Boumba Bek National Park

The park was never logged; according to the World Wildlife Fund's scientific advisor in the region, Paul Robinson Ngnegueu, "poaching is the biggest threat to Boumba Bek."[1] This is a result of the late 1980s economic depression in Cameroon.[2] The indigenous people followed the poachers, attracted by the financial opportunities.[2] They would sell their product through "intermediaries" for money and more hunting supplies.[2]

In 1995, the park was named an Essential Protection Zone, its first official status.[2] It was not formally established as a national park, however, until the Cameroonian government decreed the creation of Boumba Bek and Nki National Parks on 17 October 2005.[1] Its establishment is a result of a summit held by seven central African leaders in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in February 2005.[1]

Cameroon and Gabon are currently working on the TRIDOM project, a conservation initiative leading to a land management plan which will oversee access to and use of forests.[3] It will create a tri-national "interzone" bordered by the Minkebe, Boumba-Bek, Nki, and Odzala National Parks and the Dja Wildlife Reserve.[3] This project is part of a conservation movement toward the zoning and designation of new protected areas.[3]

Boumba Bek is located between the Boumba and Bek Rivers in southeast Cameroon, from which it derives its name.[1] The site is accessible only by pirogue and several hunting trails.[1] It is sandwiched between the towns of Yokadouma and Moloundou in the Boumba et Ngoko department in Cameroon's East Province.[4] The park is situated from latitude 2˚09 to 2˚20 N and longitude 15˚35 to 15˚50 E.[4]

Sixteen bais, or forest clearings, have been discovered in Boumba Bek National Park.[4] Of these, four are currently being monitored for large mammalian activities.[4]

The park has a tropical climate with temperature ranging from 23.1 to 25˚C with an average annual temperature of 24˚C. Its relative humidity varies between 60 and 90% while annual rainfall is 1500 mm per year.[2] According to the Cameroon Ministry of Agriculture, Moloundou has a rainy season from September to November, a dry season from November to March, a rainy season from March to June, and a dry season from July to August.[2]

The area around the park, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund, has a population of 33,169 people, mostly comprising ethnic Bantus[4] and, despite being named a minority in Cameroon's constitution of 18 January 1996, Baka Pygmies.[2] These include the Kounabembe, Bangando, Bakwele, Mbomam, Essel, Mbimo, and Mpong-Mpong tribes.[4] Non-indigenous employees of logging companies and Muslim merchants from northern Cameroon make up a sizeable amount of the total population.[4]