Mt. Cameroon National Park, Tourist Destination

Spanning some 58,178 hectares with over 2,300 species of plants, 86 reptilian species, 70 species of butterflies, 400 species of birds, about 120 of the African forest elephants and over 400 chimpanzees, the Mt. Cameroon National Park is undoubtedly one of Cameroon’s tourist destinations of high ecological value. 
By Regina Leke
Speaking at a press conference organised by the Program for the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (PSMNR) in collaboration with the South West Regional Delegation for Forestry and Wildlife, Delegate Eben Ebai Samuel, said the high ecological importance of the park was identified as far back as 1939 with the carving out of part of the park – Bomboko as a Forest Reserve by the Germans. 
“Because of the rapid degradation of this ecosystem, government decided to create the Mt. Cameroon National Park, which is the highest status of protected areas in Cameroon,” Eben Ebai said.
Ebai explained that the park is situated within the Mt. Cameroon Technical Operation Unit which also comprises the Limbe Botanic Garden, Limbe Zoological Garden, Southern Bakundu Forest Reserve,  Bomboko Forest Reserve and Mokoko River Forest Reserve. 
“The park is charged with the conservation of forest and wildlife resources, promotion of eco-tourism within the park and the improvement of livelihood of local communities. With the technical support of the PSMNR, the park has adopted a collaborative management approach where local communities are offered a sense of ownership and responsibility for the forest,” the MINFOF Regional Delegate said. 
The Conservator of the Park, Besong Samuel, said before the opening of the park in 2009, tourism was going on in the park but was not very organised. 
“But since the management of the park became organised, tourism has continued to grow. In November 2012, we registered 300 tourists and in 2013 the number went up to 1,300. In a bid to develop the tourism potential of the park, government in collaboration with key ministries, is developing infrastructure for tourists who go up to the mountain to lodge in,” Besong said. 
For his part, the Team Leader of PSMNR, Frank Stenmanns, said the organisation of the Mountain Race, 95% of which takes part in the park is proof of the high touristic value the park has. 
Stenmanns said in collaboration with other technical partners such as WWF, WCS, the PSMNR since the first phase in 2006, has been conserving high ecosystems including other parks such as the Takamanda, Korup and Bayang Mbo. 
“Our vision is to link conservation and development; you cannot protect the forest without addressing the needs of the people. With a human dependency population of more than 100.000, the programme has been providing some alternative sources of livelihood and has included members of the communities in patrols which help them earn some income for themselves,” Stenmanns said.
Describing the close to a decade partnership with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF) in the conservation of nature, Stenmanns said, “Effectively, it has been a very long but fantastic journey we started in 2006, and we needed to get the confidence of the communities. At the beginning, there were very few communities who were interested in the project, most of them were a bit suspicious but as we speak, most of the communities have realized that our activities are to restore some lost ecosystems and help preserve the forest.. involving them in the activities has also helped to build confidence.”
He said all the 41 villages bordering the park, which are interested in working with park authorities, also benefit from village development projects.
He said it has been interesting working with MINFOF and park authorities and was confident that the Cameroon administration is capable of continuing with the process even after they leave in two years.
He equally hoped that the communities would take ownership of the project.
Quizzed on the fate of the park and others when the support of the programme comes to an end in 2016, Eben Ebai said a study has already been conducted to evaluate the financial gap between what resources the park is putting in and what the program does. 
“From this study, we have identified all stakeholders who benefit from the mountain such as Supermont, SONARA, SEME Water, to contribute to the management of the park. We have equally developed an ecotourism potential of the park so that more revenue can be derived from eco-tourism activities on the mountain,” Ebai hinted The Green Vision. 
He equally said government is putting in place a board in charge of protected areas and funds can be generated from this board for the management of the park. 
“We also intend to start a foundation for the park which can help us source for funds, and the carbon credit scheme can also help us get funds from the park,” Ebai added.
The Programme for Sustainable Management of Natural Resources (PSMNR) is a development agenda of Cameroon co-financed by the Federal Republic of Germany through the German Development Bank (KFW) in cooperation with the German International Cooperation (GIZ).
Its objective is to contribute to the preservation of high value ecosystems in South West of Cameroon.