Mamfe or Mamfé is a city in and the capital of Manyu, a division of the Southwest Region in

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 from the border of

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, on the

Manyu River The Manyu River rises near Wabanein the Upper Banyang Subdivision of the Manyu Department of the Southwest Region, Cameroon. The river runs past the southern border of the Mone River Forest Reserve. Below Mamfe, it is joined by rivers drain ...

. It has a population of 42,500 (2024 estimates) It is known as a centre for

traditional religion In religious studies, an ethnic religion or ethnoreligion is a religion or belief associated with notions of heredity and a particular ethnicity. Ethnic religions are often distinguished from universal religions, such as Christianity or Islam ...

(e.g., Obasinjom and Ekpe Society) and

traditional medicine Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) refers to the knowledge, skills, and practices rooted in the cultural beliefs of various societies, especially Indigenous groups, used for maintaining health and treatin ...

. Mamfe used to be known for bad infrastructure within the city limits, especially the roads, but in recent times the roads have been tarred and are currently in good condition. The roads leading in and out of the city have also been tarred e.g., Mamfe - Bamenda, Mamfe - Kumba, Mamfe - Ekok. The

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

has maintained a presence in the Mamfe area since they entered the country in 1962. Cultural display in mamfe

Since 2017, Mamfe has been a frequent battleground in the

Anglophone Crisis The Anglophone Crisis (), also known as the Ambazonia War of Independence, is an List of ongoing armed conflicts, ongoing armed conflict in the English language, English-speaking Northwest Region (Cameroon), Northwest and Southwest Region (Came ...

. The city saw heavy fighting in December 2017, when the Cameroonian Army battled the

Ambazonia Defence Forces The Ambazonia Defence Forces (ADF) are a military organization that fights for the independence of Ambazonia, a self-declared independent state in the Anglophone regions of the former Southern Cameroons, Cameroon. It was formally established by t ...

for control over Mamfe and the surroundings. In May 2020, separatist fighters assassinated the newly elected mayor, Ashu Priestly Ojong. As of January 2023, suspected separatist fighters stormed Mamfe and set a

Total Total may refer to: Mathematics * Total, the summation of a set of numbers * Total order, a partial order without incomparable pairs * Total relation, which may also mean ** connected relation (a binary relation in which any two elements are comp ...

petrol station on fire.

Etymology

The name "Mamfe" comes from the ayangi language When Germans first arrived in the area via the Cross River, the Germans greeted a local man at the Egbekaw River site who was carrying sand from the shore and tried interrogating him about where they were. The Banyang man didn't understand and only said in his dialect, "Mamfie fah?" ("Where should I put it?"). The Germans heard this as "Mamfe" and named the area so.

Demographics

The Egbekaw village is the native/pioneer of Mamfe town. The inhabitants speak a Bayang language as their mother tongue, called Nyang, although English is the official language spoken along with

Pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn f ...

and several other dialects, including Ejagham. The city is also noteworthy for the high proportion of Nigerians who live there.

Education

Mamfe has no university yet, but the Catholic university is now under construction. The Mamfe Girls College was Cameroon's first all-female boarding school. There is also a teachers' training college, and several vocational schools.

Cuisine

Popular local foods in Mamfe include eru and

fu-fu Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou ) is a pounded meal found in West African cuisine. It is a Twi word that originates from the Akans in Ghana. The word has been expanded to include several variations of the pounded meal found in other African cou ...

, plantains with ndole, and

and ogbono soup, koki and plantains.

Climate

Mamfe has a

tropical monsoon climate An area of tropical monsoon climate (occasionally known as a sub-equatorial, tropical wet climate or a tropical monsoon and trade-wind littoral climate) is a tropical climate subtype that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification category ' ...

(

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 ...

''Am''). As Mamfe is in a river valley, humidity can be over 90% and temperatures can exceed 120 F (49 °C) during the Dry Season (February - April). During the rest of the year, temperatures remain in the 80-90s (27 to 37 °C) and only fall during the Rainy Season, sometimes to 70F (21 °C). The climate can be very uncomfortable for travellers, but tourism is beginning in the area, though small. Points of interest are the old German bridge, the Mamfe Cross, the Mamfe River by boat, and the Mamfe Cathedral. Hotels are few, but can and do accommodate western travellers.

Notable people

George Elokobi George Nganyuo Elokobi (born 31 January 1986) is a Cameroonian football coach and former player who is manager of Maidstone United. Elokobi, a centre back, moved from his native Cameroon to England at the age of 16, where he entered non-League ...

(b. 1986), professional footballer *

Pauline Nalova Lyonga Pauline Nalova Lyonga Egbe is a Cameroonian politician from the Fako division, South West region of Cameroon. She has been the minister of secondary education since the ministerial reshuffle of March 2, 2018. Biography Youth and education ...

, education minister * Late Chief Solomon Ashu Arrey of Ossing (1905-2005) *Senator Mfaw Tabetando Ndiepnso *

Matilda Nkwo Matilda or Mathilda may refer to: Animals * Matilda (chicken) (1990–2006), World's Oldest Living Chicken record holder * ''Mathilda'' (gastropod), a genus of gastropods in the family Mathildidae * Matilda (horse) (1824–1846), British Thoroug ...

, First Miss Cameroon, 1977, Miss Commonwealth Nigeria, 1988 *Honorable Enow Tanjong ( first governor of the region post colonization and Former member of parliament representing the Manyu people, Built the first church n the area.)

References

{{Coord, 5, 46, N, 9, 17, E, region:CM_type:city, display=title Populated places in Southwest Region (Cameroon)