CHAPTER

1

INTRODUCTION

On the 25th of January 2014, the level 400

students of the department of geography in the

University of Buea took a trip to Kribi for fieldwork

studies on the topic “Why Kribi is called a touristic

town in Cameroon. It was about 6; 30am when students

rallied at the university entrance gate to board a

bus for Kribi. At about 7; 30am we left and finally

arrived Kribi at about 12; 30pm. To betterunderstand

the essence of this fieldwork, we have to know the

concept of Tourism.

Tourism is traveling for recreational, leisure or

business purposes. The world Tourism Organization

defines tourists as “people who travel to and stay in

places outside their usual environment for more than

24hrs and not more than 1conservative year for

leisure, business and other purposes not related to

their works. There are various types of tourism such

as Ecotourism, sustainable tourism, leisure tourism

etc.

Tourism started in Cameroon as far back as in the

1980s during what is known as the colonial trends of

tourism, but later became more of an industry by the

1980s. Given the situation and physical geography of

Cameroon, the country can be regarded as “Africa

immune nature” in all its diversity. Kribi is one of

the towns in Cameroon, endowed with natural touristic

destination and so this town should dwell more

tourism and try to develop this sector of the

economy.

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Kribi is a town located at the coastal lowlands

of the southern region of Cameroon. As from 2010,

this town has a population of about 83000

Inhabitants and is characterized with diverse

cultural activities and religion.

Tourism started in Kribi as far back as the early

1980s and this is due to the fact that by then most

people were farmers and also carry out lumbering.

Kribi town is not characterized only with tourism,

there is also industrialization taking place because

of the Chad –Cameroon pipeline project going on here.

Apart from that, there is also the Kribi deep sea

port development project which was established in

2010. There are also various touristic services such

as hotels, bars, sporting complex, cultural evenings

for entertainment etc.

Source: www.tourisminkribi.com

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this trip was to make

students realize the touristic potentials that Kribi

is endowed with, and also how these potentials can be

transformed into a resource. Another purpose of this

study, was to better understand a geographer’s

interest in tourism and to initiate the idea of

contributing to the development of the tourism

industry.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The significance of the study have to do with the

intellectual mind frame work of the students to grow

interest and develop ideas on tourism activities so

explore our touristic potentials and be able to

transform them into resources, so that the tourism

sectors in Cameroon can be transform into a power

house of the economy.

CHAPTER 2

A GEOGRAPHER’S INTEREST IN TOURISM

A geographer’s interest in tourism is to study

the nature of a resource and its impact, to identify

remarkable features that characterize a potential

site to carry out tourism activities. Also, he seeks

to know how these potentials can be transformed into

a resource and better manage it.

Also, a geographer seeks to understand the trends

behind the growth of tourism which is one of the most

important functions for any tourism business. Most

business wants to maintain or increase their market

share, in tourism this means keeping up with the ways

in which people think.

Another reason for a geographer’s interest in tourism

is to understand the natural physical processes that

took place before the appearance of a touristic site,

like in this case the beautiful waterfall of Chute De

La Lobe and the Kribi white sandy beach.

THE FIVE ASSETS OF THE CHUTE DE LA LOBE

There are five assets that make the chute de la

Lobe one of the most attractive touristic sites in

Cameroon. One of these assets is the fact that the

Lobe fall happens to be the only waterfall that empty

itself directly into the ocean in the whole World, so

therefore it has this unique identity that stands out

to be one of the most amazing touristic feature.

Source: fieldwork January 2014

Another asset of the chute de la Lobe is the

beautiful artistic work being advertises there. This

wonderful handmade works of arts are being showcase

and sold to tourist as souvenir. This beautiful

artistic work comprises of painted pictures of

African traditions, most especially the Kribi

culture; also there are handmade carved status of

animals, canoes, African men and women. In addition,

there are also very beautiful and attractive African

beads for necklaces and bracelets for both male and

female. So therefore, it is always good for tourists

to take along a souvenir to remind him/her about the

beautiful scenario in chute de la Lobe.

Another asset is the numerous good hotel services

offered in Kribi. There are many classic hotels such

as hotel Casablanca, hotel Francamotel, and hotel

Residence which happen to be a 2 star hotel and have

42 ocean viewing rooms with air conditioning and

wireless internet. In fact Kribi is characterized

with about 138 standard hotels that houses tourist

with comfortable and relaxing services.

HOTEL KRIBI PLAZA

Source: fieldwork January 2014

One great asset in Kribi is the business

activities carried out in this town. It is very clear

that business in this town comes in relation to

tourism. It is seen that in chute de la Lobe, there

is a bar which serves cool drinks and snacks thou at

a slightly increased price, but it sure goes with the

relaxing view of the ocean. This is so because demand

here is high, the inhabitants are also welcoming to

tourist; this is one of their strategies to promote

their businesses.

One of the asset of the chute de la Lobe is that

it does stand in alone touristic site in Kribi, it

has very attractive neighboring touristic sites such

as the

Campo Ma’na park found 15km from Kribi, across the

chute de la Lobe is the

Grand Batanga Island which happen tobe located in

another country Malabo, there is also the Kribi white

sandy beach which is located at Kribi town with a

wonderful ocean view.

OTHER TOURISTIC SITES AROUND LOBE

Apart from the chute de la Lobe, there are also

some very nice touristic sites in Kribi such as the

Campo Ma’na Park. This park has about 80mammals, 320

species of different birds, 122 reptiles and 250

species of different fishes, this park is mostly

visited by Eco tourists.

There is also the Kribi beach, which happens to

be a white sandy beach, reason being that the process

of sedimentation. This beach is very relaxing and is

free of charge. Apart from this beach, it could be

seen that there is another beach located at Yoyo

which is about 30km from Kribi and 17km from Edea. At

the Kribi beach, it could be seen that there are also

granite and quartzite rocks found in this beach.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KRIBI BEACH AND LIMBE BEACH

There are various distinct differences between

the Limbe beach and the Kribi beach. The Limbe beach

is black and rocky in nature; meanwhile the Kribi

beach is white and sandy. Also, the Kribi beach is as

a result of the volcanic ash which combines with the

sand to give it a black color. With the Kribi beach,

you find the metamorphic and igneous rocks, whereas

the Limbe beach ischaracterized large igneous rocks.

CHAPTER 3

DIFFICULTIES WITH TOURISM IN KRIBI

One of the difficulties of the Kribi beach is the

fact that, taking into records that before 2005 the

ocean banks were far off from the main road. But now,

it is closer to the main road due to high tide waves

and also when there is an increased volume of the

ocean. It is seen form marked lines by the waves that

high tides occur towards the evening periods, this

process is due to the attraction of water by the

moon.

Again, trees at the beach are gradually falling

down because when there are high tides, it erodes the

soil beneath the trees, these trees serves as shades

where people relax under and so if nothing is done,

Kribi beach will lose it attraction.

Another difficulty is the fact that the Kribi

council has done nothing to harness these touristic

potentials. The only well known way that the council

benefits from tourism in Kribi are through taxes

levied on hotels, this is not enough.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

There are various solutions to remedy these

problems such as the council should create

Embankments that will prevent continues eroding of

the banks by the high tides.

As for the trees falling down, these are coconut

trees seen all around the field close to the banks.

Trees to be planted at the beach are Mangrove trees

because it has many roots to enable it protect itself

from erosion. At least the mangrove trees can be

planted at the banks meanwhile the coconut trees

could remain in the field.

Also, since the Kribi beach is free of charge,

then how the council does generates income apart from

tax levy on the hotels. This simply means that the

council is not harnessing its touristic potentials,

there should be the construction of roads, the

council should redecorate the chute de la Lobe and

the Kribi beach and tax foreign tourist before

visiting the chute de la Lobe. This will definitely

in a smaller extend benefit the council.

But to a greater extend, the council could

encourage touristic tours and also do very good

promotions and advertisement about the touristic

sites Kribi is endowed. With all this, Kribi will be

described as “Queen of Tourism in

Cameroon”.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, if we have to go by the definition

of tourism, then we can say that the level 400

geography student in the University of Buea did not

really attain the name TOURISTS on that day but

rather fieldwork researchers. All in all, after the

field studies, we stop for some refreshment and left

Kribi at about

4; 45pm and arrived Buea at about 8; 10pm.

KRIBI A TOWN WITH TOURISTIC POTENTIALS