Biodiversity Hotspot at the Foot of an Active Volcano

The Mt Cameroon National Park was created through Decree No. 2009/2272 of the Prime Minister on the 18th December 2009. It has a total surface area of 58,178ha. The top of the mountain is located 4°13’ N and 9°10’ E. This park is part of one of the eight biodiversity hotspots in the “Gulf of Guinea Forests”, with a rich, diverse, and partly endemic flora and fauna. The park and its surroundings host a variety of ecotourism potentials. Mount Cameroon, also known with its Bakweri name as Mount Fako, is the highest mountain in West and Central Africa and the fourth prominent one in Africa, situated just a few kilometres from the atlantic coast of the Gulf of Guinea. The park stretches from evergreen lowland rain forests near sea level through sub-montane and montane forest to montane and sub-alpine grassland to an altitude of 4,070m altitude. Mount Cameroon is an active volcano with numerous craters, crater lakes, caves, lava flows and ash fields. It presents a fascinating, diverse and astonishing landscape, ideal for hiking tours. The western slope of Mount Cameroon National Park is between the wettest places in the world with 10,000 mm rain fall. The park harbours forest elephants and Chimpanzees next other threatened and sometimes endemic species. Part of the park is a large satellite peak, Mount Etinde (1700m) (also known as “little Mount Camereroon”is located on the southern flank near the coast.