Limbe

Where Mount Cameroon walks into the Atlantic, Limbe arranges the volcano's gifts: beaches of jet-black lava sand - Down Beach's fish-grill scene in town, Mile 6 and Seme's quieter strands under the palms - warm sea, and soil so rich the town's 1890s Botanic Garden grew into the region's oldest, its cycads and spice trees shading river paths. The Limbe Wildlife Centre gives the town its conservation fame: a sanctuary rehabilitating gorillas, chimps, drills and mandrills rescued from the bushmeat trade, run with local communities and counted among Africa's best of its kind. Fresh grilled fish with the fleet pulled up beside you closes each day properly.

History

The town was known as Victoria from 1858 and at first stayed under British administration outside the new German colony of Kamerun, until on 7 May 1886 Britain and Germany agreed to trade it for German rights on the Forcados River in Nigeria and at St Lucia in Natal; it passed to the Germans on 28 March 1887, when Swiss Presbyterian missionaries also bought the land from the Baptist Missionary Society. It became British again in 1915, as part of British Cameroon, and was renamed Limbe in 1982, and the old slave-trading site of Bimbia nearby is being restored for visitors (Wikipedia, Limbé, Cameroon).

Highlights

• The black-sand beaches - Mile 6 and Seme under the volcano's flank.
• Limbe Wildlife Centre - rescued gorillas, drills and chimps in serious care.
• The Botanic Garden - the 1890s collection along the river.
• Down Beach fish - the grill sheds and the landing fleet.

When to go

November to February is the drier window on one of Africa's wettest coasts - even then, showers visit; March to October rains in earnest. Sea swimming favours calm mornings; ask locally about currents.

Before you go

This is one of the world's rainiest regions - plans should bend around water falling; the green is the payment. Route via Douala. The wildlife centre is a sanctuary, not a zoo performance - visit on its educational terms.

Nearby

Mount Cameroon's trailheads at Buea, Douala and the Bimbia forest.