Kupe (mountain)

Kupe
	Location of the Kupe in southwestern Cameroon
height	2064 m
location	Cameroon , West (/ Central ) Africa
Coordinates	4 ° 48 '34 " N , 9 ° 42' 44" E Coordinates: 4 ° 48 '34 " N , 9 ° 42' 44" E
Type	Stratovolcano
rock	Basalt , trachyte
Last eruption	unknown

The Kupe is an extinct stratovolcano on the border of the provinces Sud-Ouest and Littoral in Cameroon . It reaches an altitude of 2064 meters above sea level, is the highest mountain in the Bakossi Mountains and part of the Cameroon Line . The closest towns are Loum and Tombel . To the north of the Kupe lies the Bambouto massif (approx. 70 km), to the northeast of the Manengouba (approx. 30 km) and to the southwest of the Cameroon Mountain (approx. 90 km).

The Kupe is conical in shape with partly vertical rock walls, consists mainly of crystalline and basaltic rock layers. Between the municipalities of Tombel and Penja, over 80 smaller volcanic cones, up to 50 meters high, tower over the mountainous landscape. The Kupe massif covers an area of approx. 220 km² and is covered with a dense tropical mountain rainforest , in which over 329 species of birds are known. In the vicinity of the summit, the rainforests are interspersed with smaller grass savannahs. The protection of the rainforest with its high biodiversity is the goal of numerous national and international projects, of which the Mount Kupe Forest Project by Birdlife International is the best known.

The rainforests of Kupe are an important refuge of many endangered primate species , including the drill ( Mandrillus leucophaeus ), the Western Beard guenon ( Cercopithecus preussi ), red-eared guenon ( Cercopithecus erythrotis ), greater spot-nosed monkey ( Cercopithecus inctitans ), collared mangabey ( Cercocebus torquatus ), chimpanzees ( Pan troglodytes ) and the Preuss colobus monkey ( Piliocolobus prussie ).

The climate on the Kupe is tropical and humid with a rainy season from April to October, with the peculiarity that this is interrupted by the short dry season of one to two weeks in July. The long dry season lasts from November to February, with the relative humidity being over 80% all year round. Due to its location in the western Cameroon Mountains, the Kupe receives rainfall of over 4000 mm per year.

Around 140,000 people (as of 2001) who belong to the ethnic groups of Bakossi (western sector), Manehas and Bamuns (eastern sector) live around the Kupassiv . As a result, the Kupe forms a border between French and English speaking Cameroon. In recent years, Bamileke and other ethnic groups from the Bamenda highlands have increasingly settled around the Kupe. For the Bakossi, the Kupe is a sacred mountain that has a supernatural aura and plays a central role in the myths of the ethnic group.