Maga is a small city located east of Maroua, in the extreme north of Cameroon few kilometres from the Chad border, south of D’jamena.

I found that place one of the highlight of my trip in the Northern Cameroon with a mix of many different cultures and of great landscapes. Here, an artificial lake was created in 1979 to give birth to the SEMERY project, an attempt to develop the rice culture so that local people can improve their standard of living.

Maga itself is a crossroad for Mousgoum and Choa people.

Mousgoum people are pride farmers and fishermen who have a large influence over the area together with the Kotoko people. 4 kilometers from here, one can discover beautiful clay “Sare” which used to be the traditional dome-shaped houses for a family.

Choa people who are arab speaking nomads who periodically enter the Cameroon territory with their animals during the dry season so they can survive. Women form these tribes seem to have extremely beautiful traditional red dresses and to wear a profusion of earrings, collars, etc…

I only spent one day sailing along the shore but it gave me a strong motivation to come back for several days and meet these different people. It’s not totally clear if this would be safe enough to stay overnight but I’ll try to collect as much information as possible before doing so.

Another curiosity is to meet the hippos who found a great ecosystem to proper. It’s really spectacular to observe between 30 and 40 hippos at sunset. The show is really impressive especially because they may be aggressive if we come to close with boats.

Here is one of the latest shot I made during that great afternoon when leaving the area with hippos. This is a local Mousgoum fisherman who came back to Maga with his fishing nets.