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Cameroon, a
country in Central Africa, bounded on the north by Lake Chad; on the
east by the Central African Republic; on the south by the Republic of
the Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea; and on the west by the Bight of
Biafra (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean) and Nigeria. The country is shaped
like an elongated triangle, and forms a bridge between West Africa and
Central Africa. The country has a total area of 475,442 sq km (183,569
sq mi) with more than 250 ethnic groups spread through out its 10
Provinces, among which we have:
- The
Coastal or Sawa Culture
Cameroon's coast stretches over close to 400km from Rio del Rey on the
western border with Nigeria to Campo near the border with Gabon and
Equatorial Guinea and is inhabited by such peoples as the Dualas,
Bakweris, Bakokos and Batangas all of whom belong to the coastal Sawa
Culture.
- The
Bantu Cultural Sphere
Geographically,
the region covering Cameroon's Centre, South and East provinces belongs
to the Bantu cultural sphere. They are also referred to as "Forest
Bantus" to better distinguish them from the other Bantu peoples who do
not live in the forest region.
The group that stands out by virtue of their numerical strength is the
Beti-Fang whose traditions abound with mythical narratives of their past
migrations, tales, legends, epics and song-fables, all of which are
performed against a backdrop of highly emotional epic music of high
artistic standard.
This is the art of the mvet - a word designating both the musical
instrument and the musical content of the instrument.
- The
Grass fields Culture
The cultural sphere of the grass fields, covers the West and North-West
provinces, and is highly noted for its "royal" Art which one discovers
with much curiosity in the royal museums of, Bamungoum, Bafoussam, Bafut,
Foumban, Bali, etc. other rear attractions in this area include the
bronze works of the Tikars, the paintings and bas-reliefs of the Bamouns,
the sculpted thrones, animal totems, dance masks and other cultural
artifacts of the Bamileke, Nso and Bali-nyonga peoples, as well as the
works of art of the Fon of Babungo - a large traditional fondom where
the Fon is himself an artist and craftsman.
- The
Northern Culture
This
area stretches from the Adamawa high plateau through the Benoué and
Diamare plains, the Mandara mountains and other highland regions along
the Cameroonian fault line, right up to Lake Chad. It is in the northern
region that harbors most of the animal attractions, in the Waza National
Park.
Special
Attractions
Jungle and
savanna safaris
Get to know the animal species of the wildlife that is found in parks
like the WAZA National Park. Enjoy the instinctive gestures of elephants,
buffaloes, antelopes, hippopotamuses, gorillas etc.
Seaside
resort tourism
Cameroon, with a 400 km coastline that is open to the Atlantic, has a
conducive terrain for resort tourism. We are looking at the natural
sandy beaches of Kribi and Limbe, the mangroves as well as the falls
that empty directly into the sea perfect sites, for relaxation and
fanfare.
Cultural
tourism
Cameroon is a mosaic of close to 250 tribes with different customs and
traditions. You can equally experience the traditional architecture,
handicrafts, taste the cuisines of the Cameroon people; the grass field
culture, the Coastal or Sawa Culture, the Bantu Cultural Sphere and the
Northern Culture. Cameroon also offers the rich historical monuments and
vestiges from the triple German, British and French colonial masters and
the opportunities for you to know their stories.
Altitude
tourism
VENTA TOURS guides you through the chain of mountains lying in a
suitable environment to the West. We are talking about the Mount
Manengouba, the Dschang Climatic Centre, and the thermal springs in the
Adamaoua Province.
Sports
tourism
This constitutes and interesting aspect for lovers of sports. It
involves golf courses in Yaoundé and Tiko, the annual Mount Cameroon
race of hope which is organised every February.
Bird
watching

Cameroon is
probably the most accessible country in West-Central Africa and a top
primary birding destination. Lying at the junction between West and
Central Africa, Cameroon has a little of everything that Africa has to
offer, from the southern tropical rainforests to the Sahelian region in
the north, and from rolling plains to Cameroon Francolin, Important
birds found were volcanic beaches and mangrove swamps, and is rich with
more than 849 bird species, spread over a variety of sites among which
we have the following:
Bafut -
Nguemba "Forest Reserve"
This site has been almost completely destroyed, with the largest forest
fragment recently cleared. Bannerman's Turaco is still present in the
small forest patches around Lake Awing, and Banded Wattle-eye and
Bannerman's Weaver in the few native trees and bushes along the stream
before the lake.
Mount Cameroon
Mount Cameroon is the highest mountain in West Africa, rising more or
less straight from the coast through tropical rainforest to a bare
summit which is cold and windy and occasionally brushed with snow. It is
not dormant and sent lava flowing down almost to the sea only last year.
Although it is so close to the sea it can rarely be seen from the coast
as clouds gather round its lower slopes and Debuncha at its southwest
corner is reputed to be the second wettest place in the world.
There in can be found bird species such as Cameroon Speirops and Scrub-Warbler,
Cameroon Mountain saw-wing and Cameroon Pigeon, Pipits, the Mount
Cameroon Francolin, Cameroon–pigeon, White-tailed Warbler and the
Cameroon Sunbird.
Korup National Park is Africa’s oldest and most diverse rainforest.
Established in 1986, Korup National Park covers an area of 1,260 km²
between Mundemba and Eyumojock in the South West Province of Cameroon.
More than 620 species of trees and shrubs and at least 480 species of
herbs and climbers have so far been recorded. Korup is the single
richest lowland site in Africa for birds (more than 400 species),
herpetofauna (82 reptiles and 92 amphibians) and butterflies (around
1,000 species). There are in addition 130 different species of fish and
more than 160 mammals. Many of them are endangered and some are found
nowhere else on earth.
Korup is renowned for its wide range of unusual and colourful primates
including a number of rare and endangered species such as the drill,
chimpanzee, red colobus monkey, red-capped mangabey and red eared monkey.
A variety of small, shy antelopes known as duikers are common although
they tend to be elusive. This park is home to the Grey-necked ROCKFOWL
or PICATHARTES which attracts birders from all corners of the world. In
this park could also be found birds like Forbe’s Plover, Black Dwarf,
White-crested hornbills, Black-casqued, Yellow casqued, Red-billed Dwarf,
Blue throated Roller, Blue Cuckoo-shrike, forest Robin, gray’s, Red-vented,
Woodhouse Antpecker and Rachel’s malimbes. White-crested Tiger-Heron,
Long-tailed Hawk, Olive Long-tailed Cuckoo, both Dwarf-Hornbills (Red-billed
being the commoner), White-crested Hornbill and Olivaceous Flycatcher
The Bénoué National Park is situated between the towns of Garoua, to the
north, and Ngaoundéré to the south, and is the country's second best
game reserve. A long stretch of the Bénoué river (over 100 km) forms the
eastern boundary of the park, the main road linking Garoua and
Ngaoundéré makes up part of the western boundary while a public road, to
Tcholliré, crosses the northern part of the park. The park is largely
surrounded by Hunting Reserves in an area, except along the main road,
of low population density. Some large rocky massifs (especially Hosséré
Gorna in the north) rise toaltitudes of 600-750m above the
undulating plain at 250-500 m. The vegetation includes several types of
Sudanian woodland (from tall Isoberlinia-dominated and other woodland in
the south-centre, to shorter, more open, mixed wooded grassland in the
north), dry Anogeissus forest, semi-evergreen riparian forest and
thickets along the Bénoué and its major effluents. The level of the
sandy Bénoué River fluctuates much seasonally and exposed sandbars
provide habitat for plovers and other water birds in the dry season.
Some of these birds species include the Stone Partridge, Red-throated
bee-eater, Violet Turaco, Adamawa Turtle dove, Red-winged Gray Warbler,
Grey-headed olive-back, the remarkable Crocodile bird, etc.
The Benoué Park is also home to large mammals such as the hippopotamus.
Further south at the Ngaoundaba ranch near Ngaoundéré, the highlights
are Oriole Warbler, white-collared Starling, the Brown-chested Lap wig,
thrush Babbler and the threatened Bamenda Apalis. The following birds
too are to be seen : African Golden Oriole, White-breasted and
Red-shouldered cuckoo-shrikes, Square-tailed Drongo, Schlegel’s
francolin, Double-toothed Barbet, African Black Duck, Blue-breasted
Kingfisher, Red-headed Lovebird, Temminck’s Courser, Gray Kestrel, Sun
Lark, Olive-bellied, Yellow-crowned Bishop, Marsh Widowbird, Gray-headed
Olive back, , and many others.
Waza National Park is a national park in the Far North Province of
Cameroon. This park was founded in 1934, as a hunting reserve, and later
became a National Park in 1968, and a UNESCO biosphere reserve in 1979.
The park covers a total of 1,700 km².It is managed by the Conservation
Service of the Waza National Park, part of the Cameroon Ministry of
Environment and the Protection of Nature. In this park we can find bird
species like: Garganey , Red-necked Buzzard Great White Pelican, Fox
Kestrel, Pallid Harrier, Sennar Penduline-tit Arabian Bustard, Savile's
Bustard , Sudan Golden Sparrow Black Crowned-crane , Ostriches African
Collared-dove , Pygmy sunbird Senegal Parrot, Red-throated Bee-eater ,
Herons Sahelian Woodpecker , weavers and queleas Piapiac , Fox Kestrel
Sennar Penduline-tit , Kite Red-pate Cisticola , River Prinia , African
Swallow-tailed Senegal Eremomela , Arabian bustard Purple
Glossy-starling , swallow-tailed kite Chestnut-bellied Starling , Black
Scrub-Robin Black Scrub-robin , bee-eaters Chestnut-crowned
Sparrow-weaver , Lavender Waxbill Sudan Golden Sparrow , Red-pate
Cisticola Bush Petronia ,quail plover Black-rumped Waxbill ,
Chestnut-bellied Starling, doves, River Prinia,
Mount Kupé is less than 10 km east of the Bakossi Mountains (CM022) and
20 km south of Mont Manengouba (CM021). The massif is similar in size to
Mont Nlonako (CM023) and rises to only a little higher (2,064 m). Apart
from a couple of small grassy clearings on a rocky outcrop near the
summit, the mountain was entirely clothed in forest from the foothills
at c.300 m. All sides have been gradually encroached upon by
cultivation, up to 1,500 m on the eastern slopes and up to 750-1,100 m
on the western and northern sides, near the villages of Mbule and
Nyasoso. The better-preserved section includes primary mid-altitude and
montane rainforest on the slopes above Nyasoso. This mountain harbours
birds like the Congo Serpent-eagle , Chestnut-flanked Sparrow hawk, Red-thighed
Sparrow hawk, Cassin's Hawk-eagle, Woodhouse's Antpecker,
Cameroon Sunbird, African Forest Flycatcher, Mountain Robin-chat, Grey-chested
Babbler, Yellow Longbill, White-tailed , Grey Longbill, Cameroon
Olive-pigeon, Grey Parrot, Guinea Turaco, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher,
Black Bee-eater, Chocolate-backed Kingfisher and many more.
Eco-tourism
Eco-tourism
is undertaken in protected sites and areas such as the KORUP national
park which harbours plant species which are many million years old, the
DJA reserve, a global heritage of mankind, Mt Cameroon with its very
rare flora and the fossil sites of Mayo-Rey.
Business
tourism
The
political stability of Cameroon in the Central and West African regions
has made it a tranquil ground for international conferences, seminars
and business forums. The quality of reception and intake facilities
(international airports, Conference Centres, world-class hotels), in
Yaoundé and Douala make it possible every year to host congresses and
conferences attended by businessmen and officials from the four corners
of the earth.
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