Mofu is a designation for various ethnic groups and languages they speak in northern

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 ...

, near the border with

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 Mofu groups live 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 ...

of Cameroon's

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 ...

. Some of these groups accept the name "Mofu", for example the Mofu-Duvangar, Mofu-Durum, Mofu-Wazang, Mofu-Meri, and the Mofu-Gudur. Others do not use the appellation "Mofu". They use just Zulgo, Gemjek, Mbuko, or Moloko. They use those names to refer to themselves and their languages. Most of the groups with the Mofu prefix traditionally refer to themselves as "People of the Mountains" or their language as "Language of the Mountains". The Mofu languages are separate languages of the Biu–Mandara branch of the Chadic language family. The Mofu-Wazan were featured in the 2007 documentary ''Master of the Killer Ants'', a

Nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

program episode."Master of the Killer Ants"
PBS, ''Nova'', November 2007

References

External links

Ethnologue entry for Mofu-Gudur language
Ethnic groups in Cameroon Languages of Cameroon {{Cameroon-ethno-group-stub