in 2014 making it the second-most populous city in Angola a ...

are located at the edge of the ecoregion.

Climate

The area has a wet summer and some mist and rainfall year-round so water is fairly abundant though in the dry season obtainable in some places only by digging in the sandy beds of the rivers.

Flora

Open montane grassland is the predominant plant community above 1600 meters elevation. In the dry season fires are common and the dry grasses burn and are then renewed. Shrubs include species of ''

Erica Erica or ERICA may refer to: * Erica (given name) * Erica (plant), ''Erica'' (plant), a flowering plant genus * Erica (chatbot), a service of Bank of America * Erica (video game), ''Erica'' (video game), a 2019 FMV video game * Erica (spider), ' ...

'', sugarbushes (''

Protea ''Protea'' () is a genus of South African flowering plants, also called sugarbushes (Afrikaans: ''suikerbos''). It is the type genus of the Proteaceae family. About 92% of the species occur only in the Cape Floristic Region, a narrow belt of mo ...

'') and '' Cliffortia'', and grasses ''

Themeda triandra } ''Themeda triandra'' is a species of perennial tussock-forming grass widespread in Africa, Australia, Asia and the Pacific. In Australia it is commonly known as kangaroo grass and in East Africa and South Africa it is known as red grass and ...

'' and species of ''

Tristachya ''Tristachya'' (common name trident grasses) is a genus of African and Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese ...

'', ''

Hyparrhenia ''Hyparrhenia'' is a genus of grasses. Many species are known commonly as thatching grass. They are mostly native to tropical Africa; some can be found in warmer areas in temperate Eurasia, Australia, and Latin America. These are annual and per ...

'', ''

Festuca ''Festuca'' (fescue) is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the grass family Poaceae (subfamily Pooideae). They are evergreen or herbaceous perennial tufted grasses with a height range of and a cosmopolitan distribution, occurring on ...

'', and '' Monocymbium''. Forest patches occur above 1800 meters elevation, in moist ravines and on high mountain slopes. Forest patches tend to be small, from 1 to 20 hectares, with an irregular tree canopy 8 to 15 meters high. The forest patches are not so vulnerable to fire. The

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 o ...

woodland flora has similarities with that of other mountain ranges across Africa. The predominant tree is the conifer ''

Podocarpus latifolius ''Podocarpus latifolius'' (real yellowwood, broad-leaved yellowwood, or South African yellowwood, , , , ) is a large evergreen tree up to 35 m high and 3 m trunk diameter, in the conifer family Podocarpaceae; it is the type species of t ...

''. Other canopy trees are mainly evergreen broadleaved trees, including ''

Polyscias fulva ''Polyscias fulva'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It fo ...

Apodytes dimidiata ''Apodytes dimidiata'' (white pear or umDakane) is a bushy tree with white flowers bearing a fragrance reminiscent of fresh coconut, and small black and red fruits. It is usually about 5 m tall (but reaches a height of 20 m when growing ...

, Pittosporum viridiflorum, Syzygium guineense afromontanum, Halleria lucida'', ''

Olea ''Olea'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Oleaceae. It includes 12 species native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Middle East, southern Europe, Africa, southern Asia, and Australasia. They are evergreen trees and s ...

'' spp., and ''

Ilex mitis ''Ilex mitis'' (commonly called Cape holly, African holly, waterboom or umDuma) is a tall, dense, evergreen tree that is indigenous to Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. It makes an excellent fast-growing hedge for gardens - growing tall, straig ...

''.

Fauna

The fauna includes a number of bird species unique to the highlands such as Boulton's batis (''Batis margaritae''), Swierstra's spurfowl (''Pternistis swierstra''), Angola cave-chat (''Xenocopsychus ansorgei'') grey-striped spurfowl (''Pternistis griseostriatus'') and Angola slaty flycatcher (''Dioptrornis brunneus''). Ludwig's double-collared sunbird (''Cinnyris ludovicensis'') is native to the Angolan montane forest–grassland mosaic and to the

Nyika Plateau The Nyika Plateau lies in northern Malawi, with a small portion in north eastern Zambia. Most of it lies at elevations of between , the highest point being at Nganda Peak. It is roughly a diamond in shape, with a long north–south axis of abou ...

of Malawi. Some of these species have close relatives in other forests of the continent, more indication that this woodland was once much more widespread. Native mammals include the

yellow baboon The yellow baboon (''Papio cynocephalus'') is a baboon in the family of Old World monkeys. The species epithet means "dog-head" in Greek, due to the dog-like shape of the muzzle and head. Yellow baboons have slim bodies with long arms and legs al ...

(''Papio cynocephalus''), red-footed squirrel (''Funisciurus pyrropus''), common duiker (''Sylvicapra grimmia''), blue duiker (''Philantomba monticola''), and

bushpig :''"Bush pig" may also refer to the red river hog.'' The bushpig (''Potamochoerus larvatus'') is a member of the pig family that inhabits forests, woodland, riverine vegetation and cultivated areas in East and Southern Africa. Probably introd ...

(''Potamochoerus larvatus''). Large grazing mammals recorded in the mid-1970s include

Burchell's zebra Burchell's zebra (''Equus quagga burchellii'') is a southern subspecies of the plains zebra. It is named after the British explorer and naturalist William John Burchell. Common names include bontequagga, Damaraland zebra, and Zululand zebra (Gray ...

(''Equus quagga burchelli''),

common eland The common eland (''Taurotragus oryx''), also known as the southern eland or eland antelope, is a large savannah and plains antelope found in East Africa, East and Southern Africa. An adult male is around tall at the shoulder and can weigh up ...

(''Taurotragus oryx''),

southern reedbuck The southern reedbuck, rietbok or common reedbuck (''Redunca arundinum'') is a diurnal antelope typically found in southern Africa. It was first described by Pieter Boddaert, a Dutch physician and naturalist, in 1785. It is placed in the genu ...

(''Redunca arundinum''), oribi (''Ourebia ourebi''), and roan antelope (''Hippotragus equinus''), but most are now either rare in or extirpated from the ecoregion. Rodrigues, Patrícia; Figueira, Rui; Vaz Pinto, Pedro; Araújo, Miguel B.; Beja, Pedro (2015). A biogeographical regionalization of Angolan mammals. ''Mammal Review''. April 2015, Vol. 45 Issue 2, p 103-116. 14p. Two species of shrew, the heather shrew (''Crocidura erica'') and blackish white-toothed shrew (''Crocidura nigricans''), are limited to the ecoregion and some adjacent areas of the surrounding Angolan miombo woodlands.

Threats

The highlands are one of the most heavily populated parts of Angola so the woodland is vulnerable to clearance for logging, while some of the grassland, except where it is very swampy, is being cleared for agriculture. Furthermore, the mountains were the scene of much conflict and poverty during the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War () was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war began immediately after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. It was a power struggle between two for ...

and as a consequence the wildlife has been little studied or protected. None of the ecoregion is in protected areas.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angolan montane forest-grassland mosaic Afromontane ecoregions Afromontane forests Afrotropical ecoregions Ecoregions of Angola Montane grasslands and shrublands