Famed for its black sand beaches and surf-able Atlantic Ocean waves, Limbe is a cosmopolitan beach town in Cameroon’s south-west. It was founded in 1858 by the British missionary Alfred Saker and was known as Victoria until 1982, with the town’s famously friendly hospitality attracting a diverse array of people from Africa and beyond.
Things to do in Limbe
Stretch your legs on one of the themed trails that wind through the Limbe Botanic Garden, which is home to a variety of species from across the continent. Admire the 100-year-old trees adorned with creepers along the Riverside Trail or discover the unique species that thrive on the Coastal Trail as it hugs the shores of Moreton Bay.
Adjacent to the Limbe Botanic Garden is the Limbe Wildlife Centre, a rescue and rehabilitation hub that was established in 1993 by the Pandrillus Foundation. Offering visitors a chance to come face-to-face with lowland gorillas, Preuss's monkeys and Nigerian-Cameroon chimpanzees, the centre is also home to a rich birdlife native to the region.
To the north of Limbe sprawls Mount Cameroon National Park, a 580-square-kilometre area that protects one of Africa’s largest volcanoes, Mount Cameroon. If you’re feeling fit, you can hike through the tropical rainforest that leads to the volcano’s 4,040-metre-high summit, which is occasionally dusted with snow. Keep your eyes peeled for African forest elephants, bushbucks and duikers along the way, together with endemic Mount Cameroon spurfowl and speirops.
Getting around Limbe
Limbe is just over 1.5 hours’ drive from Douala and Douala International Airport, which has flights to destinations across Africa and Belgium. Buses connect with towns and villages throughout the region while taxis are readily available to hire for getting around Limbe.