Manengouba Crater and the Twin Lakes
A grassy caldera rim at 2,411 m above Bangem, holding the male and female lakes — big skies, Fulani cattle herds, and the gentlest high-altitude walking in Cameroon.
- Distance
- 14 kmround trip
- Time needed
- 7 hmoderately fit hiker
- Total ascent
- 780 mto 2,411 m
- Difficulty
- ModerateHalf to full day with real climbing. Needs basic fitness.
About this hike
The Manengouba massif is a wide, gentle caldera on the Cameroon Line, and it is the best introduction to high-altitude hiking in the country. Where Mount Cameroon punishes and Kupe suffocates, Manengouba opens out: rolling short-grass highland, cattle tracks, and a crater floor holding two lakes that Bakossi and Mbo tradition names the male lake (Lac de l'Homme) and the female lake (Lac de la Femme).
Most people walk in from Bangem or from the Melong side, reach the crater rim, drop down to the lakes and return the same day. The rim circuit adds a few hours and is worth it for the views: on a clear morning you can pick out Mount Cameroon to the south-west and the Bamboutos ridge to the north-east.
At 2,400 m it gets genuinely cold at night and the wind rarely stops. The lakes are held to be spiritually significant and there are local restrictions on swimming — ask your guide rather than assuming. This is also working pasture, so expect to share the path with Mbororo herders and their cattle; give way to the animals.
Route and waypoints
Drawn from the standard route. Waypoints are numbered in walking order — tap a pin for what to expect there.
More in Littoral
Other trails in the same region, so you can build a trip rather than a day.
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