Bafut, Cameroon

Bafut is a town and commune in Cameroon in the Northwest Province, to the North of the city of Bamenda. It is the headquarters of the Bafut Subdivision. It is famous for

• Being the venue of the Annual Dance of the Fon (local chieftain) or the Abin e Mfor.
• The location of the palace of the Fon of Bafut, the residential dwelling of the Fon and his wives and counsel which now houses a museum. (see Fon of Bafut for a section on the Palace of the Fon)
• The nearby location of the botanical garden of Savanna Botanic Gardens, which noted naturalist Gerald Durrell helped plan, is located near the town.
• The presence of the Bafut market, which is a very vibrant one in the area, occurring every eight days, selling fruits, spices, vegetables, meat and animals.

The town of Bafut is probably best remembered as the place where the famous naturalist Gerald Durrell came on two animal-collecting expeditions in 1949 and 1957. Durrell wrote two accounts - The Bafut Beagles and A Zoo in My Luggage - on his travels in Bafut, and created a mini-TV series, To Bafut with Beagles.

References

• R. K. Engard; Myth and political economy in Bafut (Cameroon)- the structural history of an African kingdom; Paideuma, Vol. 34, pp. 49 - 89; 1988
• R. K. Engard; Dance and power in Bafut (Cameroon), Creativity of power: Cosmology and action in African societies, ed. W. Arens and Ivan Karp, Smithsonian Institution Press; 1989