Buea
Buea is the capital of the Southwest Region of Cameroon. The town is located on the eastern slopes of Mount Cameroon and has a population of 300,000, it has two Government Hotels, the Mountain Hotel and Palamenterian Flats Hotel located around The Government Residential Area. Buea spelled "Gbea", was founded by a hunter who came from the Bomboko area. Coming from the Bomboko side of the mountain, he named the new-found land in amazement as "Ebe'eya", meaning a "place of happenings". A prominent King of the Bakweri was chief Kuva Likenye, whose clashes with German troops during the Bakweri resistance remain popular folklore. Tea growing is an important local industry in Tole. Buea was the colonial capital of German Kamerun from 1901 to 1919, the capital of the Southern Cameroons from 1949 until 1961 and the capital of West Cameroon until 1972, when Ahmadou Ahidjo abolished the Federation of Cameroon; the German colonial administration in Buea was temporarily suspended during the eruption of Mount Cameroon from 28 April until June 1909.
Buea's population consisted of the Bakweri people. However, owing to its status as a university town and the regional capital, there are significant numbers of other ethnic groups. In September 2017, the Federal Republic of Ambazonia declared its independence from Cameroon, with Buea as its claimed capital. In late-June 2018, the Ambazonia Defence Forces began approaching Buea, on June 29 they invaded the Mile 16 neighborhood. On July 1, separatists battled Cameroonian troops. About 300,000 people live in Buea. Buea has a subtropical highland climate; because of its location at the foot of Mount Cameroon, the climate in Buea tends to be humid, with the neighbourhoods at higher elevations enjoying cooler temperatures while the lower neighbourhoods experience a hotter climate. Extended periods of rainfall, characterized by incessant drizzle, which can last for weeks, are common during the rainy season as are damp fogs, rolling off the mountain into the town below. Buea hosts the University of Cameroon's first anglophone university.
It is the site of several other higher institutes of learning, including St Francis Schools of Nursing and Midwifery presently known as Biaka University Institute of Buea and one of Cameroon's three Catholic universities. A handful of colonial era buildings are surviving, notably the palatial former residence of the German governor Jesko von Puttkamer. Other German colonial buildings are still standing, but some of them suffer from lack of maintenance and old age; the Nigerian Consulate in anglophone Cameroon and the main operational hub of the Naigahelp medical aid organisation are in Buea. Buea hosts an annex of the National Archives of Cameroon, whose main location is Yaoundé. Next door to the annex is the Cameroon Press Photo Archive, permanently closed since 2001. Limbe was served by a 600 mm gauge plantation railway to Limbe, of the West African Planting Society Victoria. Roman Catholic Diocese of Buéa Mount Cameroon Inter-communal Ecotourism Board - known as Mount Cameroon Ecotourism Organisation, abbreviated as Mount CEO
Departments of Cameroon
The Regions of Cameroon are divided into 58 divisions or departments. The divisions are further sub-divided into districts; the divisions are listed below, by province. The constitution divides Cameroon into 10 semi-autonomous regions, each under the administration of an elected Regional Council. A presidential decree of 12 November 2008 instigated the change from provinces to regions; each region is headed by a presidentially appointed governor. These leaders are charged with implementing the will of the president, reporting on the general mood and conditions of the regions, administering the civil service, keeping the peace, overseeing the heads of the smaller administrative units. Governors have broad powers: they may order propaganda in their area and call in the army and police. All local government officials are employees of the central government’s Ministry of Territorial Administration, from which local governments get most of their budgets; the regions are subdivided into 58 divisions.
These are headed by presidentially appointed divisional officers, who perform the governors' duties on a smaller scale. The divisions are further sub-divided into sub-divisions, headed by assistant divisional officers; the districts, administered by district heads, are the smallest administrative units. These are found in regions that are difficult to reach; the three northernmost regions are the Far North and Adamawa. Directly south of them are the East; the South Province lies on the Gulf of the southern border. Cameroon's western region is split into four smaller regions: The Littoral and Southwest regions are on the coast, the Northwest and West regions are in the western grassfields; the Northwest and Southwest were once part of British Cameroons. The Adamawa province of Cameroon contains the following five departments: Djérem Faro-et-Déo Mayo-Banyo Mbéré Vina The Centre province of Cameroon contains the following ten departments: Haute-Sanaga Lekié Mbam-et-Inoubou Mbam-et-Kim Méfou-et-Afamba Méfou-et-Akono Mfoundi Nyong-et-Kéllé Nyong-et-Mfoumou Nyong-et-So'o The East province of Cameroon contains the following four departments: Boumba-et-Ngoko Haut-Nyong Kadey Lom-et-Djerem The Far North province of Cameroon contains the following six departments: Diamaré Logone-et-Chari Mayo-Danay Mayo-Kani Mayo-Sava Mayo-Tsanaga The Littoral province of Cameroon contains the following four departments: Moungo Nkam Sanaga-Maritime Wouri The North province of Cameroon contains the following four departments: Bénoué Faro Mayo-Louti Mayo-Rey The Northwest province of Cameroon contains the following seven departments: Boyo Bui Donga-Mantung Menchum Mezam Momo Ngo-ketunjia The South province of Cameroon contains the following four departments: Dja-et-Lobo Mvila Océan Vallée-du-Ntem The Southwest province of Cameroon contains the following six departments: Fako Koupé-Manengouba Lebialem Manyu Meme Ndian The West province of Cameroon contains the following eight departments: Bamboutos Haut-Nkam Hauts-Plateaux Koung-Khi Menoua Mifi Ndé Noun Regions of Cameroon
South Region (Cameroon)
The South Region is located in the southwestern and south-central portion of the Republic of Cameroon. It is bordered to the east by the East Region, to the north by the Centre Region, to the northwest by the Littoral Region, to the west by the Gulf of Guinea, to the south by the countries of Equatorial Guinea and Congo; the South occupies 47,720 km2 of territory. The major ethnic groups are the various Beti-Pahuin peoples, such as the Ewondo and Bulu; the South Region has a fair amount of industry, its main commerce consisting of logging, timber and offshore oil drilling. Commercial agriculture is important in the South, the major cash crops being cocoa and rubber. Cattle rearing and fishing are significant economic components, as well. Much of the population is made up of subsistence farmers. In 2008, the President of the Republic of Cameroon, President Paul Biya signed decrees abolishing "Provinces" and replacing them with "Regions". Hence, all of the country's ten provinces are now known as Regions.
This was to be the end of South. The soil of the South is made up of metamorphic rock gneiss. However, the land is riddled with faults around the border with the Centre Province that arc toward the border with Congo; the soil is ferrallitic except for southwestern portions near the border with Equatorial Guinea and moving north to Ebolowa, where it is mixed. Due to high amounts of leaching, the South's red earth is only marginally productive. Several river systems drain the South Region; the northernmost of these is the Nyong. The coastal Ocean division is drained by two rivers, the Lokounje to the north and the Lobé to the south; the Ntem, or Campo, rises in the east of the region and flows along or just north of the southern border to the town of Campo. All of these rivers empty into the Atlantic Ocean; the Dja and Lobo Rivers flow through the easternmost division of the region, splitting south of Bengbis and encompassing the Dja Reserve. These two rivers form part of the Congo River basin; the South Region begins at sea level on the coast.
The land climbs throughout the Kribi-Douala basin, which averages 300–600 metres in altitude, until it reaches the South Cameroon Plateau with elevations of 500 to 1000 metres above sea level. Rocky promontories on the coast and rolling, tree-covered hills inland characterize the land; the Ntem Massif near Ebolowa is the province's highest point at 1400 metres. The climate of the South Region is Guinea-type climate. Humidity is high, precipitation averages 1500–2000 mm per year in the interior and 2000–3000 mm per year in the coastal region; the coast from the north of Kribi south to Ebodjé gets as much as 4000 mm of rain per year. Temperatures are high as well, averaging 24˚ C and 26˚ C from Kribi north along the coast. In lieu of traditional seasons, the Guinea-type climate affords alternating wet periods; the year begins in a long dry season. This is followed by a light wet season from a short dry season from July to October. A heavy wet season lasts through November; the South is entirely covered in rain forest, the exception being a small tract of mangrove on the coast south of Campo.
Much of this land has been intensely exploited for logging, allowing sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor and for thick undergrowth to flourish. Today, the only untouched forest is located in a handful of nature reserves; the Dja Reserve covers 5,260 km² in the northeastern portion of the province and the south-central portion of the neighbouring East. The Campo Reserve covers 2,640 km² in the southwest on the border with Equatorial Guinea; the Mangame Gorilla Sanctuary covers 1,224 km² on the Gabon border. In these more virgin areas, the forest is composed of multiple levels. Tall trees about 40 metres high make up the highest stratum. Below these lie thinner trees with leaves clustered at their tops; the forest bed has little vegetation as little sunlight penetrates to it. The southern rain forest supports abundant wildlife, including some of Cameroon's last populations of chimpanzees and elephants. All of these are becoming rare due to poaching and deforestation. More numerous are the various monkey and bird species.
Other common animals include pangolins and other rodents, genets. Over 324,000 Cameroonians live in the South Province, the overall population density is about seven inhabitants per square km; the most populous area is the central region south of Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, in the neighbouring Centre Province and extending south to Ebolowa, west to Kribi, east to Sangmélima. The rest of the population lives in the villages and towns built around the roads that criss-cross the terrain. In contrast, the vast tracts of jungle that have little or no road access are scarcely populated; the forest area is plagued by disease-carrying mosquitoes and blackflies that keep settlers away. Tradition settlements in the Centre are placed along roads, resulting in large numbers of houses near the road with forest beginning directly behind them; the traditional house is a rectangular structure made of mud bricks and thin, wooden or bamboo posts. Roofs were thatched raffia palm in the past, but they are more made of corrugated aluminium, iron, or tin today.
The majority of the inhabitants of the South are members of various Bantu tribes that are collectively known as the Beti-Pahuin (Béti-Pa
Human Development Index
The Human Development Index is a statistic composite index of life expectancy and per capita income indicators, which are used to rank countries into four tiers of human development. A country scores a higher HDI when the lifespan is higher, the education level is higher, the GNI per capita is higher, it was developed by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq, with help from Gustav Ranis of Yale University and Meghnad Desai of the London School of Economics, was further used to measure a country's development by the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Report Office. The 2010 Human Development Report introduced an Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index. While the simple HDI remains useful, it stated that "the IHDI is the actual level of human development", "the HDI can be viewed as an index of'potential' human development"; the index does not take into account several factors, such as the net wealth per capita or the relative quality of goods in a country. This situation tends to lower the ranking for some of the most advanced countries, such as the G7 members and others.
The index is based on the human development approach, developed by ul Haq framed in terms of whether people are able to "be" and "do" desirable things in life. Examples include—Being: well fed, healthy; the freedom of choice is central—someone choosing to be hungry is quite different from someone, hungry because they cannot afford to buy food, or because the country is in a famine. The origins of the HDI are found in the annual Human Development Reports produced by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme; these were devised and launched by Pakistani economist Mahbub ul Haq in 1990, had the explicit purpose "to shift the focus of development economics from national income accounting to people-centered policies". To produce the Human Development Reports, Mahbub ul Haq formed a group of development economists including Paul Streeten, Frances Stewart, Gustav Ranis, Keith Griffin, Sudhir Anand, Meghnad Desai. Nobel laureate Amartya Sen utilized Haq's work in his own work on human capabilities.
Haq believed that a simple composite measure of human development was needed to convince the public and politicians that they can and should evaluate development not only by economic advances but improvements in human well-being. Published on 4 November 2010, the 2010 Human Development Report calculated the HDI combining three dimensions: A long and healthy life: Life expectancy at birth Education index: Mean years of schooling and Expected years of schooling A decent standard of living: GNI per capita In its 2010 Human Development Report, the UNDP began using a new method of calculating the HDI; the following three indices are used: 1. Life Expectancy Index = LE − 20 85 − 20 LEI is 1 when Life expectancy at birth is 85 and 0 when Life expectancy at birth is 20.2. Education Index = MYSI + EYSI 2 2.1 Mean Years of Schooling Index = MYS 15 Fifteen is the projected maximum of this indicator for 2025. 2.2 Expected Years of Schooling Index = EYS 18 Eighteen is equivalent to achieving a master's degree in most countries.3.
Income Index = ln − ln ln − ln II is 1 when GNI per capita is $75,000 and 0 when GNI per capita is $100. The HDI is the geometric mean of the previous three normalized indices: HDI = LEI ⋅ EI ⋅ II 3. LE: Life expectancy at birth MYS: Mean years of schooling EYS: Expected years of schooling GNIpc: Gross national income at purchasing power parity per capita The HDI combined three dimensions last used in its 2009 Report: Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity to HDI Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate and the combined primary and tertiary gross enrollment ratio. Standard of living, as indicated by the natural logarithm of gross domestic product per capita at purchasing power parity; this methodology was used by the UNDP until their 2011 report. The formula defining the HDI is promulgated by the United Nations Development Programme. In general, to transform a raw variable, say x, into a unit-free index between 0 and 1 (which allo
North Region (Cameroon)
The North Region makes up 66,090 km² of the northern half of The Republic of Cameroon. Neighbouring territories include the Far North Region to the north, the Adamawa Region to the south, Nigeria to the west, Chad to the east, Central African Republic to the southeast; the city of Garoua is both the industrial capital. Garoua is Cameroon's third largest port, despite the fact that the Bénoué River upon which it relies is only navigable for short periods of the year. Major ethnic groups include the Fula or Fulani, who are Islamic pastoralists, numerous Muslim and animist speakers of Adamawa and Nilo-Saharan languages. French is the language of formal education, Fulfulde, the language of the Fulbe, is widespread as a lingua franca. In 2008, the President of the Republic of Cameroon, President Paul Biya signed decrees abolishing "Provinces" and replacing them with "Regions". Hence, all of the country's ten provinces are now known as Regions. Bands of alternating metamorphic and sedimentary rock interspersed with granite characterise the north's geology.
Granite covered in volcanic basalt makes up the southernmost reaches, which form part of the Adamawa Plateau. A series of faults lies north of this and separate the plateau from the band of metamorphic stone to its north. Random granite deposits characterise this area; the Mayo Rey and Vina River cut north of this portion, leaving deposits of sedimentary stone except in the granite east. North of this lies a band of sedimentary alluvium, clay and sandstone. Faults tentatively follow the Bénoué River north of this and form a barrier to split the remainder of the province, with metamorphic rocks such as gneiss and schists dominating to the south and sedimentary stone making up the north. Another large band of metamorphic rock makes up the territory northwest of the Bénoué basin; the Mandara Mountains, which run north–south at the province's Nigerian border, are irregular in that they are volcanic, composed of crystalline and metamorphic rock and granite. The Adamawa Plateau divides the province into two main soil types.
Those to the north are shallow and ferruginous, brown or brownish red in colour. On the plateau itself, they are ferralitic or lateritic; the region's annual rainy/dry cycle erodes the landscape and aids in the formation of iron deposits called duricrust or hardpans near the surface. In addition, the area between the Vina and Mbere Rivers and the Mayo Deo valley is hydromorphic, while the volcanic Mandara and Atlantika Mountains, other high points in the province, the Mayo Oulo valley are composed of young soils high in raw mineral content; the bottom of the Bénoué basin is alluvial soil. All rivers in the province experience a tropical regime, with a period of high water during the rainy season during which flooding may occur; the Bénoué, Mayo Oulo, Mayo Kébi, Mayo Godi are susceptible to this. In contrast, the rivers dry up during the dry season, many disappearing into the sand. Animals and humans must dig during this period to retrieve water; this means that the port of Garoua on the Bénoué is only functional during a small portion of the year.
The Bénoué River serves as the North's primary waterway. It flows down from the Adamawa Plateau and is enlarged by the Mayo Rey, the Mayo Kebi, the Mayo Louti and other rivers, its valley forms the main part of the Bénoué Depression. Several smaller tributaries flow into the Bénoué. All of these waterways form part of the Niger basin; the Lagdo Reservoir is formed by a dam at Lagdo that traps waters from the Benoue and its smaller tributaries the Mayo Godi, Mayo Rey, Mayo Sina, Mayo Oldiri, others, many of which rise on the Adamawa Plateau. The reservoir provides an important source of hydroelectric power for Cameroon's three northern provinces. Local villagers use it as a source of fish, both the lake and the river are used for irrigation. Another significant river is the Vina, which rises in the Adamawa Province, flows through the North, empties into the Logone River in Chad, it is swelled by the Mbéré River east of Touboro. Before this, the Mbéré forms the province's southeastern border with Chad for several kilometers.
These are the only major rivers in the province. The Bénoué Depression constitutes the North Province's primary land feature; this basin runs along the Mayo Kébi and Bénoué River and has an elevation of between zero and 200 metres. The valleys surrounding the various rivers that feed the Kébi and Bénoué reach elevations only higher than this, averaging 200–500 metres in the north and 500–1000 metres in the south. Garoua lies at about 235 metres. Farther north is the Kaélé Elevation. A major fault runs north of the Bénoué parallel to it. South of the Bénoué Depression lies the Adamawa Plateau; this descends to the Depression in escarpments and peaks of between 1000–2000 metres that follow a major fault. Past this frontier region, the plateau slopes south and southeast into the Adamawa Province and Chad; the North's third significant land feature is the Mandara Mountains and their southern extension, the Atlantika Mountains, the results of tectonic activity. These chains form most of the western edge of the province, with peaks as high as 1000 metres.
The mountains continue north into the Far North Province and Nigeria, though their elevations drop to as low as 500 metres. The surrounding terrain is hilly; the North's highest elevation is Hosséré Vokré, an is
Centre Region (Cameroon)
The Centre Region occupies 69,000 km² of the central plains of the Republic of Cameroon. It is bordered to the north by the Adamawa Region, to the south by the South Region, to the east by the East Region, to the West by the Littoral and West Regions, it is the second largest of Cameroon's regions in land area. Major ethnic groups include the Bassa and Vute. Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon, is at the heart of the Centre, drawing people from the rest of the country to live and work there; the Centre's towns are important industrial centres for timber. Agriculture is another important economic factor with regard to the province's most important cash crop, cocoa. Outside of the capital and the plantation zones, most inhabitants are sustenance farmers. In 2008, the President of the Republic of Cameroon, President Paul Biya signed decrees abolishing "Provinces" and replacing them with "Regions". Hence, all of the country's ten provinces are now known as Regions; the Centre's soil is composed of Precambrian deposits of metamorphic rocks, such as gneiss, mica and schists.
Granite dominates to the Adamawa border. Faults along the border with the South Province have deposited metamorphic schists and quartzites, with some granite. Laterites are common, caused by the decomposition of the crystalline rock. Red ferrallitic soil dominates most of the province, including the forested zone and much of the savanna area. Though as deep as ten metres, this soil is leached by silica and percolating water, making it only marginally productive for agriculture. However, it is usable as a building material, traditional houses in the province are made from red, sun-dried bricks of mud. Toward the northern border, this soil becomes evolved with large deposits of raw minerals, at the confluence of the Sanaga and Mbam rivers, it is a mixture of several soil types; the Sanaga is the most important river in the province, as its many falls and rapids make it an important source of hydroelectric power. It supports varied agriculture, as it is prone to flooding during the rainy season, it is navigable from Nachtigal Falls to Edéa in the Littoral Province.
Several smaller tributaries that drain the Centre's Mbam division form the Sanaga. The Djérem flows in from the Adamawa and through the far northeast of the area before entering the East Province to join the Lom; the Djérem, like the Sanaga, is subject to seasonal flooding. The Kim flows in from the Adamawa and through the northwestern portion of the Mbam division before merging with the Mbam River at the border with the West Province; the Mbam empties into the Noun. The Noun, which flows in from the West Province, passes through the town of Bafia, receives the flow of the Ndjim River north of Goura; the Noun joins the Sanaga northeast of Monatélé. The Nyong is the only major river in the province, it rises in the East Province, passes through Mbalmayo, continues west forms the border between the Littoral and South provinces. Because the Nyong flows through an equatorial climate, it has one period of high water during the rainy season, during which it is navigable from Mbalmayo to Abong-Mbang in the East Province.
Other Centre Province rivers flow through both equatorial and tropical climate zones where rainy seasons occur at different times, so they never experience great fluctuations in water level. All Centre Province rivers empty into the Atlantic Ocean via the South. Most of the Centre's great demand for electricity is supplied from hydroelectric centres in neighbouring provinces. However, plans are in place for a dam on the Nyong at Njock-Mpoume and on the Sanaga at Nachtigal to better supply the region's power needs. Most lakes in the Centre are manmade and located in the Yaoundé area; the majority of these were created during the colonial period for the pursuit of water sports. The Centre Province is situated on the South Cameroon Plateau; the land varies from 500 to 1000 metres above sea level except for the valleys of the Sanaga and its tributaries, which dip as low as 200 metres. The land rises in escarpments from the southwestern coastal plain before joining the Adamawa Plateau via depressions and granite massifs.
The terrain is characterised by forested hills, the tallest of which have bare, rocky tops. Deep valleys separate these; the province's highest point is Mbam Minkom, northwest of Yaoundé, at 1,295 metres. The Centre falls within a Type A or Guinea-type climate; this gives the region high humidity and precipitation, with rainfall averaging 1,000-2,000 mm each year. Precipitation diminishes toward the north. Temperatures are steady, averaging 24˚ for the entire region except for the northwestern portions of Mbam division, where they fall to 23˚; the Centre experiences equatorial seasons, alternating between rainy and dry periods. The long dry season begins the year. After this comes the short rainy season, which lasts from May to June; the short dry season comes next, from July to October. The year ends in the long rainy season from October to November. North of 5˚, the dry periods last up to four months; the Centre is forested except for the valleys of the Djérem and Noun rivers and the northern border region.
These areas are Sudano-Guinea savanna, respectively. The woodland savanna is characterised by large expanses of grass punctuated by small copses of trees from the forested zones farther south; the Sudano-Guinea portion is similar, only the grass grows more thinly, trees are both evergreen and deciduous
Mamfe
Mamfe or Mamfé is a city in and the capital of Manyu, a division of the Southwest Region in Cameroon. It is 74 km from the border of Nigeria, on the Manyu River, it has a population of 36,500. It is known as a centre for traditional medicine. Mamfe used to be known for bad infrastructure within the city limits the roads, but in recent times the roads have been tarred and are in good condition; the roads leading in and out of the city has been tarred e.g. Mamfe - Bamenda, Mamfe - Kumba, Mamfe - Ekok; the Peace Corps has maintained a presence in the Mamfe area since they entered the country in 1962. The name "Mamfe" comes from the Bayangi language; when Germans first arrived in the area via the Cross River, the Germans greeted a local man at the Egbekaw River site, carrying sand from the shore and tried interrogating him about where they were. The Banyang man didn't understand and only said in his dialect, "Mamfie fah?". The Germans named the area so; the Egbekaw village and small amfe village are the natives/pioneers of Mamfe town.
The inhabitants speak a Bayang language as their mother tongue, called Nyang, although English is the official language spoken along with Pidgin and several other dialects, including Ejagham. The city is noteworthy for the high proportion of Nigerians who live there. Mamfe has no university yet; the Queen of the Rosary Catholic College was Cameroon's first all-female boarding school. There is a Teacher's training college, several vocational schools. Popular local foods in Mamfe include eru and fu-fu, plantains with ndole, garri and agusi soup. Mamfe has a tropical monsoon climate; as Mamfe is in a river valley, humidity can be over 90% and temperatures can exceed 120 F during the Dry Season. During the rest of the year, temperatures remain in the 80-90s and only fall during the Rainy Season, sometimes to 70F; the climate can be uncomfortable for travellers, but tourism is beginning in the area, though small. Points of interest are the old German bridge, the Mamfe Cross, the Mamfe River by boat, the Mamfe Cathedral.
Hotels are few, but can and do accommodate western travellers
