Giving ecotourism real value means maintaining those practices, works of art and other paraphernalia that make a specific community distinct from others and cause curiosity, engendering the desire to visit or to discover. Among the cultural traits that make a people distinct are such issues as dress, cuisine, music, dance, language and architecture, among many others. Take architecture for example. In our country, the absence of a unique or even diverse architectural style which depicts Cameroon’s cultural diversity best illustrates the laxity with which matters relating to this important aspect of the nation’s cultural heritage have been handled so far.

It takes just a few days of stay in many of the country’s regions to observe the scandalous replacement of the once beautiful and rare habitations by the so-called modern homes promoted, for the most part, by the élite of the various areas. It is true that the first formal training for our architects was done in the West. But the creation of schools in Africa ought to reverse the trend and portray African architecture as being sufficiently attractive for people from outside the continent to discover.

Yaounde definitely has some very beautiful buildings to observe and that speaks of the ingenuity of the nation’s architects. That is however not enough to give any real picture of what a veritable Cameroonian architecture should be. Rather, it is a reproduction of the various schools of architecture reflecting the various countries in which the architects were trained.

One earnestly hopes that the creation of a special school of architecture in Yaounde will help promote a Cameroonian brand good enough to be sold out of the country and attract enough to get tourists coming in to discover it. This, the school alone cannot do because its status as a private institution limits it in terms of financing and ambition. The State will have to step in to help it change the face of the architectural disorder of the country. Cameroon stands to gain in having a specific type of architecture that reflects our cultural heritage. Isn’t the climatic centre in Dschang architecturally modelled after Bamileke huts? It is important to brand Cameroon.