Kumba

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For the roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa, see Kumba (roller coaster). For the fish genus, see Kumba (genus).

Kumba is a city in western Cameroon. It has a population of 125,600 (2001 estimate).

The city is a centre of trade of cacao trees and oil palms. The city has a timber industry. Kumba is a local road junction.

It is the largest city in the southwest province of Cameroon, though it is not the provincial capital (which is in Buea, the former German colonial capital). As such, most major roads to the provincial interior radiate from Kumba, running to the Nigerian border at Mamfe, Korup National Park at Mundemba, and Mt Koupe to the east.

The premier local attraction is Barombi Mbo, a large crater lake located two kilometers northwest of Kumba's city center.

Local politics have been divided between a government-appointed mayor (called the Government Delegate) and a local chief, Mukete. There has been something of a power struggle between the two in recent years, which has occasionally spilled over into local violence.

Most people speak some French, some English or pidgin, and at least one of variety of indigenous languages including Douala or Bakossi.

The traditional inhabitants of Kumba are the bafaws, ethnic group that speak a language close to duala and bakossi, and certainly bantoid. Due to its cosmopolitan nature, the bafaws now form just a percentage of the general population of the city, and have in most part lost many aspects of their culture, expcept for their language, which is spoken mostly by the old and some of the new generation, really interested in learning the language.

kumba is the main commercial town of anglophone Cameroon.

Kumba is the birthplace of French international rugby great Serge Betsen.