Lebialem History

Highlights

The Fon of Fontem is the most prominent Chief of the Bangwa people, who speak a language called Ñgwé || German station was built on the site now occupied by the market and Hauptmann Rausch was in charge of the company || The people who began this country started from a place called Beketche. The first person who started in Beketche was called Njinkeng

Map & Introduction

The Lebialem Highlands is located on the mountainous northeastern part of South West Region. It is bordered to the East by West Region, South and South West by the Banyang – Mbo Wildlife Sanctuary (BMWS) and North by Momo Division in the North West Region. The area ranges from 180m to about 2510m above sea level. It is situated between latitudes 5^o11” and 5^o 45” and longitudes 9^o50” and 10^o 00”. This landscape is located in a zone with a humid tropical climate.

Lebialem Highlands Initiatives

The average rainfall is about 3,500mm, (Gartlan, 1989) with the peak in August. It has a distinct dry (November to February) and rainy (March to October) season. The daily temperatures vary between 20°c and 35°c, with the peak in March. Lebialem Highlands are part of Western Cameroon region situated within the Cameroon-Nigeria cross-border forests and known to be extra-ordinary diverse with a high degree of endemism (Davis et al, 1994). It has been observed that the cross-border area is floristically diverse when compared to other forests in the Guineo-Congolian region (Terry et al, 2003).

The Highlands’ dense, lush rainforests have been blessed by four flagship species, three of them primates: the Critically Endangered Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilladeilhi) of which less than 300 remain in the wild; the Endangered Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee (Pan Troglodytes ellioti), the most threatened of chimp subspecies likely numbering fewer than 6,000 individuals; the drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus); as well as the Vulnerable African forest elephant (Loxodonta Acyclotis). This area contains 84 % of known African primates, 68 % of known African passerine birds and 66 % of known African butterflies (Groombridge and Jenkins, 2000). This area has been classified by WWF as a biodiversity hotspot and one of the Global 200.

The Lebialem Highlands is ranked among the first five most biologically diverse conservation sites in Cameroon in terms of number globally threatened biodiversity species as well as the number of endemics found here given its combined tropical rainforest, piedmont, montane and savanna-type vegetations (Nkembi, 2006).

Landscape species diversity

This particular hotspot is home to many primates, and a number of endemic species and subspecies other than the Cross River Gorilla (this includes, Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee, Preuss’s gibbon, forest elephants, forest buffalo, duiker, 26 endemic birds). Several parts of the Cross River region have been designated by Birdlife International as important bird areas, and USAID’s Central African Regional Program for the Environment has named it a landscape of High Conservation Priority (EruDeF, 2009).

Ornithological inventories showed that the THWS and its peripheral zone host about 328 bird species recorded; 8 threatened, 17 restricted, 24 afro-montane, 6 birds of savannah and a large number of Guinea–Congolian species. Research survey also showed that Lebialem highlands host enormous species of amphibians most of which are global threatened according to the IUCN Red List.

Ndiah Alleh History Updates

Did you know Fontem is in Western Cameroon very close to the border between the Eastern and Western Regions. It is sixteen miles due west of Dschang? Subscribe now and receive more updates on Lebialem History.

History of the Alou Fondom

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