Kribi
Cameroon's main beach resort town, with pale sand, a German-built lighthouse and a deep-water port.
History
Kribi grew up as a coastal trading post under German colonial rule in the 1890s, when it briefly served as the administrative capital of Kamerun before that role moved to Buea. A cast-iron lighthouse the Germans erected on the seafront still stands and remains a local landmark. Today Kribi is Cameroon's best-known beach resort, its pale sand and calm, warm water drawing visitors from Yaoundé and Douala on weekends, while just outside town its role as a working port has grown sharply since the 2018 opening of the Kribi Deep Sea Port, now one of the largest container terminals on the Gulf of Guinea.
Beyond the facts
Culture & traditions
A living tradition or belief tied to the place, distinct from its recorded history.
Kribi's Batanga and Mabea communities belong to the wider Sawa (coastal) family of peoples who share a deep-rooted maritime culture built around canoe fishing, smoked-fish trade and water-centred festivals, expressed most visibly further north at Douala's Ngondo but echoed in Kribi's own smaller lakeside and coastal ceremonies honouring ancestral water spirits. Grilled fresh fish served on the beach with miondo (fermented cassava sticks) is the town's signature dish, sold every evening by women running informal stalls along the shore.