Yaoundé in 3 days

Mefou Primate Sanctuary (the Ape Action Africa Mefou Sanctuary — the largest primate rescue sanctuary in Africa; 40 km southeast of Yaoundé (the turn-off from the Yaoundé-Mbalmayo road is 20 km south, then a further 20 km on a forest track); the most important wildlife tourism destination in the Yaoundé region): the history (the Mefou Primate Sanctuary was established in 1996 by the UK-based charity Ape Action Africa (formerly known as CWAF — the Cameroon Wildlife Aid Fund) to rescue and rehabilitate chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) orphaned by the bushmeat trade and the illegal wildlife traffic in Cameroon and the surrounding Central African rainforest countries; the sanctuary (the sanctuary covers approximately 1,600 ha of secondary rainforest (the former agricultural land reverting to forest) on the outskirts of Mefou National Park; the primates live in large social groups in forested enclosures (2-10 ha per group) separated by electric fencing); the primates (the Mefou Sanctuary population (2024 estimate): approximately 310 chimpanzees (organised in 6 social groups of 15-50 individuals) and 30+ western lowland gorillas (in 2 gorilla groups): the western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) — the most numerous of the gorilla subspecies but critically endangered (an estimated 100,000 surviving in the wild in the Congo Basin rainforest — the population that is actively declining due to bushmeat hunting and habitat loss); the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes — the common chimpanzee): the Mefou chimpanzees are primarily former bushmeat orphans (the infants are the most commonly traded as pets after the mother is killed for bushmeat); the sanctuary cannot release the chimpanzees to the wild (the rehabilitation process and the suitable wild habitat are both insufficient for reintroduction).

Mont Fébé Benedictine Monastery and Panorama (the Mont Fébé — the highest of Yaoundé's seven hills (800 m) in the northwest of the city, 6 km from the city centre; accessible by the steep road climbing from the Mont Fébé Hotel (the colonial-era government hotel perched on the hilltop ridge, built in the 1960s and still operating as the most panoramically situated hotel in Yaoundé)): the Benedictine Monastery (the Monastère de Mont Fébé — the Benedictine monastic community established on the Mont Fébé hilltop: the monastery church (the most architecturally significant modern religious building in Yaoundé — the circular concrete church (1960s architecture by the German Benedictine missionaries) with the tiled roof and the abstract stained glass windows depicting Cameroonian themes (the native fauna, the traditional cultural motifs mixed with Christian iconography)); the panorama (the view from the Mont Fébé hilltop: the most complete panoramic view of Yaoundé available to visitors — the 360° panorama from the hotel terrace or the church grounds encompasses: the full urban extent of Yaoundé (the seven hills of the city visible simultaneously — the Government Quarter hills to the south, the Kennedy Quarter to the east, the Biyem Assi hills to the west, the Mvan hills to the south), the surrounding Adamawa highland landscape (the forested hills extending to the horizon in all directions, the equatorial forest cover of the Cameroonian central highland visible as the darkest green on the horizon), the atmospheric haze (the dry season — November-March — produces the clearest visibility: the Harmattan wind from the Sahara brings a dusty haze but also very low humidity and the most comfortable temperatures).

Centre Artisanal de Yaoundé (the Arts and Crafts Centre — the permanent arts and crafts market in the Avenue Kennedy district of Yaoundé; the most organised and widest-ranging collection of Cameroonian traditional arts and crafts available in the capital): the craft traditions (the Centre Artisanal represents the most important traditional craft traditions of Cameroon's 250+ ethnic groups: the Bamiléké art (the Bamiléké kingdom art tradition of the Grassfields of western Cameroon — the most technically sophisticated traditional art in Central Africa: the bronze casting (the lost-wax bronze figures and vessels (the "royal jujus" — the sacred bronze objects of the Bamiléké fon's (chief's) compound), the elephant masks (the prestige masks worn by the warriors of the fon's retinue), the beaded royal stools and thrones (the royal authority objects covered in glass trade beads in blue, white and red geometric patterns — the most labour-intensive craft objects in the Bamiléké tradition); the Fulani leatherwork (the Adamawa Fulani leather bags, sandals, sword sheaths and decorative harness items — the most technically refined leatherwork in Cameroon); the raffia weaving (the Bamiléké and Bamum raffia palm basket weaving (the 200+ forms of raffia basket, the most varied basket tradition in Central Africa)); the carved wood (the Fang and Beti masks (the Dan-influenced forest-zone carving tradition of south Cameroon), the Makondé figures of the far north (the Sahel-zone carved figures of the Makondé people)); the shopping (the Centre Artisanal is a fixed-price market (unlike the Mfoundi street market where bargaining is required): the prices are set by the craftsmen's cooperative and are the fairest in Yaoundé for the quality of the objects).

Yaoundé evening and nightlife (the music and bar culture of the Cameroonian capital): the Makossa (Makossa — the most internationally famous Cameroonian musical genre (the "makossa" — a Camerounian Creole word meaning "I dance" (derived from the Douala language word "kos" — to peel, to undress from, to dance): the Douala-origin urban dance music genre that combines Cameroonian traditional rhythms with Cuban Son and Congolese Soukous influences; the most internationally known Makossa artist is Manu Dibango (Emmanuel N'Djoké Dibango, 1933-2020) whose 1972 track "Soul Makossa" was sampled by Michael Jackson in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (1983) and by Rihanna in "Don't Stop the Music" (2007) — making Manu Dibango and the Makossa genre the most widely heard Cameroonian music in the world); the bikutsi (Bikutsi — the traditional music of the Beti people (the dominant ethnic group of the Yaoundé region): "bikutsi" means "let us beat the ground" in Ewondo (the main Beti language): the most energetically physical traditional music of Cameroon (the heavy drum-and-xylophone (the "mendzan" — the wooden xylophone of the Beti tradition) base, the rapid polyrhythmic percussion, the dancing (the bikutsi dance is characterised by the hip-swaying and footwork that the Beti women perform at traditional ceremonies)); the Yaoundé bar culture (the maquis — the Cameroonian informal outdoor bar and restaurant where Makossa, Bikutsi and Afrobeats music play through the evening: the most atmospheric evening experience in Yaoundé).

Basilica of Marie Reine des Apôtres (the Basilica of Mary Queen of Apostles — the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Yaoundé; on the Colline de la Cathédrale (the Cathedral Hill) adjacent to the Government Quarter; the most important Catholic church in Cameroon): the history (the first Catholic mission in Yaoundé was established by the German Pallottine Fathers in 1901 (following the German colonial annexation of Kamerun in 1884); the first permanent church (the wooden mission church) was replaced by the colonial-era stone church in the 1920s under French mandate; the current Basilica was consecrated in 1962 (2 years after Cameroon's independence)): the building (the Basilica of Mary Queen of Apostles is a reinforced concrete modernist church (1962) with a cylindrical bell tower and the dome-shaped nave that dominates the cathedral hill skyline; the interior (the most striking element of the interior: the series of carved wooden panels along the nave walls depicting biblical scenes interpreted through Cameroonian traditional iconography (the figures dressed in Cameroonian traditional clothing, the landscape backgrounds featuring the equatorial forest and the savanna of Cameroon, the Bamiléké-style carved wooden frames for the panels)); the status (the Basilica of Mary Queen of Apostles is one of the largest Catholic churches in Central Africa — the papal designation as "Basilica Minor" (a minor basilica) granted in 1984 by Pope John Paul II on his first visit to Cameroon (August 10-14, 1984 — the first papal visit to Cameroon): the Yaoundé Basilica was the venue for the open-air papal Mass attended by approximately 300,000 Cameroonians).

Yaoundé Government Quarter (the hilltop concentration of government buildings in the Etoudi district northeast of central Yaoundé — the most concentrated area of government architecture in Cameroon): the Presidential Palace (the Palais de l'Unité — the "Palace of Unity": the official residence and office of the President of Cameroon; the palace is located on the Colline d'Etoudi (the Etoudi Hill, 4 km north of the city centre) in an area of the city that was designated as the presidential precinct in 1982 under President Paul Biya (who has been in power since November 6, 1982 — one of the longest-serving heads of state in the world (as of 2024, 42 years in power, making him the 2nd longest-serving president in the world after Equatorial Guinea's Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (in power since 1979)); the palace is not open to the public but the grounds are visible from the surrounding roads); the Presidential Guest Houses (the state guest houses on the Colline de l'Unité — the several 1960s modernist guest houses in the government quarter used for visiting foreign heads of state; the most architecturally interesting is the Palais des Congrès (the Congress Palace — the conference and parliamentary building at the base of the hill)); the view (the view from the roads surrounding the government quarter of the Etoudi Hill gives the most complete panorama of the central Yaoundé cityscape available without climbing to the Mont Fébé viewpoint: the government buildings, the cathedral hill, the Reunification Monument and the hills of the commercial districts visible in all directions)

Cameroonian wildlife overview from Yaoundé (the context for the wildlife beyond the Mefou Primate Sanctuary — Cameroon's extraordinary biodiversity as "Africa in miniature"): the Cameroon highlands (the Cameroon Highlands (the western Cameroon volcanic highland zone — the Bamboutos Mountains, the Oku Highland, the Tchabal Mbabo): the most important biodiversity hotspot in West/Central Africa; the montane forests of the Cameroon Highlands are home to several endemic species found nowhere else on earth (the Cameroon Mountain chameleon (Trioceros camerunensis), the Bannerman's turaco (Tauraco bannermani — a critically endangered bird endemic to the Bamboutos and Oku highlands of western Cameroon with fewer than 7,500 individuals surviving), the cross-river gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli — the most endangered of the 4 gorilla subspecies: approximately 200-300 individuals surviving in the forests of the Cross River border zone between Cameroon and Nigeria); the Mount Cameroon (Mount Cameroon (Fako) — the highest mountain in West Africa (4,040 m); the only active volcano on the West African coast; the isolation of the mountain (the only point on the Cameroonian coast above 200 m for 200 km) has produced a unique species assemblage including the Mount Cameroon speirops (Zosterops melanocephalus) and the Mount Cameroon francolin (Pternistis camerunensis); the Waza National Park (the 1,700 km² savanna national park in the Far North Region of Cameroon — the best wildlife reserve for the Cameroonian savanna species (elephant, lion, giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis peralta — the West African giraffe, one of the most endangered giraffe subspecies: fewer than 600 individuals surviving); the bus from Yaoundé to Maroua (Far North) takes 12-16 hours: a full safari extension rather than a day trip.

Yaoundé final afternoon (the farewell to the City of Seven Hills): the Cameroonian coffee (the Cameroon is one of the most important coffee-producing countries in Africa: the Arabica coffee from the highlands of the West and Northwest Regions of Cameroon (the Bamboutos and Bamiléké highlands) is among the finest Arabica coffee in Africa (the Cameroonian SHB (Strictly Hard Bean) Arabica — the coffee grown at 1,500-2,000 m altitude in the volcanic soils of the Bamiléké highlands is described by specialty coffee buyers as having "the red fruit acidity of Kenya Arabica with the body of Sumatran Arabica"); the Robusta coffee of the Littoral Region (the forest-zone Robusta (Coffea canephora) grown in the Mungo River valley near Nkongsamba (230 km southwest of Yaoundé)) is the most important export variety by volume; the Yaoundé café culture (the French colonial café tradition in Yaoundé: the terrace cafés of the city centre (the "café crème" — the Cameroonian espresso with warm evaporated milk that is the morning drink of the Francophone Cameroonian professional class) at the Hilton Yaoundé terrace (the most upscale café experience in the city) or the street-side "café pousse" (the simple café of the Yaoundé neighbourhood where the espresso is served in a tiny cup with the condensed milk on the side)); the seven hills at sunset (the most memorable final image of Yaoundé: the view from any of the hilltop restaurants (the Mont Fébé Hotel terrace, the Hilton Hotel terrace at the city centre) as the sun descends behind the western hills and the equatorial forest horizon turns orange and red — the seven hills of the "Ville aux Sept Collines" in the warm last light of the Cameroonian afternoon).