Origins of the Canton
Along the Nkam River, which flows into the Wouri, four cantons can be found — among them the Wouri Bosua grouping, located in the Yabassi district, Nkam department. Renowned as a people of the water par excellence, its sons are traditionally called upon by other cantons to strengthen their crews during the great pirogue races of the Ngondo — with such success that oral tradition holds them to be in special communion with the Miengu, the water spirits, said to explain their exceptional ease upon the river.
Organised into three large families and eight villages — Bonandolo, Bossoua Ba Mbengue, Dène, Bonakoulé, Bonamakita, Bonalambo, Boneko and Bonambassi — the canton covers 108 km² and counts around 7,000 inhabitants, living mainly from fishing and farming (cassava, plantain, yam, chili pepper). Fish-farming and drinking-water supply projects are currently under development. The canton's great baobab, once a palaver tree and site of mystical-traditional worship, fell around twenty years ago; a cultural centre is to be built on the site, where a young baobab has already been replanted to preserve its sacred character.
🛶 Masters of the River
The Superior Chief
The Ngondo in Pictures
