Set high in the northern hills of Cameroon, between green mountain ridges of local goat farms and collections of tribal town steads, 500,000-strong Bamenda is a place where West Africa’s rural world intermingles with its modern.

In the city centre, a grid of criss-crossing traffic lanes and modern hotels sits framed by the surrounding forests, while the looming ridges all around belie glimpses of the continent’s wild beauty at every turn. Here, be sure to ask your Bamenda tour guide about the city marketplaces, or the exhibition of the Mankon Museum, which showcase regional arts and crafts and the curious tribal history of the Northwest province as a whole.

However, this city’s top attraction remains the famed Bamenda Ring Road; a rough track that winds its way deep into the mountains of northern Cameroon and encompasses some of the country’s most fascinating cultural and natural wonders—from the great crater lake of Nyos, to the soaring volcanic peaks around Nkambe and the pretty stretches of the Bamendjing Reservoir.