Bénoué National Park Buffalo Trail

Bénoué National Park is 180,000 hectares of Guinean savannah woodland on the Bénoué river, and it is one of the few places in Cameroon where you can legally walk in big-game country. Walking safaris here run with an armed park ranger, on foot, along river terraces and through open woodland.

The Buffalo Trail follows the river from the Buffle Noir camp. Expect Western kob, roan antelope, warthog, baboon and, in the pools, hippo and crocodile. Buffalo are common and are the reason the ranger is armed. Lion and giant eland are present but rarely seen on foot. There is no summit and very little climbing; the difficulty here comes from heat, distance and the concentration a walking safari demands.

The park closes in the rains — the tracks become impassable and the animals disperse. The season runs roughly December to May, with animals concentrating at the river as the dry season deepens, which makes March and April the best game viewing and the hottest walking. Early morning only. Bookings go through the park office at Bénoué or the conservation service in Garoua, and you cannot enter on foot without a ranger.