Things to Do in Cameroon in May

May Weather in Cameroon

Long-run averages for May in Douala

Making the most of May in Cameroon? Browse tours and activities in Cameroon on GetYourGuide.

Best Activities in May

Top things to do during your visit

May lands squarely in the wet season's opening act across much of Cameroon, with average highs around 28°C and lows near 20°C keeping temperatures moderate compared to the scorching February peak. Rainfall climbs to roughly 198 mm for the month, arriving most often as heavy afternoon downpours that break the morning's warm, close air and leave behind the sharp green smell of soaked laterite earth and dripping forest canopy. Mornings tend to start overcast but dry, a window that seasoned travelers exploit for outdoor excursions before the sky darkens after midday. The land itself responds fast: rivers thicken with rust-colored runoff, roadside vegetation explodes into walls of glossy banana leaves and tall elephant grass, and the red-dirt tracks outside cities soften to a clay that clings to boots and tires alike. For travelers willing to work around the rain, May in Cameroon delivers something the dry-season crowd misses. The forests surrounding Yaoundé grow denser and louder, alive with the screech of grey parrots and the low thrum of cicadas that rises and falls like a generator cycling. Street-food stalls across the capital shift their offerings toward the season's produce: fat plantains blackened over charcoal grills, ndolé simmered with freshly picked bitterleaf whose earthy, slightly tannic flavor deepens in the wet months, and grilled fish wrapped in leaves that release a smoky, herbaceous steam when peeled open. Cameroon's roads demand patience in May, some secondary routes become impassable. But the compensation is fewer visitors at major sites, greener landscapes for photography, and the particular intimacy of traveling a country when it feels most like itself rather than most like a postcard. The rhythm of daily life adjusts too. Markets in Yaoundé and Douala open early to beat the rains, their tin-roofed stalls clattering with the sound of vendors stacking pyramids of avocados, mangoes, and pineapples that perfume the humid air with a sweetness so thick it feels edible. Cameroon's cultural life continues uninterrupted by weather, the country's deep traditions of communal cooking, neighborhood football matches on muddy pitches, and evening gatherings over grilled soya (spiced beef skewers) carry on rain or shine. Travelers who pack a quality rain jacket and keep their itinerary flexible will find May one of the more rewarding months to move through this geographically layered country, from the forested south to the transitional savanna of the Adamawa Plateau.

Visit the Ebogo site and Méfou Park from Yaoundé

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★ 4.0 4 reviews from $270

Combines two of the Yaoundé region's most compelling stops in a single outing: the riverside Ebogo ecotourism site, where dugout canoe rides glide beneath a cathedral-tall canopy of mahogany and iroko trees, and the Méfou National Park primate sanctuary, home to rescued chimpanzees, gorillas, and mandrills whose startling blue-and-red muzzles peer through the undergrowth at arm's length. The two sites sit within reasonable driving distance of the capital. But the contrast between them is striking. Ebogo's world is water, birdsong, and the cool mineral smell of river mist, while Méfou's dense enclosure trails carry the warm, musky scent of great apes and the crack of branches overhead as chimps swing between feeding platforms.

Full day Moderate Morning departure from Yaoundé, ideally by 7:30 AM to maximize dry hours at both sites.

This is one of the few day trips from Yaoundé that delivers both primary rainforest immersion and close encounters with Central Africa's most endangered primates, all without a multi-day expedition.

Insider tip: Arrive at Méfou by mid-morning when the primates are most active and feeding. Afternoon heat makes them drowsy and harder to spot, and the park's shaded trails become dim under cloud cover during May's typical late-day rains.

This month: May's elevated rainfall swells the Nyong River at Ebogo, making canoe rides smoother and faster but occasionally suspending them during heavy downpours, confirm river conditions on the morning of your visit.

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Yaoundé City Tour

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★ 5.0 2 reviews from $222

Walks visitors through Cameroon's political and cultural capital with the kind of ground-level access that reveals why this hillside city of seven collines, seven hills, feels so different from the flat, port-driven energy of Douala. The route typically threads through the Musée National, where carved Bamoun masks and Bamiléké beaded thrones fill low-lit galleries with the faint cedar-and-dust scent of aged wood, then climbs to the Benedictine monastery at Mont Fébé, whose terrace has a panorama of corrugated rooftops, red-earth construction sites, and the green blur of forest pressing against the city's southern edge. Street-level stops pull you into the controlled chaos of the Mokolo market, where the clang of aluminium cookware vendors mixes with the sizzle of beignets dropping into hot oil and the sharp, fermented tang of freshly tapped palm wine poured into recycled bottles.

Half day Moderate Start early morning, around 8 AM, to finish outdoor stops before the afternoon rains typical of May.

Yaoundé rewards a guided tour more than most African capitals because its defining assets, hilltop viewpoints, museum collections, neighborhood food culture, are scattered across steep terrain with little signage, and a knowledgeable guide transforms a frustrating taxi-hop into a coherent narrative.

Insider tip: Ask your guide to include a stop at the Nlongkak quarter for a plate of poulet DG, a Cameroon signature dish of fried plantain chunks and braised chicken in a tomato-onion sauce whose smoky depth comes from cooking over wood fire, this is far superior to the hotel-restaurant versions downtown.

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The Dja Biodiversity Reserve Safari 7Days/ 6 Nights

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★ 5.0 1 reviews from $2417

An immersion into one of Central Africa's last great undisturbed rainforests, a UNESCO-listed expanse that wraps inside a near-complete loop of the Dja River. Over a week in the reserve, travelers move by pirogue along tea-dark waterways where the only sounds are the slap of paddle on current, the distant boom of a crowned eagle's call, and the rustle of forest elephants pushing through undergrowth just beyond sight. Nights are spent at basic forest camps where the air cools to a damp 20°C after dark and the canopy erupts with the overlapping calls of tree frogs, each species pitching at a different frequency until the forest sounds like a dissonant orchestra tuning up. The reserve shelters western lowland gorillas, chimpanzees, forest buffalo, and over 300 bird species. But it is the sheer unbroken scale of the habitat, trees rising 50 meters without a single cleared patch, that makes the Dja feel less like a park and more like a continent before roads.

7 days Expensive Depart early in the week to align camp logistics with supply runs from the nearest town. Within each day, the first hours after dawn offer the best wildlife sightings before rain and heat push animals into cover.

The Dja is one of the largest and best-protected rainforests in Africa, and this extended safari format is the only practical way to penetrate deep enough to encounter its flagship wildlife, the habituated gorilla groups that require multi-day trekking to reach.

Insider tip: Pack waterproof dry bags for all electronics and documents, May's rainfall means river crossings can soak gear quickly, and the humidity inside the forest prevents anything from drying overnight.

This month: May marks the transition into the reserve's wetter months, which raises river levels and can slow pirogue travel but also concentrates wildlife around fewer dry ridgelines, improving sighting odds for forest elephants and gorillas on higher ground.

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