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Presidential palace - courtesy dorineruter - CC-BY

Yaounde is the capital of Cameroon and the country’s second largest city.

Yaounde was founded in 1888 by German traders.

Yaounde is a city of open-air street markets and international embassies. The city is a center of Cameroon’s culture, with the National Museum, the AFHEMI Museum, and the Benedictine Museum of Mont-Febe, all three of which seek to preserve the country’s traditional arts and crafts. The National Museum is one of the main attractions of the city with a wide array of Camerounese art including paintings, archaeological sculptures and traditional artifacts. Shopping in Yaounde is a good way to pass the time. The city offers travelers various markets and shopping centers. One of the best places for shopping is the indoor market at Mokolo. The markets have a typical African flavor. You can go on a shopping spree and buy local handicrafts like jugs, bottles and cups, drinking horns, delicate pottery, highly decorated pots, dishes and trays. The high-quality clay found in the Western Highlands is used for making these excellent ceramics. While there are a handful of decent restaurants, the safest and best places to eat are at the few large hotels.

This is a dangerous city. There have been attacks in Yaounde where gangs of armed gunmen have held up entire restaurants or hotels where foreigners are known to be eating or staying. This happens because foreigners are perceived to be wealthy. Use extreme caution.

Yaounde is served by Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport.  Public transportation is bus and taxi. (both of these are unsafe for visitors – have somebody you know meet you at the airport)

Yaounde population is 1,430,000 (2005).

+237 is the international calling code for Cameroon
23 is the area code for Yaounde

For more information about Yaounde