The Choa Mountains (

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 ** Port ...

: ''Serra Choa'') are a mountain range in

Manica Province Manica is a province of Mozambique. It has an area of 62,272 km² and a population of 1,945,994 (2017 census). The province is surrounded by Zimbabwe in the west, Tete Province in the northwest, Sofala Province in the east, Save River in ...

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, Mala ...

. The mountains lie in

Báruè District Báruè District is a district of Manica Province in western Mozambique. Its principal town is Catandica. The district is located in the west of the province, and borders with Guro District in the north, Macossa District in the east, Gondola Distr ...

, west of

Catandica Catandica (before independence known as Vila Gouveia) is a town located in the province of Manica in Mozambique. It is the administrative center of Báruè District. As of 2008 it had a population of 29,052. The town, near the border with Zimbab ...

. The mountains are at the northern end of the

Eastern Highlands :''"Eastern Highlands" also refers to Eastern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea, and part of the Great Dividing Range, Australia.'' The Eastern Highlands, also known as the Manica Highlands, is a mountain range on the border of Zimbab ...

. The higher

Nyanga Mountains Mount Nyangani (formerly Mount Inyangani) is the highest mountain in Zimbabwe at . The mountain is located within Nyanga National Park in Nyanga District, about northwest of Mutare. The summit lies atop a small outcrop of rock around above the ...

lie to the southwest. The eastern slope of the mountains rises steeply from the surrounding plateau, forming a 20km-long escarpment northwest of Catandica. Small areas of the range exceed 1500 meters elevation, and Serra Nhatoa, the highest peak, is over 1850 meters. The western slopes of the mountains are drained by the

Gairezi River Overview The Gairezi River begins on the slope's of Zimbabwe's highest mountain, the 2,592 meter Mount Nyangani, and is located in eastern Zimbabwe. As it winds its way north from the Eastern Highlands, and for more than 60 km, it subseq ...

, which flows northwards towards the

Zambezi River The Zambezi River (also spelled Zambeze and Zambesi) is the fourth-longest river in Africa, the longest east-flowing river in Africa and the largest flowing into the Indian Ocean from Africa. Its drainage basin covers , slightly less than hal ...

from its source in the Nyanga Mountains. The eastern slopes of the mountains are drained by the Nhazonia River (also known as the Nyadzonya River), a tributary of the

Pungwe River Pungwe River ( pt, Rio Púngoè, links=no or ''Rio Púnguè'') is a long river in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It rises below Mount Nyangani in the Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe and then flows southeasteastward through the Manica and Sofala province ...

. The mountains are mostly covered in

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 ...

. The eastern slopes intercept winds from the Indian Ocean, and the resulting

orographic precipitation Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discipl ...

sustain lush montane grasslands with pockets of montane evergreen forest at higher elevations. On the high western slopes, montane grasslands interspersed with

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 ...

shrubs are prevalent.Cizek, Anthony. (2009). Birds of the Serra Choa, Mozambique, with first records for Mozambique and new localities for Eastern Highlands endemics. Honeyguide. 55. 11-21.

References

{{coord, -18.01691, 33.18325, type:mountain_globe:earth_region:MZ, display=title Eastern Highlands Eastern Zimbabwe montane forest-grassland mosaic Geography of Manica Province Mountain ranges of Mozambique Southern miombo woodlands