Boumba River is a river in the
South Cameroon Plateau
The South Cameroon Plateau or Southern Cameroon Plateau (french: Plateau Sud-Camerounais) is the dominant geographical feature of Cameroon. The plateau lies south of the Adamawa Plateau and southeast of the Cameroon Range. It slopes south and west ...
of southeast
Cameroon
Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...
.
Geography
The river rises in the
Abong-Mbang region. The Boumba is almost 530 km long, and has a catchment of 27.400 km²
[PDF about the hydrology of Cameroon (French)](_blank)
Hydrometrie
The flow of the river was measured at Biwala in m³/s
Ecology
The river is a
tributary
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
of the
Dja River
The Dja River (also known as the Ngoko River) is a stream in west-central Africa. It forms part of Cameroon–Republic of Congo border and has a course of roughly .
Rising southeast of the southeastern Cameroon town of Abong-Mbang, the Dja Faun ...
and is adjacent to the
Boumba Bek National Park
Boumba Bek National Park is a national park in extreme southeastern Cameroon, located in its East Province.
History
The park was never logged; according to the World Wildlife Fund's scientific advisor in the region, Paul Robinson Ngnegueu, "poac ...
, which is located between the Boumba and the
Bek River. The forested area around the river is a diverse ecosystem. Logging is an industry in the area. The remote region is home to the
Baka. Communities in the area engage in subsistence farming, hunting, fishing and gathering. The area is also used illegal commercial
bushmeat hunters and traders and
trophy hunters. Parrots and
ivory
Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...
are also smuggled through the area.
Trivia
* The area is believed to be a possible origin of the
HIV
The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
virus.
Out of Africa: The Origins of HIV
/ref>
* The legendary Mokèlé-mbèmbé was reportedly sighted on the river in 2000.
References
{{coord, 2.0354, N, 15.1937, E, source:wikidata, display=title
Rivers of Cameroon