Bakossi people

The Bakossi people live on the western and eastern slopes of Mount Mwanenguba and Mount Kupe in the Bakossi Mountains of Cameroon. They number about 200,000, mostly engaged in subsistence farming but also producing some coffee and cocoa.

According to their tradition, the Bakossi are descended from the great hunter Ngoe (or Ngweh) and his beautiful wife Sumediang. They had twelve children. At one time, a supernatural being warned the couple that a flood was coming and told them to make a box in which to escape. They built an ark, taking in their family and all kinds of animals, and survived the flood. The ark came to rest between the twin lakes of Mwanenguba, one of which is said to have a female character and the other male. The different clans claim descent from different children and grandchildren of this couple.

The Bakossi are related to other people of the region including the Bafaw, Bakundu, Balong, Bassossi, Mbo, Abo, Miamilo, Baneka, Muaneman, Muange, Bareko, Bakaka, Babong, Balondo, Manehas, Bongkeng, and Bakem. The Bakossi people speak a Bantu language called Akose. Today, this language includes many loan words from English, French and word that are also found or related to words in Douala.Ethnologue classifies the language in the Ngoe group of the Lundu-Balong family.

The land occupied by the Bakossi people includes both highlands and lowlands. It has fertile soils, watered by streams that rise in the mountains, and is covered by dense forest which contain a wide variety of trees, birds and animals. Many of the Bakossi grow coco yam, cassava and some corn for food. For cash they cultivate coffee in the higher parts and cocoa lower down. More exotic foods include tadpoles and males of the Hairy Frog, which are thought to fall from the sky and, when eaten, to help childless human couples become fertile. Among the Bakossi, a hunter is respected for his skills and achievements as much as for the economic value of the animals he has managed to kill.

The Bakossi Forest Reserve of 5,517 square kilometres (2,130 sq mi) was created in 1956. In 2000, the main section of Bakossi was designated a protection forest. All logging was banned and Kupe became a "strict nature reserve". The local Bakossi people participated in delineating the boundaries. There were large gains in management effectiveness of the forest between 2003 and 2007 although the local people are still not well integrated into management of the area and there are weaknesses in education on environmental subjects.

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Wikipedia