Mount Cameroon is an active stratovolcano in the Southwest Region of Cameroon next to the city of Buea near the Gulf of Guinea. Mount Cameroon is also known as Cameroon Mountain or Fako (the name of the higher of its two peaks) or by its indigenous name Mongo ma Ndemi ("Mountain of Greatness"). Mount Cameroon is ranked 22nd by topographic isolation.

It is the highest point in sub-Saharan western and central Africa, the fourth-most prominent peak in Africa, and 31st-most prominent in the world.

The mountain is part of the area of volcanic activity known as the Cameroon Volcanic Line, which also includes Lake Nyos, the site of a disaster in 1986. The eruption of 28 April-June 1909 caused the German colonial government of Kamerun to temporarily move from Buea to Douala. The most recent eruption occurred on February 3, 2012.

Geology

Formation

Mount Cameroon lies on the Cameroon Volcanic Line, a 1,600&nbsp;km (990&nbsp;mi) NE–SW belt of oceanic and continental volcanoes stretching from Pagalu Island in the Gulf of Guinea to northern Cameroon. The volcano forms an elliptical stratovolcano about 50&nbsp;km&nbsp;×&nbsp;35&nbsp;km with a volume of roughly 1,200&nbsp;km<sup>3</sup>. Differences in mantle signature between the eastern and western flanks of the volcano support a mantle origin for the Cameroon Volcanic Line. Historical records document major eruptions in 1909, 1922, 1925, 1954, 1959, 1982, 1999, 2000 and 2012.

  • Lowland rain forest predominates on the lower slopes, from sea level to elevation. The lowland forests are part of the Cross-Sanaga-Bioko coastal forests ecoregion. They are composed of evergreen trees with a dense canopy high, with taller emergent trees rising above the canopy. Many trees have buttress roots. The forests are diverse and species-rich, with numerous lianas. Much of the lowland forest has been converted to agriculture and agroforestry, including oil palm plantations.
  • Lower montane forest, also known as submontane forest or cloud forest, grows between elevation. The lower montane forests are composed of evergreen trees, which form a canopy that is either closed or discontinuous. There are scattered areas of meadow and scrubland, with grasses, herbs, tall herbaceous plants (including Acanthaceae), tree ferns, woody shrubs, and low trees. Frequent clouds and mists sustain profuse epiphytes, including mosses, ferns, and orchids. The lower montane forests are diverse and species-rich, with characteristic Afromontane plants and endemic species. Impatiens etindensis and I. grandisepala are herbaceous epiphytes endemic to the montane forests of Mount Cameroon. The lower montane forests, together with the higher-elevation forests, scrub, and grasslands, are part of the Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests ecoregion.
  • Upper montane forest grows from elevation. Trees up to high form an open-canopied forest with numerous epiphytes. The upper montane forests are less species-rich than the lower-elevation forests, and fires are more frequent.
  • Montane scrub grows between elevation. Low trees of form open-canopied forests, woodlands, and shrublands, with an understory of small shrubs, herbs, ferns, and climbers.
  • Montane grassland occurs between elevation. The dominant vegetation is tussock grasses, with scattered fire-tolerant shrubs and low trees.
  • Sub-alpine grassland is found at the highest elevations, from to over . Frost-tolerant tussock grasses, dwarf trees and shrubs, and crustose, foliose, and fruticose lichens predominate. The park includes the former Etinde Forest Reserve and most of the Bomboko Forest Reserve. A portion of the Bomboko Forest Reserve remains outside the park, on the lower northern slopes of the mountain.

Access

The peak is frequently ascended by hikers. The annual Mount Cameroon Race of Hope scales the peak in around hours. Sarah Etonge has won the race seven times and is also a tour operator. English explorer Mary Kingsley, one of the first Europeans to scale the mountain, recounts her expedition in her 1897 memoir Travels in West Africa.

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File:Mount Fako left view.jpg|Mount Fako, left view

File:Top view at Mount Fako.jpg|Top view at Mount Fako

File:Mount fako (mount Cameroon).jpg|Mount Fako

File:Summit at mount Cameroon.jpg|Summit at mount Cameroon

File:Landscape of Mount Cameroon.jpg|Landscape of Mount Cameroon

File:Magnanimous Mt Cameroon, view from Ndongo, Buea.jpg|View of the mountain from the base

File:Fako Mountain lodge Hut 2.jpg|Accommodation facilities on Mount Fako

File:Mount Fako hut 2.jpg|Accommodations at hut 2

File:Hut 3 mount Cameroon.jpg|Dittothumb|Entrance to Mount Cameroon National Park

File:Cameroon Mountain Race.webm|Cameroon Mountain Race

File:Athele au Mont Cameroun.jpg|Hikers climbing down

File:View of Mt Etinde.jpg|View of Mount Etinde

File:Mount Cameroon tropical rocks 2.jpg|Mount Cameroon tropical rocksthumb|Mount Cameroon National Parkthumb|Water point on Mount Cameroon National Park

File:DOWN BEACH LIMBE CAMEROON.jpg|Limbe Beach

File:Burning Plum.jpg|Grilled plums

</gallery>

See also

  • Debundscha
  • List of volcanoes in Cameroon

References

</references>

  • Mount Cameroon Research Foundation