Conservation Blog

A documentary on the Cross River gorilla art workshop produced by Cameroon Radio & Television (CRTV) has been broadcasted five times on the Cameroon state television channel. We received phone calls from all over the country congratulating us on the project. The same news has been featured by Cameroon newspapers such as The Post. We have placed a short compilation of the documentary on YouTube.

The Western Cameroon Great Apes Research and Conservation started in 2004. Its main goal is to protect and conserve the Cross River gorilla and Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzees across the Lebialem Highlands forest and surrounding areas in western Cameroon through research and development of participatory biodiversity management strategies. The program works to promote long-term in-country capacity to foster community participation in conservation management, while providing immediate conservation action to protect key great apes habitat.

The Cross-Sanaga-Bioko Coastal Forests ecoregion supports one of the highest rates of animal species richness in Africa, especially in terms of forest-restricted mammals, birds and butterflies. The Lebialem Highlands are especially rich in endemic species biodiversity. Over 355 bird species have been recorded, among which 50 species are endemic to the afro-montane highlands and 15 species are globally threatened.

The low to mid-level elevation harbors endangered primates as the Drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus) and the Preuss guenon (Cercopithecus preussi), as well as the critically endangered Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) - the rarest of the gorilla sub-species - and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes vellerosus) - also the most endangered chimpanzee subspecies in Africa, with a population numbering less than 6500.