Batibo is a name that refers to a town and a subdivision in Cameroon, Africa. It is located along the

Trans-African Highway The Trans-African Highway network comprises transcontinental road projects in Africa being developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Development Bank (ADB), and the African Union in conjunction with re ...

, 27 miles west of

Bamenda Bamenda, also known as Abakwa and Mankon Town, is a city in northwestern Cameroon and capital of the Northwest Region, Cameroon, Northwest Region. The city has a population of about 2 million people and is located north-west of the Cameroonian ca ...

and about 100 miles east of Nigeria. Batibo is the economic, social, political and cultural heartbeat of

the Moghamo speaking people ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...

as well as the Greater Widikum tribe. Batibo, formerly referred to as Aghwi, is home to a people including farmers, traders, and craftsmen. Batibo is the capital of Batibo Sub Division or Batibo Council and is located 40 kilometers southwest of Bamenda in the northwest region of Cameroon, along the Bamenda - Mamfe road. It is located between latitudes 575 and 590 north of the equator, longitudes 975 east of the Greenwich meridian, and at the transition between the equatorial forest in the south and the

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

to the north. Batibo, Waterfall (3)

Villages

Batibo comprises the following villages: *

Ambo Ambo may refer to: Places * Ambo, Kiribati * Ambo Province, Huanuco Region, Peru ** Ambo District ** Ambo, Peru, capital of Ambo District * Ambo Town, a town in Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia ** Ambo, Ethiopia, a capital of West Shewa Zone ...

* Angie *

Anong Southern Anung (Lisu: Fuche Naw; Mandarin: 阿侬语 Anong), is a Sino-Tibetan languages, Sino-Tibetan language spoken by the Nung people in Fugong County, China and Kachin State, Myanmar. The Anong language is closely related to the Derung la ...

* Ashong *Batibo *

Bessi The Bessi (; grc, Βῆσσοι, or , ) were a Thracian tribe that inhabited the upper valley of the Hebros and the lands between the Haemus and Rhodope mountain ranges in historical Thrace. Geography The exact geographic location of the Bes ...

* Bessom * Efah * Enwen * Enyoh * Ewai * Guzang * Kugwe * Kulabei * Kuruku * Mbengog * Mbunjei * Numben * Nyengié * Nygen Muwa * Oshum * Tiben

Climate

Batibo experiences two seasons, the

rainy Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water fo ...

and the dry seasons and the average number of rainy days is 165 within a

calendar year Generally speaking, a calendar year begins on the New Year's Day of the given calendar system and ends on the day before the following New Year's Day, and thus consists of a whole number of days. A year can also be measured by starting on any o ...

, with annual rainfall recorded at approximately 2500 mm. Market in Guzang (1)

Statistics

* The time zone ID for Batibo is Africa/Douala. * The population is estimated at twenty-thousand. Batibo Palace

Culture

Batibo culture portrays itself in rhythmic music, traditional outfits, artwork, and folklore and traditional rites. Batibo is sandwiched between the savannah and the tropical forests. The transitional climatic and vegetation zones have endowed the people with subsistent and cash crops. Crops include yams, beans, corn, peanuts, cassava, potatoes, tomatoes, bananas and plantains. Also cultivated in Batibo are perennial trees that produce palm nuts, plums, cashew nuts, kolanuts, coffee and cocoa. Fruits and vegetables grown include pineapples, passion fruit,

guava Guava () is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava ''Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family ( Myrtaceae), native to Mexico, Central America, the ...

, sugar cane, monkey kola, berries, okra, Bitter leaf, leeks, oranges, avocados, water melon and pawpaw.

Wine

Batibo and its catchment area of Moghamo is the palm wine capital of the world. The sweet white wine is tapped from the

raffia Raffia palms (''Raphia'') are a genus of about twenty species of palms native to tropical regions of Africa, and especially Madagascar, with one species (''R. taedigera'') also occurring in Central and South America. ''R. taedigera'' is the sour ...

palm tree. The white wine locally referred to as Fitchuk is a staple at all occasions including birth celebrations, engagements (knock-door), weddings, funerals and others. The wine is exported to all the other nine regions of Cameroon with areas as far as Yaounde and Douala. Fitchuk hardens with age and has actually been frozen and shipped to Europe and the USA where it is used to grace birth and marriage celebrations.

Food

Nang-cheuppi is a pourish made of coco-yams, and vegetables. Huckle Berry vegetable (Njama Njama) and cocoyams is a frequent meal. The over twelve types of yams are cooked with meat, fish, chicken, vegetables and spices. Other foods consumed by the Batibo people include: rice, fufu, ndole, eru, achu, miyondo, koki, garri.One of the special meals eaten by the batibo people is a type of cocoyam called "Nang Kon" with a soup known as "abanwa" (leaves of a certain tree, these leave regulate the blood pressure of most people having high blood pressure) with tadpoles inside the soup. The inhabitants of Batibo engage in animal husbandry. Animals raised in Batibo and Moghamo include goats, sheep, cows,

rabbit Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...

s and pigs. Pigs are commonly eaten on social events. In addition to those animals, chickens are also raised both in poultries and as free range.

Music

It is an inhabitant of Batibo who originated the quote "Music is the fruit of life's creative and rhythmic juices". A visit to any cultural occasion in Batibo will reveal the rhythmic culture. The Batibo inhabitants and their catchment area of Moghamo have a culture that is full of music, folklore, and

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

. The traditional

s include the Tiwara, Nchibi, Mareway, Ambolo, Njang, and Ngo,Fongwa not forgetting the Royal dance and the Nere.The Nere dance is an annual festival dance celebrated during the Xmas vacation. This annual festival dance brings most of the Batibo people both in the country and abroad back home to celebrate the festival.

References

{{Communes of Northwest Region, Cameroon Communes of Northwest Region (Cameroon)