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⭐ Highlights

Yaoundé

Mefou Primate Sanctuary (310 Chimpanzees, 30 Gorillas), National Museum in Former Presidential Palace, Mont Fébé Seven-Hill Panorama, Ndolé National Dish & Bamiléké Bronze Art

📍 Yaoundé, Cameroon 📅 3-day itinerary

The "City of Seven Hills" at 750 m in the Cameroonian highlands — officially bilingual (French and English, one of only two African countries) since the 1961 reunification of French Cameroun and British Southern Cameroons, capital of the country sometimes called "Africa in miniature" for containing nearly every ecological zone on the continent within one country, where the most immediate wildlife encounter is the Mefou Primate Sanctuary (20 km south: 310 orphaned chimpanzees and 30 western lowland gorillas rescued from the bushmeat trade) and the most important cultural art is the Bamiléké elephant mask and bronze casting tradition of the Grassfields kingdoms.

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Also explore Yaoundé for:

The National Museum in the Former Presidential Palace of Ahmadou Ahidjo (1960-1982) Whose Bamiléké Elephant Masks (the Ceremonial Juju Masks Combining Human Face with Elephant Trunk and Ears, Worn by Warriors of the Fon's Retinue) and Beaded Royal Stools (Covered in Glass Trade Beads in Geometric Blue-White-Red Patterns) Are the Most Technically Sophisticated Traditional Art in Central Africa

The Mefou Primate Sanctuary Where 310 Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) Orphaned by the Bushmeat Trade Live in Social Groups of 15-50 in 2-10 Hectare Forested Enclosures, and 30 Western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla — Critically Endangered, ~100,000 Remaining in the Congo Basin) Are Rehabilitated 20 km from Central Yaoundé

The Basilica of Mary Queen of Apostles (1962) Whose Interior Wooden Panels Depict Biblical Scenes Interpreted Through Cameroonian Iconography (Figures in Traditional Dress, Equatorial Forest Backgrounds, Bamiléké-Style Frames) — the African Inculturated Christian Art Tradition at Its Most Accomplished in a Single Building

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