In normal times, the Ring Road is one of Cameroon's great nature journeys: a loop of more than 350 kilometres through the North-West highlands that links mountains, green plateaus, crater lakes, waterfalls and traditional kingdoms. Starting from Bamenda, the circuit crosses some of the country's most spectacular landscapes and a string of 'fondoms' (kingdoms) with their palaces, masks and ceremonies.
But today the Ring Road cannot be travelled safely. It runs entirely through the North-West Region, one of Cameroon's two anglophone regions, which have been caught up since 2016 in a serious armed separatist conflict. The rural areas the loop crosses are among the most dangerous, with clashes, kidnappings and ambushes. All major governments advise against any travel to the region. This guide describes the Ring Road for its great beauty and cultural value, but with a clear warning: for now, it is a route you can only admire on the map.
On these pages we explain what the Ring Road is and what it offers: its mountain and grassfields scenery, its crater lakes (including the tragically famous Lake Nyos), its waterfalls, its traditional kingdoms and its cool highland climate, along with the background of the Anglophone crisis that makes it impassable today. It is a way to get to know one of Cameroon's great routes and to understand why, for the time being, it has to wait for better times — always checking official travel advice before making any plans.
The Ring Road was laid out and improved in the 20th century to connect the towns of the North-West highlands, joining the region's various divisions and kingdoms in a single loop. It runs through a volcanic landscape of mountains and crater lakes, among them Lake Nyos, sadly famous for the 1986 gas disaster that killed more than 1.700 people. In normal times it was one of the country's great tourist circuits; since 2016 the Anglophone conflict has made it impassable. The full story — from the geology to the current crisis — is told on our history page.
Read the full history ↓The fondoms of the highlands: the kingdom of Bafut immortalised by Gerald Durrell, the city of Bamenda, cradle of the opposition, and the scenic Ring Road, all now marked by the anglophone crisis.
Read the history of The anglophone Northwest highlands →No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
The Ring Road runs through one of Cameroon's most remarkable landscapes: the volcanic highlands of the North-West, part of the great 'Cameroon line', a chain of volcanoes and uplands that cuts diagonally across the country from the Gulf of Guinea into the interior. This volcanic origin explains the ring's spectacular setting: high mountains such as Mount Oku (around 3,000 metres, the second-highest peak in West Africa), plateaus of fertile soil, and a constellation of crater lakes set into old volcanic vents.
Among those lakes is the sadly famous Lake Nyos, whose depths build up carbon dioxide of volcanic origin. In August 1986, a sudden release of that gas (a 'limnic eruption') formed a deadly cloud that rolled down the valleys and suffocated more than 1,700 people and thousands of cattle in nearby villages. It was one of the strangest and deadliest natural disasters of the 20th century. Degassing systems have since been installed to prevent it from happening again.
This volcanic terrain, with its cool highland climate, fertile soils and plentiful water, doesn't just give the Ring Road its scenery. It also explains why the North-West highlands have been, for centuries, one of the most densely populated and prosperous regions of Cameroon, and the home of dozens of traditional kingdoms.
Long before any road existed, the North-West highlands were dotted with a dense network of traditional grassfields kingdoms ('fondoms'): Nso, Kom, Bafut, Bali, Bum and many others. Like their Bamileke neighbours in the West, these peoples had reached the mountains in waves of migration over several centuries and organised themselves into small hierarchical states, each ruled by a sacred 'fon' (king), with their own secret societies, masks and rituals.
Some of these kingdoms became very powerful and influential. The Nso 'fondom', with its capital at Kumbo, is one of the largest and most important in the North-West. The Kingdom of Kom, with its Royal Palace of Laikom, is famous for the 'afo-a-kom', a royal statue that was stolen and taken out of the country in the 1960s. Its recovery in the 1970s became a national cause and a symbol of African cultural dignity. Every kingdom along the ring has its own history, regalia and ceremonies.
This density of kingdoms, with their palaces, masks and living traditions, is the Ring Road's great cultural treasure. By linking the region's main towns and royal courts, the circuit offered, in normal times, an exceptional journey through this mosaic of small traditional states, comparable to Bamileke country but with the North-West's own English-speaking identity.
The Ring Road as it is known today is a product of the 20th century. First under British administration and later under Cameroonian rule, a network of roads was gradually laid out and improved to connect the towns and districts of the North-West highlands, forming a ring of more than 350 kilometres centred on Bamenda, the regional capital. The road was designated National Road 11 (RN11) and became the backbone of the region's communications.
For decades, upgrading the ring was a recurring political promise and a real need for the development of a region that was agriculturally prosperous but hard to get around. Several sections were paved, while others, especially the mountain stretches such as Wum to Nkambe, remained dirt tracks in variable condition, passable only by 4x4 and often impassable during the long rainy season.
Despite these difficulties, the Ring Road became one of Cameroon's great tourist routes: a trip of several days combining spectacular nature (mountains, crater lakes, waterfalls, forests) with an extraordinary cultural richness, including visits to the traditional kingdoms of the North-West. It was one of the gems of Cameroonian tourism, and still far from crowded.
Everything changed from 2016 onwards. Decades of built-up resentment in Cameroon's English-speaking regions, the North-West and the South-West, over perceived political, economic and cultural marginalisation by the French-speaking majority erupted that year in protests by lawyers, teachers and students. The harsh response of the security forces radicalised the conflict, and in 2017 separatist factions declared independence for a state they called 'Ambazonia', sparking a war between armed separatist groups and the army.
The North-West, which the Ring Road crosses from end to end, became one of the main theatres of violence. The rural areas of the ring, far from the urban centres, proved especially dangerous: clashes, roadside ambushes, kidnappings for ransom, explosive devices and 'ghost town' days that periodically bring life in the region to a standstill. Travelling the circuit, which runs precisely through those rural areas, became unthinkable.
The crisis has killed thousands of people and displaced hundreds of thousands. It has also hit the region's heritage: the Royal Palace of Bafut, on the ring, was attacked and looted in 2019. The kingdoms, mountains and lakes of the Ring Road fell out of travellers' reach, and with them one of the country's great tourist routes.
Today the Ring Road is still, on the map, one of Cameroon's great potential journeys, but the conflict has made it impassable. All major governments advise against any travel to the North-West and South-West regions, and the rural areas of the ring are among the most dangerous in the whole country. It is not a destination you can visit while the crisis lasts.
This guide describes the Ring Road for its extraordinary natural beauty and cultural richness, and in the hope that one day peace will make it possible to travel its mountains, crater lakes and kingdoms again. The potential is huge: few places in Africa pack so much volcanic scenery and such a density of living traditional kingdoms into a single circuit.
In the meantime, caution comes first. Keep a close eye on official travel advice, which is updated regularly, and don't plan any trip around the ring while the destination is still advised against. Like all of English-speaking Cameroon, the Ring Road is waiting for better times to reopen to travellers. Always check the official advice before making any plans.
