Campo Ma'an National Park
The Campo - Ma'an National Park is a national park located in southwestern Cameroon. The 2640 km ² large park is characterized by a dense unprocessed tropical rainforest with a high degree of biodiversity.
Location
To reach the park, if you travel from Kribi about 150 kilometers to the south in the direction of Equatorial Guinea. However, the unpaved road towards the border town of Campo in poor condition. The park borders the Atlantic Ocean (Gulf of Guinea).
History
As early as 1932 the Campo Ma'an National Park, was established as a reserve. 1980 Ma'an - afforestation zone was established. In 1999 the park was classified as a biosphere reserve.
The area consists of a percentage:
- 34% Ausgewiesenem National Park
- 25.5% agro forestry zone
- 31.4 % Unified forestry units
- 7.5% rubber and palm oil plantations
- 1.6% of the protected forest
Flora and Fauna
The area of the Campo Ma'an has a huge range of different species and it is home to a variety of taxonomic endemics.
Thus, the area is characterized by an enormous variety of plants and lots of animals. In the park over 1,500 plant species have been recorded. Ornithologists have at least 300 birds invitarisiert.
Coastal forest and sub- mountainous forests with heights up to 800 meters above sea level are to be found in Campo Ma'an -.
In the park there will be forest elephants, lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, hippos, giant pangolins, black colobus monkeys, mandrills and leopards.
In Ntem River you will find crocodiles and sea turtles.
Population
The national park is home to the Bagyeli Pygmies. However, the establishment of the Campo Ma'an National Park by the conservation organization Tropenbos lead in 1999 to the fact that the culture of the indigenous to this area Bagyeli Pygmies is threatened and impoverished the local population. In a study of the Forest Peoples Programme, the exact effects are described. Originally, the foundation should compensate for the destruction of nature through the Chad -Cameroon pipeline to the Exxon oil company. After the pipeline already in 1999 had dismembered the home of Pygmäenvolkes, they may not even enter certain parts of the rain forest now. In the rest of them the traditional hunting or collecting medicinal plants is prohibited.
Other ethnic groups living there are pygmies Bulu, Mvae and Ntumu.
Besides the pygmies living and the ethnic group of the Bantu in the area.