Cameroon is located in Central Africa, at the bottom of the Gulf of Guinea.
It is bordered to the north by Chad, to the east by the Central African Republic, to the south by Congo, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and to the west by Nigeria.
Cameroon is a country with several major cities including YAOUNDE, the political capital of the country with more than one million inhabitants, DOUALA, the economic capital with more than two million inhabitants.
Then come cities like GAROUA, BAFOUSSAM, MAROUA, BAMENDA, ... which are important urban centers.
POPULATION
Cameroon has 240 ethnic groups, divided into three major groups (Bantu, Semi-Bantu, Sudanese) and corresponds to 240 national languages. The most representative ethnic groups are :
Bantu
Beti, Bassa, Bakundu, Maka, Douala, Pygmies
Semi-Bantu: Bamiléké, Gbaya, Bamoun, Tikar
Sudanese: Foulbé, Mafa, Toupouri, Arab-Choas, Moundang, Massa, Mousgoum,
LANGUAGES
English and French are the official languages, spoken by 70% and 30% of the population respectively. Spanish and German are also spoken by many city dwellers.
RELIGIONS
Cameroon is a secular state.
Two main religions are practiced there: Christianity and Islam. We also note the practice of Animism by many populations.
Religious festivals:
Good Friday, Easter, Ascension, Pentecost, Assumption, Christmas, end of Ramadan, Feast of the Sheep.
Legal holidays:
New Year's Day, Youth Day (February 11), Labor Day on May 1, National Day on May 20.
HE TOURIST SEASON
Apart from sport hunting which is practiced in the northern part of the country from November to May, the tourist season covers the whole year and tourists can visit Cameroon all year round.
Climate and weather:
The dry season is from November to April.
MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES: From 23 to 31°C in January and from 21 to 35°C in July.
ISO country code:
Time difference(s) / Paris: 1 hour in summer, no time difference in winter.
THE 10 REGIONS of Cameroon
1- Adamaoua Region
2- Central Region
3- Eastern Region
4- Far North Region
5- Coastal Region
6- Northern Region
7- North West Region
8- Western Region
9- Southern Region
10- Southwest Region
Country phone code: +237
Good and bad seasons
The Adamaoua Region
Regional capital: Ngaoundéré
Population: 681,362 hbts
Area: 63,701 km2
Number of departments: 05
Density: 10.7 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
Water tower of Cameroon, this region is the area par excellence of crater lakes, ranches, thermal mineral springs, wildlife reserves and caves. Presence of Lamidats and feudal ethnic groups.
The Central Region
Regional capital: Yaoundé
Population: 2,272,259 hbts
Area: 68,953 km2
Number of departments: 10
Density: 32.96 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
This region, which is the political capital of the country, offers several forms of attractions. These include:
- the visit of the numerous natural sites in the region including the Akok-Bekoe Caves
- the visit of monuments and traces of colonization, including the statue of Charles Atangana, the first chief of the Ewondos, the indigenous ethnic group of the capital.
- The visit of the forest reserve of Ottomo (Ngounou)
The Eastern Region
Regional capital: Bertoua
Population: 711,651 hbts
Area: 109 002 Km2
Number of departments: 04
Density: 6.53 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
The visitor will be able to travel through the vast expanse of forest that covers this region. It will be easy for you to visit the pygmy camps, the Dja reserve and to experience the culture of the Gbaya and Maka main ethnic groups of this vast region.
The Far North Region
Regional capital: Maroua
Population: 2,553,389 hbts
Area: 34,263 km2
Number of departments: 06
Density: 74.52 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
Here the visitor will have the choice between hunting, the great lamidats, the lunar landscapes of the Kapsiki, the caves, the great chieftaincies, the lakes with hippotamuses, the artisanal centers or the fantasias?
There are large national parks:
- the national park of Kalamaloue in Kousseri
- the waza national park in waza
-Mozogo Gokoro National Park in Koza
The Coastal Region
Regional capital: Douala
Population: 1,861,463 hbts
Area: 20,248 km2
Number of departments: 04
Density: 91.93 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
It is the seat of the culture of the "Ngondo" great traditional festival of the Sawa (name designating the people of the water, indigenous to the region). It is a region conducive to seaside tourism. Douala is not only the point of fall for those who visit Cameroon, but also the area of concentration of historical monuments apart from visits to the Ekom Kam Falls, Lake OSSA and other natural sites in the region, the visitor will also have to visit the large industrial plantations of Cameroon.
The Northern Region
Regional capital: Garoua
Population: 1,145,038 hbts
Area: 66,090 km2
Number of departments: 04
Density: 17.33 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
the visitor will be faced with a very varied range of tourist products. These multiform products are presented in the form of national parks, traditional lamidats, water bodies (the benoué, the dam of lagdo), hunting areas, fantasias, traditional rites, archaeological sites (traces of dinosaurs). The main national parks of the region are :
- the Benue National Park
- the national park of boubandjida
- Faro National Park
The North West Region
Regional capital: Bamenda
Population: 1,702,559 hbts
Area: 17,300 km2
Number of departments: 07
Density: 98.41 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
Mountainous area, this region is a continuity of the Western region. Its natural sites, its green landscape, its chieftaincies, waterfalls and handicrafts make this region a mecca for Cameroonian tourism.
The Western Region
Regional capital: Bafoussam
Population: 1,843,518 hbts
Area: 13,892 km2
Number of departments: 08
Density: 132.7 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
A mountainous area with impressive waterfalls, large Bamiléké chieftaincies and crater lakes, this is one of the regions of Cameroon with a tradition of funerals (carnival during the worship of the dead between November and February) and nguon (great gathering festival of the Banoum people, November-December).
The Southern Region
Regional capital: Ebolowa
Population: 514,336 hbts
Area: 47,191 km2
Number of departments: 04
Density: 10.9 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
Area of dense forest and natural islands, offers visitors a magical setting for resting by the sea with golden sandy beaches, and walks to the Lobé waterfalls.
The Cameroonian coasts having remained virgin, the visitor can admire the flora (mangrove) and aquatic fauna, in this region conducive to seaside tourism.
The South West Region
Regional capital: Buea
Population: 1,153,125 hbts
Area: 25,410 km2
Number of departments: 06
Density: 45.38 hbts/km2
Tourist aspects:
This region is home to the highest peak in the country, Mount Cameroon, and opens onto the Atlantic Ocean; it is a region conducive to seaside tourism. Beyond the various tourist products that this region offers, the visitor will be able to appreciate the development of ecotourism and visit the Korup National Park, one of the most preserved rainforests in Africa today.
TOURISM IN CAMEROON
Cameroon responds, by far, to the desires and expectations of visitors.
Cameroon favors wild nature with unique phenomena in the world.
Giving the possibility to combine leisure, beach tourism and eco-tourism.
The "Most Tourist".
Located at the crossroads of West and East Africa and stretching from the bottom of the Gulf of Guinea to Lake Chad, Cameroon offers specific tourist features that are not found anywhere else in Africa in the same country: relief, climate, fauna and flora, people and traditions.
This peculiarity allows Cameroon to develop throughout the year several different types of tourism:
Seaside tourism, mountain tourism, congress and business tourism, safari and hunting tourism, eco-tourism and cultural tourism.
Sea and beach
seaside tourism:
The 400 Kms of Atlantic coast of the Cameroonian coastline are conducive to seaside tourism whose main attractions are picturesque bays, natural and sandy beaches, islands, mangrove vegetation and waterfalls flowing directly into the sea.
FISHING OFF THE MAIN COASTAL CITIES.
Practiced in an artisanal or industrial way and open to all deep-sea fishing enthusiasts. The numerous rivers that irrigate Cameroon constitute a reservoir of rare and abundant species that give a special character to fishing.
Safari and hunting
Eco-tourism
THE NATIONAL PARK OF KORUP which contains plant species several million years old.
THE DJA RESERVE, classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
THE CAMEROON MOUNTAIN, 4.070m high, where a flora dating from the quaternary period has survived, is classified as an international site for climbing. Remarkable ecological site, it is the subject of a vast project of valorization by a German NGO "GTZ". A volcano still in activity whose last eruption dates back to March 2000. The site benefits from very high rainfall (more than 15m) at Cap Debunscha.
MAYO-REY SITES still bear fossilized dinosaur footprints.
Cultural Tourism
Cultural tourism draws its richness:
From a developed craft industry,
Mountain tourism
Congress and Business Tourism
The major cities of Yaounde and Douala, with their world-class infrastructures (convention centers, international airports, world-class hotels) constitute the main development poles of congress and business tourism.
Mount Cameroon, which overlooks the west coast, Mount Manengouba, at the crossroads of French-speaking and English-speaking Cameroon, and the climatic center of Dschang, built on a plateau rising to 10,800 m above the sea, are the high points of mountain tourism.
The microclimate of Dschang offers one of the best places of relaxation in Cameroon.
It also has a very rich historical heritage (monuments and vestiges) to which should be added the French and English bilingualism of Cameroonians.
Of the diversity presented in the art of living, folklore, religion, habitat and even cuisine. The oval-shaped Massa huts in the north of the country are unique in the world.
The Cameroonian population is a mosaic of nearly 200 ethnic groups with different customs and traditions whose traditional ways of life still survive with, in the North and West, the intact conservation of traditional chiefdoms.
The integration of environmental conservation concerns in tourism development projects has led to the classification and protection of certain natural sites for scientific, ecological and tourism purposes.
These include the following:
Safari and hunting tourism.
Cameroon has seven national parks of which the most interesting and best developed is the Waza Park in the Far North. These parks have a large number of animals representative of the African fauna (elephants, lions, giraffes, black rhinoceros, panthers, buffaloes, antelopes, hippos, hyenas, gorillas, damalisques, cheetahs, etc.).
Apart from the national parks where it is forbidden to kill animals, there are fourteen hunting zones in northern Cameroon with more than 500 kilometers of maintained tracks.
In the field of Safari tourism, Cameroon, in West and Central Africa, is leading the way thanks to a better development of its parks and wildlife reserves (Boubandjida) in Adamaoua.
