FIELD NOTES Cameroon
The Bénoué River in northern Cameroon provides a natural border to the Bénoué National Park, which was designated a Unesco biosphere reserve in 1981 and sits at the foot of the Adamawa Plateau. It is approximately 250 km from Garoua town, covers 1 800 km2 and holds some of Africa's most iconic wildlife, including the renowned Lord Derby's eland. When we visited, the terrorist group Boko Haram was active a few hundred kilometres from our camp, and strong Harmattan winds were blowing vast amounts of sand from the Sahara Desert into the atmosphere above us. As far as putting ourselves in a remote part of Africa with reason for concern and no quick getaway was concerned, we certainly overachieved. I went for the birds. The area is famous for them, holding over 300 species. From the prettiest of plovers to the most wondrous of turacos, hard-to-find doves and weird-looking warblers, northern Cameroon has it all.
