Dschang, Cameroon.

Dschang, 2019-09-01. Le Musée des Civilisations, a must to understand Cameroon's history.

The Dschang Museum of Civilizations has the reputation of being the most interesting museum in Cameroon, by far. We are not going to be disappointed, this is indeed a museum not to be missed. The museum was created with the patronage of the city of Nantes (France) and opened in 2010. Nantes and Dschang have been partners since 2007. 

 

Gandalf in the early morning.

The museum was built on the edge of a small artificial lake in a very pleasant environment. Its architecture, although modern, is inspired by the architecture of the Bamilekes, the main ethnic group of the region, with its two massive square buildings linked together by the main building and their typical pyramidal roofs.

 

Entrance costs 3,000 CFA (€ 4.71) per person for foreigners to whom we must add an additional 3,000 CFA for the optional guide that we will not regret having taken.
As there is a blackout we have to wait for the generator to start. For this a specialist has to be to called in because the museum staff cannot get it started.
So we'll start with the upstairs rooms that are much brighter and don't need electricity. We quickly pass the first room dedicated to the "chefferies" (chiefdoms) because we can come back alone later to read the descriptions of the most important. We will be more interested in that of Bandjoun that we intend to visit tomorrow.
The following rooms are dedicated to the Bamilekes and other ethnic groups from the mountain region in the west of the country, where we are right now. Our guide is in his element and explains to us in great detail their culture, aided in this by the many objects and paintings on display: animist cults mainly focused on the veneration of ancestors - intermediaries between the living and the gods -, totems, the social hierarchies, the kings, the notables, the secret societies, their origins and their history, the innumerable symbols omnipresent in their culture and their daily life ...
She will also guide us, with a bit less details, in the world of other major cultural regions of Cameroon: the far north of Sudan-Sahel, the coast and the Sawa and the Forest in the center (Yaoundé), to the east, towards the Central African Republic and the south towards Gabon with the Bulus and the Pygmies among others.
On the ground floor, she explain the history of Cameroon to us, from prehistoric times (three million years old traces of human presence have been found there!) to independent Cameroon, including the slaves trade, of course, and the three colonizations, first by Germany from 1886 to 1916, then French and English.
We spend over two and a half hours in the museum and meet Gandalf in his parking lot at 12:30 p.m.