Mount Cameroon, Highpoint of Cameroon

Mount Cameroon (13,255ft/4040m), highest mountain in Cameroon

Dec 24-25, 2022

Eric and Serge

Serge and I had just finished climbing Chappal Waddi, the Nigeria highpint, from the Cameroon side. Our next and final objective in Cameroon would be Mt Cameroon, the highest peak in the country. 

I had been eyeing Mount Cameroon for the past few years, but covid restrictions had made visiting the country very difficult or impossible. Fortunately, you currently just need to show a vaccination card so it’s an easy country to visit from that perspective. 

Mt Cameroon is the highest peak in West Africa and is actually somewhat popular for westerners to climb. There is even an annual race to the summit in late February, and this attracts international competitors. 

The peak is protected by a national park, and a guide and permit are legally required to make the climb. Some people do it as a day trip while it is most popular as a two-day hike. 

 While this amount of regulation may seem problematic compared to peaks in the US with no red tape, this actually makes things easy in Africa. Unlike our previous peaks, Mt Ngaoui and Chapp Waddi, where we had to worry about getting in trouble from the military and police, there is no such risk for Mt Cameroon. As long as we paid the permit fee and got the mandatory guide we could climb the mountain.

We had read online that guided trips up Mt Cameroon were $100 usd for a day trip and $450usd for an overnight trip (with Hady Guides), but we suspected it would be much cheaper if we talked to the park people in person instead of going through a middle man service.

Unfortunately our schedule had us arriving at the park on Christmas eve, but our driver Eric assured us people still work then in Cameroon. 

We decided to do the trip as a two day hike Dec 24 to 25. 

On Dec 23 we left Banyo at 430am for the long drive south. Roads started out rough and unpaved but gradually improved as we made it farther south. We stopped for a long break in Nkongsamaba then pushed on to Buea by 10:30pm.

This area of southwestern Cameroon is near the boundary of the English speaking and French speaking populations and is a bit restive. I’ve been told there is a push for independence from some English speaking groups, and that causes tension with the government. Driving towards Buea we saw a much higher military presence in the streets. 

Our driver Eric warned it was risky to be white in some parts of town, so we made sure to not show our faces outside once we reached our hotel. 

In the morning Dec 24 we drove up to the end of the road where we thought the park headquarters were, but we couldn’t find it. Some nice people at a restaurant there directed us back into town where we found the office at 9:30am.

Daniel greeted us there, and I think he was the only one around that day. He said he would be our guide, but we were required to have a porter for the two-day trip. This helps guarantee employment for locals and it was fine with us.

The fee was 120,000 cfa per person for a two day trip, which is about $200 usd. This was less than half the price we had heard earlier. For reference a one day trip would be 50,000 cfa or about $85usd. 

Daniel said he would need to drive around town and try to find a porter. 

We hung out for a while and after 1.5 hours he returned with two porters. He said they were in need of the work and the park would take care of paying for the second porter. I wasn’t really sure what they would carry since I only need a few items that I would carry myself, but I didn’t argue.  

By noon we were all loaded up in the car driving towards the trailhead. This was an impressive turnaround time. We had arrived unannounced on Christmas eve and within 2.5 hours we had a guide and porters ready to go for a two day trip. 

The loaded car couldn’t make it the last stretch up the steep dirt road so we all started walking there.

We first passed through fields of tomatoes, then made it to the forest. The trail was in good shape and we passed by massive trees in the jungle.

We soon reached the first hut at 1850m to take a break. Daniel said this is a popular day hike destination for locals who don’t want to go the whole way up. 

Above this hut there was a very abrupt transition from jungle to grass. This appears to be at the boundary of where lava had flowed in a previous eruption. Mt Cameroon is a volcano that last erupted in 2000, though Daniel said that eruption was on the opposite side of the mountain. 

We were hit by low clouds once we got above treeline and visibility was low. But we could still find the trail in the grass. 

We took a short break at another hut at 2350m then continued more steeply up. By just before sunset we crested onto a more gradual slope with tall bushes and short trees, and reached what Daniel called the hotel at 2850m.

This was a very impressive set of buildings with a main mess hall and kitchen surrounded by a dozen smaller chalets each with at least three beds.

Daniel said this complex was built in 2014 and it indeed looked  very new. There was a rough jeep road cut up to this point and a bit higher and that’s how supplies wre brought up. The complex has solar-powered lights and running water. It was actually much nicer than any hotel we’d stayed at the whole trip.

Surprisingly we were the only ones there other than a few workers. We got a key to one chalet and unloaded our stuff while Daniel and the porters gathered fire wood. 

We met up at a fire pit on the edge of the complex and Daniel cooked up some fish stew and giri (a plantain-based dish that reminds me of mashed potatoes).

We hung out around around the fire for a while before going to sleep. 

The next day, Christmas morning, we were up and moving by 6am. The weather looked much clearer and we hoped for good views. 

We soon got above the low trees and saw a nice undercast as the sun rose. The route climbed steeply up through the knee high grass and we took a short break at a small cave. I inspected but it only went about 10m deep. 

At 3800m we reached the highest hut and this is supposedly where the road stops, though I didn’t see it. We had crossed the road a few times on the hike and it is in tough shape, probably just barely passable by a landrover.

The highest hut is very basic with just a roof and walls, and Daniel said it is really only used as an emergency shelter.

We took our last break there before the final summit push. The grass disappeared and above the hut we hiked steeply up through scree and rock. 

By 9:30am we crested the summit, marked by several signs and a small concrete block. The highest rocks are a few meter past the concrete block. 

As I expected based on Rob Woodall’s report, there was another peak of similar elevation nearby. I’ve learned to not necessarily trust summit markers as being the true summit for cases like this. I now generally always carry a sight level, and I whipped it out and pointed it at the other peak.

I measured a roughly 0.5 deg declination, meaning the other peak was 2-3m shorter. So, indeed, the summit signs are on the true summit. 

Daniel said the other peak is the German summit and used to be the highpoint before the last eruption. But now it’s a little shorter. I bet whenever the mountain erupts again it might shift the summit a bit again. 

We admired the view but unfortunately it was a bit cloudy. Daniel said on a clear day he can see Douala and Malabo, but not today.

We made good time back, and stopped at the hotel for lunch of leftover fish stew and giri. We then continued down all the way to the trailhead by 330pm. 

Eric was there as planned, and we soon drove out. The streets of Buea were packed with people dressed up and heading to Christmas parties. We stopped for shawarmas and made it to Douala for the night. 

Our next peak would be Mt Bengoue, the highpoint of Gabon. 

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