Because the Nyong flows completely through an equatorial climate, it has one period of high water during the rainy season (March to October), during which it is navigable from Mbalmayo to Abong-Mbang in the East Province.

Other Centre Province rivers flow through both equatorial and tropical climate zones where rainy seasons occur at different times, and so they never experience great fluctuations in water level.

The land rises gently in escarpments from the southwestern coastal plain before joining the Adamawa Plateau via depressions and granite massifs.

The woodland savanna is characterised by large expanses of grass punctuated by small copses of trees from the forested zones farther south.

The region was once much more heavily forested, but exploitation of species such as ebony and iroko has thinned out the woodlands and allowed dense undergrowth to appear.

The area has been an important population center for the Beti-Pahuin people for over a century, but it has since experienced a great amount of immigration due to the placement of Cameroon's seat of government there in colonial times.

Among these are the Manguissa, who live in a small territory in the Lekie division between the Sanaga River and the town of Sa'a, the Bamvele, Batchanga (Tsinga), Evuzok, Omvang, Yekaba, and Yetudi.

The Centre Province Tikar are further divided into the Bang-Heng, Bankim, Ditan, Ina, Ngambe, Ngume, Ue, and Yakong.

The Vute (Babuti) are a Bantu people who inhabit large swathes of the Mbam division to the east of Tikar and Bafia.

Tribes present in smaller numbers in the province include the Bajem, Baki, Bamun, Bulu, Fa' (Balong), Gbete (Kepere), Gunu, Lafa, Maka, Njauti, Nyokon, and Pori.

The most prevalent denominations are Presbyterianism and Roman Catholicism, though traditional animist beliefs are commonly practiced alongside Christianity, especially in more rural areas.

Farmers take care to protect trees bearing edible fruit, such as mangoes, plums, and pears, though fires sometimes grow out of control and prevent this.

Farmers then plant seeds after the first rains: spices and vegetables closer to the house, plantains and tubers in larger plots farther into the bush.

Other major cocoa centres include the Sanaga River valley near Nanga Eboko and the regions around the towns of Akonolinga, Obala, and Saa.

Some of these plantations are owned by peasant populations of Bassa and Ewondo, and SODECAO (Cocoa Development Company) is a major owner.

Hunting is practiced to some extent in more rural areas, but this has become increasingly rare as forest exploitation and firearms have depleted game species and their habitats.

Those of Yaoundé have a co-op to help meet the needs of the tourist trade, while those of Nanga Eboko are renowned for their highly decorated pottery.

National Road 9, one of the few that do not travel through the capital, begins at Mbalmayo and leads to the South Province towns of Sangmélima, Djoum, and Mintom.

Among these is the compound of Matip Ma Ndombol of the Ndjogjel district of Eséka.Cameroon's president, Paul Biya, has his official residence in Yaoundé, though he spends much of his time abroad.

Biya enjoys a great deal of political support from the Centre's Beti majority, thanks in part to his policy of staffing the government and government-owned businesses with plenty of representatives of this ethnic group.

This still requires them to stay with relatives or to lease rooms, however, high rent and school fees keep many students from pursuing higher levels of education.

The largest of these is the Cameroonian Art Museum (Musée d'Art Camerounais), with its large collection of bas reliefs, bronze statuary, and traditional masks.

Common Food Ancient tools found at Bafia, Efok, Okola, and Yaoundé attest to human presence in today's Centre Province since before recorded history.

Another explanation of the Bassa's presence in the Centre says that they once lived further west, but they moved into the territory in the 18th century after ceding their coastal possessions to the Duala people.

The Banen, Bafia, and Yambassa in the Babimbi region also moved to their present territories at this time, stopping their expansion upon reaching Bassaland to the southwest.

Three years after the German annexation of the Cameroons in 1884, the first white men moved in, under orders of governor Julius Baron Von Soden, to explore the territories of the Beti.

Germany made various improvements to the territory, including the building of roads from Cameroon's coast to the inland areas, beginning in 1900.

The Seventh-day Adventists set up centres in Nanga Eboko and Yaoundé, and this religion continues to claim large numbers of followers in the province.

The biggest of these were the Union Camerounaise, with large constituencies in the Centre and North (led by Ahmido Ahidjo), and the Democrats Camerounais (DC), with support from the Yaoundé region and headed by André-Marie Mbida.

When the colony's most vocal political party, Union des Populations du Cameroun (UPC), rioted there over raised prices at Yaoundé market stalls, for example, the government outlawed the group.