[5] The highlands of Mount Cameroon and of Bioko island, above 900 meters elevation, are a distinct ecoregion, the Mount Cameroon and Bioko montane forests, as are the Cameroonian Highlands forests further inland.

South of the Sanaga River along the coast lies the Atlantic Equatorial coastal forests ecoregion.

Wildlife in the area includes forest elephants and many primates such as Cross River gorillas and chimpanzees (particularly in Cross River National Park in Nigeria), while Preuss's red colobus (Procolobus pennanti preussi) is found only in this ecoregion and a number of others are nearly endemic including red-eared guenon (Cercopithecus erythrotis), crowned guenon (Cercopithecus pogonias), drills (Mandrillus leucophaeus), northern needle-clawed bushbaby (Euoticus pallidus), and Pennant's colobus, one population of which is found on Bioko.

[5] In 2006, it was estimated that annually more than 1.3 million mammals, about 64,650 reptiles and at least 7,700 birds are hunted in the Cross–Sanaga–Bioko coastal forests for the bushmeat trade.

Korup National Park in Cameroon is one of the most accessible ways into the forest, while in Nigeria Cross River State can be accessed from the capital Calabar, where there is a drill monkey sanctuary and from Calabar one can reach the Cross River National Park.