Talk:Cameroon

Formatting and language conventions For articles about Cameroon, please use the 24-hour clock to show times, e.g. 09:00-12:00 and 18:00-00:00. Please show prices in this format: FCFA100, not Fr 100, or 100FCFAA. Please use British spelling.

This article contains content imported from the English Wikipedia article on Cameroon. View the page revision history for a list of the authors.

For future reference the Project:CIA World Factbook 2002 import can be found at Talk:Cameroon/CIA World Factbook 2002 import. -- (WT-en) Huttite 22:37, 27 Mar 2005 (EST)

cameroon a personal and social history. a white european childs view

i was born in london in 1950, my father worked as an engineer for fyffes group plc, and i moved to live in likomba, s.cameroon, in 1959. my father had previously worked in mechanical engineering after he left the royal mechanical and electrical engineers, after the second world war. he had experience of road building, logistics and automotive vehicles as a transport staff seargent engineer, he could tool and fit mechanical parts and was skilled in team building and manpower. his skills were useful to the company, which was developing infrastructure, transport systems, schools, farms, and banana plantations, we arrived in tiko port, or was it victoria, by banana boat from england, and settled into a privileged life with servants in a canadian style stilt house built amongst others in a compound surrounded by barbed wire and a golf course. we were not permitted beyond the boundary line of the compound as children, but often sneaked through to talk with the cameroonians and see how they experienced their lives. i have wonderful warm memories of the kindness of the people, joyful, exuberant and of such a friendly and compassionate dispositon. my friends were mechanics, drivers, plant biologists, teachers, night watchmen with dark wooden sticks, and the wildlife which wasnt threatening, for example the poisonous black and green mambas and spiders the size of dinner plates! my senses were awoken at such a young age (9) to such pungent fragrances, fruit, flower, woodsmoke, dried banana, frangipani and mango, all mixed together in a medley of humidity, heat and growth. the laterite lava colour of red covered everything, tin roof, leaf, and was especially excellent as a compact road surface! and when the rains came from the tropical rainforest, we played washing ourselves of the oppressive heat. the red escarpment road towards mount cameroon was dangerous, we often heard and saw giant man diesel timber lorries which had jacknifed and come to a sticky end, the drivers would replace the steel cab doors with wooden ones. tied with rope, they could escape the 20-30ton payload and danger by jumping!

Regions

Here's my idea of breaking up the country into regions:

• Northern Cameroon(Nord, & Extreme Nord)—part of the Sahel; savanna & even a little desert; French-speakers; Muslim; predominately Fulani
• Adamaoua([1] Adamaoua)—highlands/low mountain range that forms the boundary between Northern Cam. and the rest of the country; French-speaking; mix of Muslim peoples;
• Northwest Highlands(northern 2/3rds of Sud-Ouest, Nord-Ouest, Quest)—forms the mountainous part of the country; highlands forests; home to "grassfielders" peoples and the famously scenic "Ring Road";mix of English & french speakers; mix of religions
• Coastal Cameroon(the roughly 100km-wide plains along the coast...southern 1/3rd of Sud-Ouest, Littoral, western 1/4th of Sud, Centre from about Eseka westwards)—tropical forests with a very wet climate; home to "tropical forest peoples" (of course, Douala is a mix of every Cameroonian culture); English-speaking; Protestant
• South Cameroon Plateau([2] everything else)—high plateau in the center/southeast; French/English speaking; mix of peoples; predominately Catholic

A few references: demographics, geography, map. Perhaps better names, but otherwise I'm fond of these as regions.(WT-en) AHeneen 14:56, 27 January 2010 (EST)

Beautiful; I'll get to work. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 16:23, 27 January 2010 (EST)

Great looking map Peter. Impressive detail on the tracks especially. Out of interest, was that created from a UN PDF? I have had a lot of difficulty with these being almost impossibly slow to manipulate in Inkscape. And a tiny proofing comment - it is Biafra, not Biofra.--(WT-en) Burmesedays 22:54, 27 January 2010 (EST)

Yes, I've been creating them all from UN pdfs lately, and on this one, I didn't have to trace a single path. This pdf was certainly big enough to really bog down my computer memory, at least until I deleted the extraneous stuff and then vacuumed defs (from the file menu). Have you tried importing UN pdfs for really tiny countries? Maybe you would have more luck then. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 15:39, 28 January 2010 (EST)

I have tried fairly small countries yes, and set the definition to rough. Still problems, even on my new notebook which has an insanely high amount of RAM. I may be doing something wrong or just not tolerant enough of chugging slowness. A fairly huge PDF like Nigeria is actually no faster or slower for me than small one like Burundi. --(WT-en) Burmesedays 21:50, 28 January 2010 (EST)

I know I'm new to this site but I've been living in Cameroon for two years and this partition doesn't make any sense to me at all. I think this categorization neglects important distinctions: Anglophone (Southwest/Northwest) versus Francophone (everybody else); developed (Center) versus very underdeveloped (East). If you say something like "Northwest Highlands" to someone who has been in Cameroon, you will get blank looks (and certainly categorizing Bafoussam in the "Northwest Highlands" is very confusing!). Instead I have heard people talk about the Grand North (Adamawa and up), the Grand South (everything else, except maybe without the East); the Grand West (Center, Northwest, Southwest, West, Littoral, and sometimes South); Anglophone Cameroon, Francophone Cameroon. The Grand West is predominantly Christian; the Grand North is predominantly Muslim. I'm not sure about the East but I would have guessed predominantly Muslim. The Grand West is developed; the rest is not. Someone visiting the country might want to limit themselves to the areas where one language is spoken, or where development is more/less. I don't think this categorization supports that, and in fact I think hinders it as compared with just listing all ten regions with their characteristics. (WT-en) ethan.glasser.camp 10:25, 17 July 2012 (EDT)

I am sorry but this is incorrect. Northern Cameroon compromises of Adamawa, the north, and the Extreme North. These three regions are collectively a geopolitical region in Cameroon structured under the Fulbe Islamic administration. Adamawa is predominantly Muslim and Fulani. Please reconsider this because this is quite disrespectful as the Cameroonian society and administration does not recognize Adamawa as a "geographic" region on its own. As the commenter above has stated, Northern Cameroon is predominantly Muslim and it translates to "Grand Nord" in French which starts from Adamawa all the way to the Extreme North. There are Christians in these, but the Muslim religion is the most dominant in these three regions. —The preceding comment was added by Cameroon121 (talk • contribs)

Tours moved from "Get around"

I removed these listings both per the tour listing policy and because I don't think we want tour agencies that do fall under our exception rules at any level higher than the city where they are headquartered. However, I wasn't so supremely confident in my decision that I didn't think it might be possible for someone to glean some use out of this list, though I do doubt it:

Tour Operators in Cameroon:

• BERUDEP Is a local organization that offer volunteer opportunities for responsible travellers. They do have very experienced guides and can arrange for car rental at a local price.

• Heritage Tours Cameroon Heritage Tours offers experienced guides and activities that range from eco-tourism to safari-tourism to cultural tourism and to volunteer activities and homestays. Heritage Tours can arrange tours through Cameroon’s equatorial rainforests in search of the pygmies and gorillas, through the plantations and cultural manifestations of Cameroon diverse ethnic groups to the north to explore Cameroon pristine Safari parks. Heritage Tours offers free tourist information: Heritage Tours holds a database of local information with up to date prices, opening and closing times, seasonal activities etc.

• SunnFeeling Tours

• CamTours - Cameroon Tours and Safaris

Ikan Kekek (talk) 09:15, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

I think, on balance, you're right.

I do have a, perhaps regrettable, "bleeding heart" tendency to allow local, "good cause and they need every help they can get" type listings such as BERUDA (formerly Berudep), where the stated objective is as worthy as "The vision of The Belo Rural Development Project is to eradicate poverty and raise the living standards of the rural population of Cameroon's North West." --W. Frank^email_talk 09:53, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

Well, their listing doesn't indicate how they give "added value" as defined by this site, but if they do give added value and they're in the Northwest Highlands, there's an article about that region, but I don't see an article about Belo, if that's a town. Ikan Kekek (talk) 10:05, 23 September 2014 (UTC)

"Continued forced labour"?

From "Understand/History":

The German Empire claimed the territory as the colony of Kamerun in 1884 and began a steady push inland. With the defeat of Germany in World War I, Kamerun became a League of Nations mandate territory and was split into French Cameroun and British Cameroons in 1919. The French carefully integrated the economy of Cameroun with that of France and improved the infrastructure with capital investments, skilled workers, and continued forced labour.

Three problems: (1) "Forced labour" should be called slavery. (2) It is never directly stated that the Germans practiced slavery in Kamerun, so "continued forced labour" is a non-sequitur. (3) It is never stated how long the French continued to practice slavery. Were they still enslaving Camerouniens after World War II? Ikan Kekek (talk) 04:59, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Statement above was copied and pasted from Wikipedia w:Cameroon#20th_century --Andrewssi2 (talk) 09:53, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Unfortunate, but my remarks stand. Ikan Kekek (talk) 10:23, 26 March 2017 (UTC)

Ambazonia

Is this an official name. How widely is it used in English-speaking areas of the country? User:79.67.86.147 and anyone else who knows, please comment. Ikan Kekek (talk) 08:14, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

I have no direct knowledge, but there is a Wikipedia article that appears to have been largely written by sympathizers. Ground Zero (talk) 12:15, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

FYI: This IP's user contributions involve adding the name Ambazonia to every article about the English-speaking part of Cameroon. I don't know if that's a good idea or not, and I suspect but don't know that the name itself is controversial. Ikan Kekek (talk) 12:26, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

A propos: w:Talk:Ambazonia#The Controversy. That entire post seems relevant. I think we should mention the word but indicate that the word itself is a focus of conflict, so travelers should be aware that some English-speakers in the country use it, but should avoid using it themselves. Ikan Kekek (talk) 12:30, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

Deutsche Welle, Foreign Policy magazine, and BBC use 'Ambazonia', but only in reference to the separatist movement, or in quotation marks. I haven't found any articles on the current situation. Ground Zero (talk) 15:01, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

Here's a story from Al-Jazeera 20 Mar 2020 that says the attacks are still going on. Ground Zero (talk) 15:04, 15 April 2020 (UTC)

OK, thank you. So how should we handle these edits? Ikan Kekek (talk) 02:08, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

"Ambazonia" is only recognized by secessionist groups. Most people from the English-speaking regions do not consider themselves as such. You guys should please do enough research before publishing your information. —The preceding comment was added by Cameroon121 (talk • contribs)

Who is "you guys"? In this case, "you guys" is User:79.67.86.147, but I'm not sure you understand what a wiki is. "You guys" is everyone. Everyone can edit articles. So you are one of "you guys". I'd ask a few things from you: (1) Please sign all your posts by typing 4 tildes (~) in a row and the end of each one, so it's easier to see what you contributed; (2) please provide some references in talk page threads to back up your opinion; (3) please wait until you've convinced a consensus before making changes. Those of us who don't know the situation on the ground want the articles on this site to be accurate, so just give us some external evidence to support your statements, and that way, you'll convince other users to support the fixes you want to make. All you need is a little patience after that. Thanks a lot! Ikan Kekek (talk) 20:47, 19 October 2020 (UTC)