Geography of Cameroun

The Cameroun , Africa in miniature.

Geographical position

The Cameroun schematically has the shape of a triangle of 475.442 km ² of surface whose base skirts the 2nd Northern parallel while the top is in the lake Chad, a little after the 16th parallel. This triangle is delimited by:

the Nigeria in the west,
the Atlantic Ocean in the south,
the Guinea Equatoriale,
the Gabon and the Congo in the south,
the Central African Republic and the Chad in the east,
the Lake Chad in north.

Principal cities

Reliefs

One can distinguish 3 great units:

lowlands: the basin of Manfé, the basin of Bénoué and the plain of north.
plates: especially South-Cameronian with an average altitude of 650 m and the plate of Adamaoua which is a horst of the base, culminating to 1100 m of altitude on average
highlands: they are the highlands of the west which is a block of the base raised and covered with épanchements basaltic laid out in lines called the Cameronian Dorsal. The highest reliefs go from 1500m to 4000m and the most known tops are the mounts Mandara, Alantika, and the solid masses of the Oku mount, Bamboutos, Manengouba and the Mont Cameroun.

Climate

Cameroun comprises two great climatic fields:

The equatorial field

It is characterized by abundant precipitations, high temperatures and constants involving a low thermal amplitude and a vegetation degrading itself as one moves away from the equator. It has 2 nuances:

Guinean standard climate

It reigns on part of the coast and on the South-Cameronian plate and it counts 4 seasons well tranchées.une season of rain, a great dry season, a small dry season and a small season of pluie.

Standard climate Camerounien

It reigns in the vicinity of the Cameroun Mount and extends to the mouth from Sanaga including the high plateaus from the west. Its characteristic is the superabundance of the rains which fall in only one annual season 9 months.

The tropical field

It comprises 2 nuances:

Tropical climate soudanien

The temperatures are high, the rains are not very abundant; it counts 2 seasons: rainy approximately 7 months (very torrid from May to June and between July at October, very fresh and wet) and dry 5 months (fresh from November to January)

Tropical climate sahélien

The temperatures are high but with a irregularity of the rains; it counts also 2 seasons: dry from December to January and rainy.

Hydrography

Basins and rivers

the basin of the Atlantic: the Wouri, the Nkam, the Noun, the Sanaga
the basin of Congo: the Bok, the Lobo, the Sangha, the Dja
the basin of Niger: the Mayo kebi, the Benoué, the Faro
the basin of Chad: the Logone, the Fortified, the Chari

Sanaga is the longest river of Cameroun (918 km).

Lakes

lakes of craters: Lake Oku, Lake Tizong, Lake Bini, Lake Barombi, Lake Nyos
lakes of subsistence: Lake Dares, Lac Dissoni, Lac Ejagal
the lakes of basin: Lake Chad, Lake Fianga
artificial lakes: Lake Bamendjing on Noun, Lake Mbakaou on Djerem

See too

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