Wildlife to see in Cameroon in December
6 spectacles at their peak in Cameroon in December, and 3 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open Cameroon in December in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in December
Lobéké bais: elephants, gorillas and grey parrots at the clearingsGrey parrot flocks whistling and screeching over Djangui, elephants splashing, rumbling and trumpeting in the mud of Petite Savane, gorilla chest-beats from the edge, forest hogs grunting, and the rainforest dawn behind it all.
Kilum-Ijim: Bannerman's turaco and the Mount Oku forestThe deep, hoarse 'kow-kow-kow' of Bannerman's turaco rolling across the last big montane forest of the Bamenda highlands, wattle-eyes and apalises in the understorey, and cattle and church bells from the villages below.
Mount Cameroon: francolin and speirops on the volcano's slopesThe rasping, far-carrying crow of the Mount Cameroon francolin from the forest edge at dawn, speirops flocks chattering through the canopy, montane greenbuls and sunbirds — the only place on earth for two of these — with the wind on the open slopes above.
Mount Kupe and the Bakossi mountains: montane forest songThe loud, ringing whistles of the Mount Kupe bushshrike — one of Africa's rarest birds — from the mid-altitude forest, babbler flocks, montane greenbuls and, at the rockfowl rocks, the near-silent presence of the birds themselves.
Douala-Edéa and Lake Ossa: manatees, mangroves and the Sanaga mouthGrey parrot roost flights whistling over the mangroves at dusk, egrets and herons settling, the Sanaga estuary's terns, and at Lake Ossa the soft blows of manatees surfacing in the dark.
Sea turtles at Ebodjé and the Campo Ma'an coastA visual event with a good close-mic moment: the digging and heavy breathing of a nesting turtle against the surf; behind the beach the Campo Ma'an forest at night.
Also going on in December
Korup: drills, red colobus and the oldest rainforest dawn in AfricaDrill and mangabey troops crashing and grunting through the understorey, red colobus shrieks, chimpanzee pant-hoots at a distance, hornbills, the buzz of cicadas at first light and, from the Rengo camp, a night of tree hyrax and frogs over the Mana river.
Bénoué: hippos on the river at Buffle Noir and the Guinea-savanna dry seasonThe Bénoué at the dry-season low: hippo pods grunting and blowing a hundred metres below the camp terrace, the splash and heavy tread as they come out after dark, lion at a distance on still nights, the hoot of ground hornbills and the piping of Egyptian plovers on the sandbars at dawn; carmine bee-eaters in their thousands at the river-bank colonies.
Waza: elephants, giraffes and the Sahelian floodplainElephants at the pools, crowned crane duets across the floodplain at dawn, a Sahelian chorus of doves, sandgrouse and larks, and hyena at night around Waza camp.