Lake Oku

Crater Lake

The Lake Oku is a crater in the Cameroon Province Nord-Ouest. It lies in the Oku volcanic massif at an altitude of 2,219 meters above sea level in the nature reserve Kilum - Iim Forest Conservation Area and is one of the highest lakes in the Bamenda highlands and all over Cameroon. It is located in the settlement area of the peoples of the Fulbe and the Oku, which is considered the lake sacred. Accessible to the Oku- lake is of Kumbo on the road D102, or on the road P24 of Bamenda after Fundong. The lake was formerly known under the name Mahues Lake, Mahuès Lake or Mauwes Lake.

Its shores are covered with a dense and uninhabited mountain rainforest and has an oval shape, of 2 x 1.4 km in diameter. In the Waterside area the quillwort Isoetes biafrana grows, this is otherwise known only from Moka Lake on the island of Bioko. In the surrounding rainforest, there are numerous rare representative of the avifauna, the endangered Bannermanturako ( Tauraco bannermani ) and rare representatives of primates, such as the Thomas - Galago ( Galago thomasi ) and the Preuss guenon ( Cercopithecus preussi ). In the lake the only known from Lake Oku clawed frog endemic Langfüßige (Xenopus longipes ), but the degree of infestation of the chytrid fungus ( Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis ) lives is threatened. Otherwise, the Oku- lake is explored as a little, although this has already been described end of the 19th century by Captain Hans Glauning first time.