Centre Travel Guide
The Star Building, Yaounde. Photo via Wikimedia Commons.
Centre region holds Yaounde, Cameroon's political capital: ministries, embassies, and the grand public buildings of a planned capital city, set among the forested hills of the south.
The city's key sights are the National Museum, the Reunification Monument at Ngoa Ekelle (built 1973-1976 to commemorate the 1961 reunification of French and British Cameroons), and the Mvog-Betsi zoo and botanical garden. Just outside the city, the Nyong river basin offers easy ecotourism: the primate sanctuary of Mefou and the pirogue trips of Ebogo.
Destinations in Centre
Mefou National ParkPrimate sanctuary run by Ape Action Africa, about 45 km south of Yaounde: rescued gorillas, chimpanzees and mandrills.- EbogoPirogue trips on the Nyong River through swamp forest to waterfalls and caves; a Ramsar wetland site.
- National MuseumCameroon's national collections, from prehistory to the modern state.
- Reunification MonumentThe 1973-1976 monument commemorating the 1961 reunification of the two Cameroons.
- Mvog-Betsi Zoo and Botanic GardenZoo and botanical garden on the edge of the capital.
- Sanaga RiverCameroon's longest river, with hydroelectric cascades and riverside life near the capital.
Cities & towns
Regional food
- saka-saka (pounded cassava leaves, the forest-region staple)
Getting there
Yaounde Nsimalen airport (NSI) sits about 20 km south of the city. Camrail Intercity trains link Yaounde with Douala (about 262 km), and the overnight sleeper continues to Ngaoundere.