Things to Do in Cameroon in May

The dry trail from Buea to Hut 2 stays firm, no slick volcanic ash, and sunrise at 4,040 m (13,250 ft) beats the clouds bubbling up from the coast. May mornings chill to 15 °C (59 °F) so you'll need that fleece.

Sparse waterholes turn the Sahel savanna into open-air theatre, elephants, kob and roan antelope crowd into one sweep of binoculars. Dust hangs low, so the light turns gold at 5 PM and you'll taste it for days.

Evenings along the Wouri River settle at 26 °C (79 °F); fishermen haul giant shrimp onto makeshift grills that hiss over coconut husks. The smell of charred garlic and scotch-bonnet marinade drifts across Bonanjo quay past midnight.

Cool 24 °C (75 °F) air, rolling laterite roads and Bamiléké palace compounds with thatched conical roofs, ideal half-day escape while lowland cities roast. You'll pedal past women pounding cassava, the rhythmic thud echoing off volcanic rock walls.

Morning shade under 100-year-old rubber trees keeps the heat off, then the equatorial Atlantic at 28 °C (82 °F) rinses volcanic grit from your ankles. The garden's orchid house smells of vanilla and damp earth after the 3 PM irrigation mist.