Rhumsiki is one of the most striking landscapes in Cameroon and in all of Central Africa: a village perched in the Mandara Mountains, surrounded by spires and pitons of volcanic rock rising sheer above the plateau, a setting so often described as 'lunar'. In Kapsiki country, among terraced fields and farming villages, Rhumsiki was, in normal times, the jewel of tourism in the north and one of the country's best-known postcard views, also famous for its enigmatic 'crab sorcerer'.
But today Rhumsiki and the Mandara Mountains cannot be visited safely. They are in the Far North Region, next to the border with Nigeria (Rhumsiki is only 3 km from it), in one of the areas hit hardest by the insurgency of the terrorist group Boko Haram. Tourism collapsed around 2013-2014. All the major governments advise against any travel to the region. This guide describes Rhumsiki and the Mandara Mountains for their extraordinary scenic and cultural value, but with a clear warning: for now, this is not a destination you can go to.
In these pages we explain what Rhumsiki and the Mandara Mountains are and what they stand for: their volcanic geology and peaks, Kapsiki culture and its terraced villages, the famous crab sorcerer, their history as the north's star tourist destination, and the insecurity that makes them inaccessible today. It is a way to get to know one of Cameroon's great landscapes and to understand why, for the moment, it has to be admired from a distance, always checking the official advice before making any plans.
The Mandara Mountains are an ancient volcanic range along the border between Cameroon and Nigeria, settled for centuries by farming peoples, such as the Kapsiki of Rhumsiki, who took refuge in the heights and developed terrace farming and a culture of their own, long resisting the Islamisation of the plains. In the 20th century Rhumsiki, with its landscape of volcanic pitons and its crab sorcerer, became the star tourist destination of northern Cameroon. The Boko Haram insurgency, from 2013-2014 onwards, plunged it into insecurity. The full story is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓Sahelian Cameroon: the legacy of Kanem-Bornu and the Fulani sultanates, the elephant savannah of Waza and the lunar peaks of Rhumsiki, now hit by Boko Haram insecurity.
Read the history of The Far North: savannah and mountains →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The Mandara Mountains are an ancient range of volcanic origin that stretches for some 200 kilometres along the border between Cameroon's Far North and north-eastern Nigeria. They belong to the geological complex of the 'Cameroon line', a great chain of uplands and volcanoes that cuts diagonally across the country from the Gulf of Guinea into the interior. Unlike young volcanoes such as Mount Cameroon, the Mandara are a very old and deeply eroded massif.
Millions of years of erosion carved the region's extraordinary landscape, and Rhumsiki's in particular. As the softer parts of the terrain wore away, they exposed the volcanic 'plugs' or 'necks': the old conduits of hard rock through which magma once rose, now turned into needles and vertical towers standing alone above the plateau. The most famous is 'Kapsiki Peak', the peak of Rhumsiki.
This terrain of sharp peaks above a plateau more than a thousand metres high, with a cooler climate than the surrounding Sahelian plain, gives the Mandara their unique character. The landscape has been compared to the surface of the Moon, and it is one of the great natural spectacles of Central Africa.
The Mandara Mountains are not just a landscape. For centuries they have been home to a number of farming peoples who have turned these mountains into a remarkably rich cultural world. Among them are the Kapsiki (known as Higi on the Nigerian side of the border), whose territory includes Rhumsiki, and the Mafa, one of the largest groups. These peoples have worked the slopes by building farming terraces held up by stone walls, where they grow millet, sorghum and other crops suited to the mountains.
One key historical fact defines these peoples: for centuries they took refuge in the Mandara highlands to escape pressure from the Islamic kingdoms and emirates that ruled the Sahelian plains, especially after the Fulani jihad of the 19th century. The mountains served as a natural fortress, and there they largely kept their traditional beliefs, their languages and their social organisation, resisting the Islamisation that was spreading across the plains.
That resistance explains why the Mandara cultures are so vibrant: iron forging (blacksmiths hold a special and often ritual status), pottery, weaving, dances, funeral rites and divination practices, including the most famous of all, the 'crab sorcerer' of Rhumsiki. The Mandara Mountains are one of the great strongholds of traditional culture in Central Africa.
Rhumsiki is a Kapsiki village of fewer than five thousand people just three kilometres from the Nigerian border. Its spectacular setting made it the emblem of tourism in northern Cameroon during the 20th century. Ringed by volcanic plugs that stand out against the sky, especially beautiful at sunrise and sunset, the village offered one of the most striking views in the country.
As early as the 1920s, the French writer and Nobel laureate André Gide was dazzled by the region's landscape on his journey through equatorial Africa, and he helped make it known; Rhumsiki is said to be one of the most beautiful places in the world. Over the 20th century the village became an established tourist destination: a 'campement' was built overlooking the plugs, and travellers came to take in the landscape, consult the crab sorcerer and walk through the surrounding villages and terraces.
This is how Rhumsiki became part of the great tourist circuit of northern Cameroon, along with Waza National Park and the city of Maroua. For many trips it was the high point. The mix of a unique volcanic landscape, a living traditional culture and the chance to trek in the Mandara made it one of the most highly rated experiences in all of Central Africa, and one that was still free of crowds.
In their heyday, the Mandara Mountains offered one of the best cultural treks in Africa. From Rhumsiki or other villages, travellers walked from village to village along mountain paths with local guides, passing volcanic plugs, terraced fields and villages of stone and mud houses. The cooler climate at altitude made walking easier, and the treks allowed direct, respectful contact with the Kapsiki, Mafa and other communities.
These routes could last from one day to several, with nights spent in the villages. They were not just about the scenery but above all about people: you discovered the lives of mountain farmers, their terrace farming techniques, their crafts (especially iron forging, which carries deep ritual meaning), their granaries, their dances and their beliefs. It was high-quality cultural tourism built on meeting the communities.
The 'crab sorcerer' of Rhumsiki was one of the symbols of this cultural wealth. Divination by reading the movements of a crab among ritual objects is still practised, and it embodied the vitality of Mandara traditions. All of this made the region an exceptional destination, a corner of Africa where landscape and culture came together in a memorable way.
From 2013–2014, the Boko Haram insurgency, led by the jihadist group that emerged in north-eastern Nigeria, spread to the border area of Cameroon's Far North, exactly where the Mandara Mountains and Rhumsiki lie. Being close to the Nigerian border had once added to the destination's charm, but it became a serious risk factor: the region saw armed attacks, raids, kidnappings (foreigners among the victims) and bombings.
Tourism collapsed abruptly. Rhumsiki depended on visitors who could no longer get there safely, and its tourism dried up. Treks in the Mandara stopped, and the whole Far North region fell under the shadow of insecurity, with military checkpoints and a severe humanitarian crisis that displaced hundreds of thousands of people. Practically overnight, the star tourist destination of northern Cameroon was out of travellers' reach.
Today, although the security forces of Cameroon and its neighbours are fighting the insurgency, the threat remains. Boko Haram and its breakaway faction ISWAP are still active in the Lake Chad basin and along the border, and all major governments advise against any travel to the Far North. This guide covers Rhumsiki and the Mandara Mountains for their extraordinary scenic and cultural value, in the hope that peace will one day make it possible to walk through their villages again and watch the plugs at sunset. For now, caution comes first: follow official travel advice and do not plan any trip to the region while the threat lasts. Always check official travel advice before making any plans.
