Oku

Oku is a mountain range in the Bamenda Highlands, Cameroon in the province of Nord-Ouest. The inhabitants of the mountains and their language are also called Oku.

The mountainous region is known primarily as a volcanic field (also known as the Mount Oku ), in addition to the 3011 m high Mount Kilum several cinder cones and maars, of which the Manoun Lake and Lake Nyos are the best known. Less known is the highest lake in the mountains, the Oku- lake. This is just a few kilometers from the summit of Kilum away. The massif of Oku Mountain has a base diameter of approximately 100 kilometers and is part of the volcanic chain of the Cameroon line. In the southwest of the Oku Mountains, the Bamenda Mountains close to representing a connection to Bambouto massif.

In Oku Mountains are the highest mountain rainforests of West and Central Africa. These are dominated by the tree species Carapa procera, Schefflera abyssinica, Syzygium guineense Schefflera mannii and bamendae. In the higher regions of the mountain there is also the tree species Podocarpus latifolius and from approximately 2,600 meters above sea level and extensive bamboo forests. These rainforests are from 2,200 meters above sea level as Kilum - Iim Forest Conservation Area under protection.

For international stir the region excited by the Nyos tragedy on August 21, 1986, at the great by a gas outburst amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) leaked out of the crater and killed about 1800 people from the surrounding villages.

The next largest, already out-of- region city is Bamenda.

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