Batouri is a town and commune in the East Province of

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. It is the second largest municipality in the province after the provincial capital Bertoua. It is located on the main (though unpaved) road connecting Bertoua to the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to Central African Republic–Chad border, the north, Sudan to Central African Republic–Sudan border, the northeast, South Sudan to Central ...

and to the Cameroonian town of Yokadouma. It had an estimated 33,500 inhabitants as of 2012.

People

Batouri is mostly dominated by fulbe/fulani people and a large percentage of the population speaks the Fulani language fulfulde. However several other ethnic groups, such as the Baya, Yangélé, and the Mézimé are also native to the area. In addition there are many recent immigrants to the Batouri area. Many come from other parts of southern

and speak other

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

. There is also a large

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

population in town living mainly in the Mokolo quarter. Most people speak French though Fulfulde serves as a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

for much of the Muslim community and is spoken widely throughout the town. There are also a number of other language groups, notably

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

. There are a number of Cameroonian English and Cameroonian Pidgin speakers as well. All of the languages spoken, except for the colonial languages, Pidgin, Hausa, and Arabic are part of the Niger–Congo family.

Geography

Batouri lies on the South Cameroon Plateau at an elevation of about 653 m (2142 ft). It has a Guinea type climate which is hot and humid for most of the year with a dry season from mid-November to early March, then another small one in July. The wettest times of the year are April and May and then August through October. October is the wettest month with an average of 240.6 mm (9.5 in) of rain and January is the driest with an average of 17.3 mm (0.68 in). The average annual precipitation is 1479.4 mm (58.2 in). Temperature extremes are greatest during the dry season with the highest average high temperatures of 32.1 °C (89.8 °F) in February and the lowest average lows of 17.1 °C (62.8 °F) in January. Meanwhile, the wet season produces more tempered average daily temperature fluctuations with both July and August having average highs 27.4 °C (81.3 °F), and average lows of 27.4 °C (66.0 °F). Like Bertoua, Batouri lies in an area of transition of vegetation and climatic zones. In a simplified description the Guinea

savanna A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) biome and ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach th ...

vegetation lies north of the town while the lowland rainforest vegetation lies south of the town. However, much of the forest around Batouri is severely degraded. Wooded areas follow rivers northward and can extend many miles into the surrounding Guinea vegetation. The topography consists mostly of gently rolling hills. There is a large granite outcrop called Mt. Pandi about 25 km (15.5 mi) north of town, just west of the P5 road to Ngoura. The Kadéï River flows just west of town (3.5 km or 2 mi). The area all drains into the Kadéï and is part of the large

Congo River The Congo River, formerly also known as the Zaire River, is the second-longest river in Africa, shorter only than the Nile, as well as the third-largest river in the world list of rivers by discharge, by discharge volume, following the Amazon Ri ...

basin.

Climate

Batouri has a

tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a tropical climate sub-type that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories ''Aw'' (for a dry "winter") and ''As'' (for a dry "summer"). The driest month has less than ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

''Aw'').

Institutions

Batouri is home to a post office, three health centers, a government hospital, an Adventist hospital, and a Catholic health centre (Centre de Santé Catholique). It is the seat of the prefecture for the Kadey Department and it is the seat of Catholic Dioceses and three parishes (St. Martin, St. John and Notre Dame). Hospitals in Batouri have provided care to

refugees A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

fleeing violence in the Central African Republic, as it is one of the nearest medical facilities for the refugee camps on the Cameroon-CAR border. An assessment released 4 July 2014 indicated that "in Cameroon, up to 1 out of 3 refugee children from Central African Republic suffer from

malnutrition Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...

... The risk of severe acute malnutrition, which can be deadly if left untreated, is particularly high. In the inpatient center of Batouri close to the border, the mortality rate in May exceeded 24 per cent."

Gallery

File:Poste de Batouri.jpg, Post office of Batouri File:Alliance Batouri.jpg, Transportation in Batouri File:Gare routière de Batouri.jpg, Batouri bus station File:Eglise Catholique diocese de Batouri.jpg, Catholic Church in Batouri

References

{{Authority control Populated places in East Region (Cameroon) Communes of Cameroon