Rhumsiki
Rhumsiki | |
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Far North Province |
Rhumsiki, also spelt Rumsiki and Roumsiki, is a village in the
Rhumsiki is located in the
The attraction is the surrounding scenery. Gwanfogbe, et al., describe it as "remarkable",
Rhumsiki has adapted to the flow of tourists. Children in the village act as tour guides, showing visitors several pre-arranged attractions. Among these are craftspeople, such as blacksmiths, potters, spinners, and weavers; native dancers; and the féticheur, a fortune-teller who predicts the future based on a crab's manipulation of pieces of wood.[7] Rhumsiki is now a standard item on most tourist itineraries, a fact of which the travel literature disapproves. Rough Guides describes Rhumsiki as "overrun" and "tainted by organized tourism",[8] and Lonely Planet calls it "something of a tourist trap."[5] The standard guided tour of the village leads The Rough Guide to doubt its authenticity: "The appeal of the visit is largely to get a taste of the 'real' Cameroon, and the built-in flaw is that the more people come, the more distorted and unreal life in the village becomes."[2]
The Rhumsiki 'plug' is very obviously phallic and both traditionally (barren women making sacrifices at its foot) and in the modern world (selling the hotel as a honeymoon destination) this has been one of the main features of Rhumsiki.
History
Local legend has it that Rhumsiki was settled by indigenous Animist
Since that time, the Kirdi people have ever lived in Rhumsiki and have supported agriculture, practiced beliefs of Animism and weaved the rock formations of the Mandara Mountains in the fabric of their beliefs.
References
- Fitzpatrick, Mary (2002). "Cameroon." Lonely Planet West Africa, 5th ed. China: Lonely Planet Publications Pty Ltd.
- Gwanfogbe, Mathew, Ambrose Meligui, Jean Moukam, and Jeanette Nguoghia (1983). Geography of Cameroon. Hong Kong: Macmillan Education Ltd.
- Hudgens, Jim, and Richard Trillo (1999). West Africa: The Rough Guide. 3rd ed. London: Rough Guides Ltd.
- West, Ben (2004). Cameroon: The Bradt Travel Guide. Guilford, Connecticut: The Globe Pequot Press Inc.
- Gardi, René. "Kirdi". Büchergilde Gutemberg 1957.