Cameroon

Cameroon Country Profile

Cameroon is a country in Central Africa, with a coastline along the Bight of Biafra. It borders the countries Gabon, Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Chad and Nigeria and covers an area of 475,440 km2. With a population of over 30 million, and 24 major African language groups, Cameroon’s official languages are French and English.

Geography & Wildlife

Described as ‘Africa in miniature’, the climate of Cameroon varies with the terrain, from tropical coastal plains, tropical rainforests in the southern interior, to being semiarid and hot in the plains of the north. There are mountains to the east (Mount Cameroon being its highest) and a dissected plateau in the centre.

Cameroon’s wildlife varies from the forest elephant, leopard, western lowland gorilla and central chimpanzee, pangolins and many primate species including the black colobus living in the forested regions, to lions and giraffes of the semiarid north.

The country also boasts an isolated population of the rare and Critically Endangered Cross River gorilla, which lives in the Cross River region along the boundary with Nigeria.

Main Conservation Challenges

Deforestation, forest fragmentation and degradation for timber, mining, agriculture, etc. Poaching, overfishing, overhunting.