Trip to Cameroon: Gerewol Festival, tribes and Kingdoms

Discover the highlights of this trip to Cameroon

We will experience the Gerewol Festival on this trip to Cameroon

The Gerewol Festival that we will attend during this trip to Cameroon is a massive event where Fulani Mbororo nomads, from all around northern Cameroon and even Nigeria and Chad, gather for this annual event. During Gerewol ceremonies, young men meet young women, and a lot of ritual dancing and singing is involved. Together with the flirting rituals, there is much going on: family and clan meetings, business deals, and partying. During 3 entire days of this trip to Cameroon, we will enjoy the spectacular Gerewol Festival in the wild forested savannah of the north of the country.

Live unique ethnographic experiences with the tribes of the Faro Valley

Dupa tribe

During this ethnographic trip to Cameroon, we will learn about the customs of the Dupa tribe, who still clinging to the old ways. We will walk for 1h to a traditional Dupa village, which preserves decorated granaries, and where will meet the people. After a chat with the elders, we will visit the community and organize a local dance performed by the women. Dupa men and women still wear their traditional loincloths made of local tainted cotton.

Mbororo tribe

‘Mbororo’ means landless person. Cameroon Mbororo belong to the bigger Fulani nation, that extends from Senegal up to Sudan across the African Sahel region. These nomadic Fulani from Northern Cameroon base their economy in cattle rearing and some basic agriculture. Women also make beautiful artisan products such as decorated dry calabashes and embroidered cloths that sell in local markets. They also maintain the custom of decorating the face and part of the body with beautiful and complex tattoos that mark the social class and marital status of the wearer.

We will discover Ngaoundere

Ngaoundere is a bustling Muslim city. On Fridays, the local sultan leaves the old palace and walks with his court to the central mosque. There is music and a lot of colours. We will experience the ceremony and explore the city’s interesting sites such as the old colonial market and a couple of old adobe traditional constructions all within the old town.

© Photos by Aníbal Bueno, Markus Mauthe, Ana Robles and Albert Farnós taken during an ethnographic trip to Cameroon.

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