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Cameroon’s diary - inside the Korup National Park

The Korup National Park is in western Cameroon against the Nigerian border. It has 1259 sq km of tropical rainforest known for its high biological diversity, including more than 50 species of large mammals. Cameroon. I’m going to spend 3 days inside the Korup National Park. It should be one of the oldest forests in West Africa. I’m looking forward to see some interesting flora and fauna.

In the morning I met my guide at park HQ at Mundemba and we start to talk about possible routes and what is possible to see. According to the Lonely Planet guide I was expecting to see forest elephants, some gorillas and if lucky even chimpanzees. At this moment I didn’t know that my expectations are out of reality. Guide explains me that we can see interesting flora but to see fauna is almost impossible. Park is at the border with Nigeria and there are illegal hunters and also walking trails which are used by smugglers between Cameroon and Nigeria. To see rare animals it’s necessary to go more south and deep to jungle and even there it’s almost rare to see them. Well, it’s a little bit of disappointment for me. But I’m already here so let’s see.

Korup National Park entrance. Cameroon. I travel together with guide and one porter who carry my backpack and food for us for 3 days. First we go by truck to the park border – border is Mana River and we have to reach Mana Suspension Bridge. It’s about 10 km from park HQ and we go via plantations fields. After crossing bridge we are in park. We are in jungle. It’s big difference between plantation and forest.

Mana waterfall, Korup National Park. Cameroon. Our plan is simple – first we go south to Mana Waterfall which is unfortunately reachable by one way road. It’s about 6 km from bridge. Waterfall is small and not so much spectacular. Going through forest is more interesting than waterfall itself. Each day we sleep at different camp site – one night at Rengo Camp and second at Chimpanzee Camp. We walk a lot around forest we go to Chimpanzee View Point to look around the forest. Guide was right. We didn’t see any interesting mammals or rare animals. Forest is not quite there’s a lot of sounds but no elephants, no gorillas, no chimpanzee. But flora is beautiful. Rare creeper which is full of water, beautiful mushrooms, trees with huge thorns… Really interesting and beautiful. Even without animals trip was worth. In the evening it’s great to listen sound of the forest. Camps were OK, there were simple wooden huts where you can sleep. It’s good to have mosquito net and hang it here. Mosquitos are present even during dry season.

The Korup National Park is in western Cameroon against the Nigerian border. It has 1259 sq km of tropical rainforest known for its high biological diversity, including more than 50 species of large mammals. Cameroon. The Korup National Park is in western Cameroon against the Nigerian border. It has 1259 sq km of tropical rainforest known for its high biological diversity, including more than 50 species of large mammals. Cameroon. The Korup National Park is in western Cameroon against the Nigerian border. It has 1259 sq km of tropical rainforest known for its high biological diversity, including more than 50 species of large mammals. Cameroon.


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