The north-western region of Cameroon is one of the most interesting from a cultural and ethnographic point of view and is made up of a small mosaic of peoples, each with their own traditions.
Historically part of the former British Colony, it was annexed to the French-speaking territory of Yaoundé after Independence. This new geography fuelled strong separatist sentiments over the years, leading to the self-proclamation of an Ambazonia state.
The entire region is dotted with chefferies, centres of traditional power, which are the repositories of ancient hierarchies and guarantors of community order, both on a spiritual and administrative level.
Starting from Bamenda, the “Ring Road”, a concentric rural circuit, leads to the discovery of some of these rich traditions, crossing alluvial plains, mountainous landscapes, high-altitude grasslands, lush vegetation and fertile rice paddies, home to peoples for whom the Anglophone colonial origin is actually a pretext concealing much deeper and older identities.
Following the Ring Road, not far from Bamenda you will have the privilege of visiting one of the region’s most characteristic chefferies, Bafut, a small rural village surrounded by cornfields and vegetable gardens, with its monumental sacred house (Achum), museum and numerous totem sculptures. Not far away, a colonial Presbyterian church reminds us that we are in a land of religious syncretism, where monotheism overlaps and mingles with ancestral beliefs. A stone wall surrounds the kingdom (Fondom), where the title of mfor, traditional chief, is handed down from father to son. The main attraction here is undoubtedly the Achum, with its tribal sculptures and imposing carved wooden frame with a sloping thatched roof. Even today, it is still the site of religious rites and ceremonies, amidst a flurry of raffia skirts and plant anklets, in the presence of traditional authorities richly adorned with colourful fabrics.
Moving south from the Ring Road, you’ll enter the heart of the traditional chefferies circuit of the Bamilenké peoples who have preserved their identity around the traditional courts. This explains the sumptuousness of the royal palaces, in the presence of which lavish participatory ceremonies are constantly celebrated, whether symbolic celebrations accompanying community events, or ritual or funeral sacrifices in homage to ancestors.
The history of the Baffoussam court is one of the oldest in Bamilenké land. The entrance to the chefferie site is adorned with a sacred sculpture, in the presence of which the spiritual leader receives his subjects in audience and settles intercommunal problems, like a sort of justice of the peace. Funerals, which are particularly heartfelt, take place in the courtyard near the monumental bamboo architecture and the sacred tree under which animal sacrifices are regularly performed.
Bandjoun is one of Cameroon’s richest and most powerful chefferie, with its colourful 17th-century assemblage of painted royal architecture, and the sacred house, the centrepiece of the site, made of carved wood, bamboo walls and a dramatic circular thatched roof. Here, tradition has it that the king inherits not only the material goods from his predecessors, but also his wives, a formal practice to ensure proper royal dignity for widows. In the eyes of his subjects, the king, with his throne decorated with a lion’s skin, embodies spiritual and administrative power, as well as the mediation through which institutional policy reaches the heart of the rural population.
While each village on Bamilenké land has its own chefferie, the importance of which varies according to its history, origins and number of subjects, moving north-east one enters the region of the Bamoun people, historical antagonists of the Bamilenké.
Here, the traditional court of reference, as well as one of the most powerful and representative in Cameroon, is only one, Foumban, where the King is not only the only traditional head of all the Bamoun, but also the Sultan, for that part of the population that adheres to the Muslim religion. Here, the syncretism between tradition and Islam is even more evident. An evocative synthesis of ancestral symbols and monotheistic attributes, in which it is particularly interesting to observe how during official ceremonies one passes nonchalantly from prayer in the mosque to traditional rituals in the royal court. The kingdom converted to Islam in 1896, but its rulers continued to symbolically exercise both roles, as a guarantor of the animist tradition and as a Muslim religious leader, in a peaceful cohabitation of Islam, Animism, but also Christianity. The sumptuous palace is in fact a sanctuary of the kingdom’s history, which is retraced through wall frescoes, vestments and religious objects. A craft centre par excellence, the city of Foumban is interesting for its numerous workshops in terracotta, bronze and sculpture, as well as its traditional cotton fabrics. The synthesis of this savoir-faire is the incredible Sultan’s throne, sculpted in traditional anthropomorphic figures and entirely decorated and covered with coloured beads and cauris shells, on which authority is presented in all its grandeur during the Ngouon festival, which is celebrated every two years.
Heading up towards the northern savannahs, you’ll reach Ngaoundere, an ancient village founded by the Muslim Peulh in the 19th century, in a particularly impressive mountainous landscape, dotted with granite rocks, small lakes inhabited by hippos and crocodiles, transitional vegetation and beautiful waterfalls. Here, the Lamido Palace represents the temple of traditional power of the Peulh theocracies and its chefferie is called lamidat. The sumptuous palace with its audience hall, frescoes illustrating the history of the kingdom, tribal objects linked to the cult, and vestments, is a reflection of the grandeur and power with which the figure of Lamido is still invested today.
Not to be missed on the way north is a visit to the lamidat of Rey Bouba, one of the most isolated and characteristic in Peulh land, set in a charming rural environment, with the Lamido palace standing out in its traditional architecture moulded from clay and covered with thatched roofs and woven mats.
