Cameroon

The information that can be useful for your travel.

Cities Cameroon  
Country information country code: CM
continent: Africa
capital: Yaounde
languages: English, French

EU membership: no
NATO membership: no

GSM: 900
GPS: 6 00 N, 12 00 E
electricity: 220V/50Hz

currency:
Central African CFA Franc: XAF
1XAF = 0.002 USD
1XAF = 0.002 EUR

phone code: +237

Travel advices and warnings Cameroon
Currency CFA (Communauté Financière Africaine) Franc (XAF; symbol CFA) = 100 centimes. Notes are in denominations of CFA10, 000, 5, 000, 2, 000, 1, 000 and 500. Coins are in denominations of CFA250, 100, 50, 25, 10, 5, 2 and 1.
Tourism Tourism in Cameroon is a growing but relatively minor industry. Since the 1970s, the government of Cameroon has cultivated the industry by creating a ministry of tourism and by encouraging investment by airlines, hotels, and travel agencies. The government describes the country as "Africa in miniature", promoting its diversity of climate, culture, and geography. Cameroon's wildlife draws both safari-goers and big-game hunters, as Cameroon is home to many of Africa's iconic animals: cheetahs, chimpanzees, elephants, giraffes, gorillas, hippopotami, and rhinoceroses. Impediments to further growth of the tourism sector include poor transport infrastructure and corrupt officials who may harass visitors for bribes.
Cuisine Cameroonian cuisine is one of the most varied in Africa due to its location on the crossroads between the north, west, and centre of the continent; added to this is the profound influence of French food, a legacy of the colonial era.
The national dish of Cameroon is ndolé, a stew consisting of fish or beef, nuts and bitter greens. [1] Staple foods in Cameroon include cassava, yam, rice, plantain, potato, maize, beans, and millet. The French introduced French bread and Italian pasta, which are not as widely consumed, however, due to their price. The main source of protein for most inhabitants is fish, with poultry and meat being too expensive for anything other than special occasions. Bush meat, however, is commonly consumed, some of the most sought after species being the pangolin, the porcupine and the giant rat. There is also a thriving trade in such exotic bush meat species as chimpanzee and gorilla.
Language Cameroon is home to 230 languages. These include 55 Afro-Asiatic languages, two Nilo-Saharan languages, and 173 Niger–Congo languages. This latter group is divided into one West Atlantic language (Fulfulde), 32 Adamawa-Ubangui languages, and 142 Benue–Congo languages (130 of which are Bantu languages)
Climate The south is hot and dry November-February. The main rainy season is June-October. Temperatures in the north vary. On the Adamaoua Plateau, temperatures drop sharply at night; the rainy season is May-October. Grassland areas inland are much cooler than the coast with regular rainfall. The best months to visit are January- April.
Shopping Local handicrafts include highly decorated pots, drinking horns, jugs, bottles and cups, wood carvings, great earthenware bowls and delicate pottery, dishes and trays, mats and rugs woven from grass, raffia, jewellery and camel hair, cotton and beadwork garments. These are sold in the marchés artisanales (tourist or craft markets) found in large towns and tourist areas.

Some stallholders offer items which they describe as antique: in many cases they're merely distressed. Special permission must be obtained from the Delegation Provinciale de Tourisme in Douala or Youndé to take genuine antiquities out of the country. The main markets in most towns sell fresh produce, cheap clothing and household essentials rather than souvenirs, but can be good places to find African-style printed cotton fabric.
Cost In global comparison Cameroon is a cheap destination for travellers. Its price level is just a bit lower than the one in Chile, for example, and somewhat higher than the one in Venezuela. Popular world destinations such as Mexico and China are a way cheaper. When compared to the other countries on the African continent Cameroon seems to be averagely-priced. However, within the region where the country is located all neighbor countries are more expensive options for travellers – prices in Nigeria does not differ much, while those in Gabon and Eq. Guinea are significantly higher.

Yaounde, Cameroon

Tuesday 19, March

From wikipedia about Cameroon

Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the Bight of Bonny, part of the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean. The country is called "Africa in miniature" for its geological and cultural diversity. Natural features include beaches, deserts, mountains, rainforests, and savannas. The highest point is Mount Cameroon in the southwest, and the largest cities are Douala, Yaoundé, and Garoua. Cameroon is home to over 200 different linguistic groups. The country is well known for its native styles of music, particularly makossa and bikutsi, and for its successful national football team. English and French are the official languages.

Early inhabitants of the territory included the Sao civilisation around Lake Chad and the Baka hunter-gatherers in the southeastern rainforest. Portuguese explorers reached the coast in the 15th century and named the area Rio dos Camarões ("River of Prawns"), the name from which Cameroon derives. FulaniIn Fulɓe; in Peul or Peuhl. soldiers founded the Adamawa Emirate in the north in the 19th century, and various ethnic groups of the west and northwest established powerful chiefdoms and fondoms. Cameroon became a German colony in 1884.

After World War I, the territory was divided between France and Britain as League of Nations mandates. The Union des Populations du Cameroun political party advocated independence but was outlawed by France in the 1950s. It waged war on French and UPC militant forces until 1971. In 1960, the French administered part of Cameroon became independent as the Republic of Cameroun under President Ahmadou Ahidjo. The southern part of British Cameroons merged with it in 1961 to form the Federal Republic of Cameroon. The country was renamed the United Republic of Cameroon in 1972 and the Republic of Cameroon in 1984.

Compared to other African countries, Cameroon enjoys relatively high political and social stability. This has permitted the development of agriculture, roads, railways, and large petroleum and timber industries. Nevertheless, large numbers of Cameroonians live in poverty as subsistence farmers. Power lies firmly in the hands of the authoritarian president since 1982, Paul Biya, and his Cameroon People's Democratic Movement party. The English speaking territories of Cameroon have grown increasingly alienated from the government, and politicians from those regions have called for greater decentralization and even the secession (for example, : the Southern Cameroons National Council) of the former British-governed territories.
Description above from the Wikipedia, licensed under CC-BY-SA full list of contributors here.
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Cameroon, Yaounde