Rhumsiki, also spelt Rumsiki and Roumsiki, is a village in the

Far North Province The Far North Region, also known as the Extreme North Region (from ), is the northernmost and most populous constituent province of Cameroon, the Republic of Cameroon. It borders the North Region (Cameroon), North Region to the south, Chad to ...

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 ...

. Rhumsiki is located in the

Mandara Mountains The Mandara Mountains are a volcanic range extending about 190 km (about 120 mi) along the northern part of the Cameroon–Nigeria border, from the Benue River in the south () to the north-west of Maroua in the north (). The highest ...

55 km (34 mi) from

Mokolo Mokolo is the departmental capital and largest city of the Mayo-Tsanaga department, in the Far North Province of Cameroon. It is the fourth largest city in the Far North Province, after Maroua, Yagoua, and Kousséri. It is located in the Mandara M ...

, and is located 3 km (2 mi) from the border with Michika LGA,

Adamawa State Adamawa is a States of Nigeria, state in the North East (Nigeria), North-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered by Borno State, Borno to the northwest, Gombe State, Gombe to the west, and Taraba State, Taraba to the southwest while its eas ...

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, ...

. The village is similar to many others in northern Cameroon. The inhabitants, members of the

Kapsiki Kapsiki (Ka-Tsepkye) is a people living on both sides of the border between North Cameroon and Northeast Nigeria. They are called Kapsiki in Cameroon, and Kamwe (Higi) in Nigeria. Together they amount to about 120,000 people. Their language, Pse ...

ethnic group, live in small houses built from local stone and topped with thatched roofs;Hudgens and Trillo 1130. these homes are scattered throughout the village and surrounding valley. Nevertheless, Rhumsiki is one of Cameroon's most popular

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural beaut ...

s and "the most touristic place in northern Cameroon".West 219. The attraction is the surrounding scenery. Gwanfogbe, et al., describe it as "remarkable", ''

Lonely Planet Lonely Planet is a travel guide book publisher. Founded in Australia in 1973, the company has printed over 150 million books. History 20th century Lonely Planet was founded by married couple Maureen Wheeler, Maureen and Tony Wheeler. In 19 ...

'' as "striking",Fitzpatrick 264. ''

Rough Guides Rough Guides is a travel company that offers tailor-made trips planned and arranged by local travel experts based in destinations around the world. Originally established as a guidebook publisher in 1982, Rough Guides expanded into customized t ...

'' as "breathtaking" and '' Bradt Guides'' as an "almost lunar landscape". Writer and explorer

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

wrote that Rhumsiki's surroundings are "one of the most beautiful landscapes in the world." The spectacular effect is created by surrounding

volcanic plug A volcanic plug, also called a volcanic neck or lava neck, is a volcano, volcanic object created when magma hardens within a Volcanic vent, vent on an active volcano. When present, a plug can cause an extreme build-up of high gas pressure if risi ...

s (the remnants of long-dormant volcanoes),

basalt Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...

outcroppings, and the Mandara Mountains. The largest (and most photographed) of these rocks is Kapsiki Peak, a plug standing 1,224 m (4,016 ft) tall. Kapsiki home in Rhumsiki

Rhumsiki has adapted to the flow of tourists. Children in the village act as tour guides, showing visitors several pre-arranged attractions. Among these are craftspeople, such as blacksmiths, potters, spinners, and weavers; native dancers; and the ''féticheur'', a

fortune-teller Fortune telling is the spiritual practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115–116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle ...

who predicts the future based on a crab's manipulation of pieces of wood. Rhumsiki is now a standard item on most tourist itineraries, a fact of which the travel literature disapproves. ''Rough Guides'' describes Rhumsiki as "overrun" and "tainted by organized tourism",Hudgens and Trillo 1118. and ''Lonely Planet'' calls it "something of a

tourist trap A tourist trap is an establishment (or group of establishments) created or re-purposed with the aim of attracting tourists and their money. Tourist traps typically provide overpriced services, entertainment, food, souvenirs, and other product ...

." The standard guided tour of the village leads ''The Rough Guide'' to doubt its authenticity: "The appeal of the visit is largely to get a taste of the 'real' Cameroon, and the built-in flaw is that the more people come, the more distorted and unreal life in the village becomes." Rhumsiki crab sorceror

The Rhumsiki 'plug' is phallic and both traditionally (barren women making sacrifices at its foot) and in the modern world (selling the hotel as a honeymoon destination) this has been one of the main features of Rhumsiki.

History

Local legend has it that Rhumsiki was settled by indigenous Animist Kirdi peoples who escaped the

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 ...

advances of the

Fulani people The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

s in the 18th century and sought refuge in rugged country and

wilderness Wilderness or wildlands (usually in the plurale tantum, plural) are Earth, Earth's natural environments that have not been significantly modified by human impact on the environment, human activity, or any urbanization, nonurbanized land not u ...

. Since that time, the Kirdi people have ever lived in Rhumsiki and have supported

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, practiced beliefs of

Animism Animism (from meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in ...

and weaved the rock formations of the

in the fabric of their beliefs.

References

{{commons category * Fitzpatrick, Mary (2002). "Cameroon." ''Lonely Planet West Africa'', 5th ed. China: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd. * Gwanfogbe, Mathew, Ambrose Meligui, Jean Moukam, and Jeanette Nguoghia (1983). ''Geography of Cameroon.'' Hong Kong: Macmillan Education Ltd. * Hudgens, Jim, and Richard Trillo (1999). ''West Africa: The Rough Guide''. 3rd ed. London: Rough Guides Ltd. * West, Ben (2004). ''Cameroon: The Bradt Travel Guide''. Guilford, Connecticut: The Globe Pequot Press Inc. * Gardi, René. "Kirdi". Büchergilde Gutemberg 1957. Tourist attractions in Cameroon Populated places in Cameroon Volcanic plugs of Africa