Bakossi Mountains

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The Bakossi Mountains are a low mountain range on the border of the provinces of Sud -Ouest and Littoral, Cameroon. The maximum height of 2,064 meters above sea level reach the Bakossi Mountains at Mount Kupe and they arose in the structure of the bulging of the Cameroon line. North of the mountains lie the Bakossi Bambouto Massif ( 40 km ) west of the Rumpiberge, northeast of Manengouba (about 20 km ) and southwest of Mount Cameroon ( about 120 km). The mountainous region was named after the people of the Bakossi.

The Bakossi Mountains cover an area of ​​2390 km ² and consist of four mountain formations together. The central region form the Edib Hills, north lie the 1,895 meter high Mwendolengo Mountains and the 1,795 -meter-high Mwenzenkong Mountains. In the southeast of Ebid Hills lies the volcanic massif of Mount Kupe, separated by Jide Valley. Hydrological form the Bakossi Mountains a watershed between the river systems of the mongoose in the south, the Cross River in the north- west and the Wouri in the southeast. The climate in the mountains is Bakossi - tropical cold-blooded, with a drier period from November to March and a more marked rainy season from April to October to September reached its climax with the arrival of the monsoon in July. The average daily temperatures range from 22 to 32 ° C and the humidity reaches values ​​of 75 to 85%, year round.

The mountainous region of Bakossi Mountains applies together with the massif of Manengouba as a biodiversity hotspot in which occur 2,412 animal and plant species. Of these, 82 species are endemic to this area, where 123 species in the region only from Mount Kupe are known. 232 species are considered threatened with extinction in the region. Of the primates occur ( Mandrillus sphinx ), Drill ( Mandrillus leucophaeus ) and the Common Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) in the region of the Mandrill. Other large mammals include stocks of the Great Otter Shrew ( Potamogale velox ) and the African Forest Elephant ( Loxodonta cyclotis ). Numerous Original Descriptions of animal and plant species are known from the field of Bakossi Mountains, the first described in 2000 and belonging to the family of thieves frogs Leptodactylodon wildi.