Batibo is a name that refers to a town and a subdivision in

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 ...

, Africa. It is located along the Trans-African Highway, 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. The city has a population of about 2 million people and is located north-west of the Cameroonian capital, Yaoundé. Bamenda is ...

and about 100 miles east of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. Batibo is the economic, social, political and cultural heartbeat of the Moghamo speaking people 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 Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical fores ...

in the south and the savannah to the north. Batibo, Waterfall (3)

Villages

Batibo comprises the following villages: * Ambo * Angie * Anong * Ashong *Batibo * Bessi * Bessom * Efah * Enwen * Enyoh * Ewai * Guzang * Kugwe * Kulabei * Kuruku * Mbengog * Mbunjei * Numben * Nyengié * Nygen Muwa * Oshum * Tiben

Climate

Batibo experiences two seasons, the rainy and the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

s and the average number of rainy days is 165 within a calendar year, with annual

rainfall 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 f ...

recorded at approximately 2500 mm. Market in Guzang (1)

Statistics

* The

time zone A time zone is an area which observes a uniform standard time for legal, commercial and social purposes. Time zones tend to follow the boundaries between countries and their subdivisions instead of strictly following longitude, because it ...

ID for Batibo is

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

/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 ''Manihot esculenta'', commonly called cassava (), manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated ...

, potatoes, tomatoes,

bananas A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguis ...

and

plantain Plantain may refer to: Plants and fruits * Cooking banana, banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking ** True plantains, a group of cultivars of the genus ''Musa'' * ''Plantaginaceae'', a family of flowerin ...

s. 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 ''Passiflora edulis,'' commonly known as passion fruit, is a vine species of passion flower native to southern Brazil through Paraguay and northern Argentina. It is cultivated commercially in tropical and subtropical areas for its sweet, seedy ...

, guava,

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, perennial grass (in the genus '' Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalk ...

, monkey kola, berries,

okra Okra or Okro (, ), ''Abelmoschus esculentus'', known in many English-speaking countries as ladies' fingers or ochro, is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It has edible green seed pods. The geographical origin of okra is disputed, with su ...

, Bitter leaf, leeks, oranges,

avocado The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...

water melon Watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a flowering plant species of the Cucurbitaceae family and the name of its edible fruit. A scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, it is a highly cultivated fruit worldwide, with more than 1,000 vari ...

and pawpaw.

Wine

Batibo and its catchment area of Moghamo is the

palm wine Palm wine, known by several local names, is an alcoholic beverage created from the sap of various species of palm tree such as the palmyra, date palms, and coconut palms. It is known by various names in different regions and is common in va ...

capital of the world. The sweet white wine is tapped from the raffia 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 Douala is the largest city in Cameroon and its economic capital. It is also the capital of Cameroon's Littoral Region. Home to Central Africa's largest port and its major international airport, Douala International Airport (DLA), it is the com ...

. 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 Fufu (or fufuo, foofoo, foufou ) is a dough-like food found in West African cuisine. In addition to Ghana, it is also found in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Benin, Togo, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, t ...

, 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

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

sheep Sheep or domestic sheep (''Ovis aries'') are domesticated, ruminant mammals typically kept as livestock. Although the term ''sheep'' can apply to other species in the genus '' Ovis'', in everyday usage it almost always refers to domesticated ...

cow Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ma ...

s, rabbits and

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

s. Pigs are commonly eaten on social events. In addition to those animals,

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...

s 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 Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, and dance. The traditional dances 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)