Cameroon

The nickname is accurate: rainforest in the south, savannah in the centre, semi-desert in the far north, an active volcano on the coast, and two official languages spoken across 250 others. Cameroon is what happens when a continent gets folded into a country's borders. Douala trades; Yaounde governs; the rest of the country gets on with being extraordinarily various, largely undocumented, and genuinely worth the effort of finding out.

Our guide is being written from the ground up, with the time this place deserves.

We are still gathering the notes that make a guide worth keeping: Douala's port markets, highland guesthouses, rainforest camps and the ndole recipes that every family makes differently.