10-13 May 2019: Mount Moco

Mount Moco is Angola’s highest mountain at 2620 m. It offers a wide range of habitats, from grasslands to miombo woodlands and small patches of Afromontane woodlands. The local chief of Kanjonde village gave me permission to camp next to a soccer field after I paid a small camping fee and community contribution. For the next three days my campsite provided a constant source of entertainment to a crowd of small children. Privacy in an African village is a fallacy!

Kanjonde Village from Mt Moco

The first night, and most of the next morning, a wind storm rocked Daai Dêng. At times I thought that I would have to lower the roof, but was quite impressed how the canvass withstood the onslaught of the storm.

The afternoon I followed a stream from the village of Kanjonde up to a degraded forest patch about 500 m above the village. This area was surprisingly productive, and I ticked Bronzy Sunbird, Red-backed Mousebird, Schalow's Turaco, Western Tinkerbird, White-tailed Blue Flycatcher, Dark-capped Yellow Warbler, Angolan Slaty Flycatcher and White-bellied Sunbird.

The next morning I followed the stream downwards, away from the village into small parcels of cultivated plots and grasslands. The long grass, mostly higher than myself, made it difficult to find the grassland species. To my great delight I managed to flush a pair of Finsch’s Francolin, an uncommon and localised francolin found in the highlands of Angola. Cinderella Waxbills, along with Angola Swee Waxbills and numerous Red-collared Widowbirds were ticked in the grasslands.

Grasslands Mt Moco.

The afternoon was spent trudging up the mountain on a cattle path, finding Wailing Cisticolas and Horus Swifts. A long overdue warm shower was taken from an attachment on the side of Daai Dêng, to the great amusement of the rubber-necking children constantly surrounding my campsite.