Environmental Advantages
The environmental advantages of the Northern Mandaras are rather a matter of the past and from an ethnographic point of view of historical interest only. The question is whether the geographical remoteness or the climatic conditions are of greater historical importance.
Geographical Remoteness
The inaccessibility of the mountains has been given as the main historical reason why the Northern Mandaras have become so densely populated over time. This argument is closely related to the history of slave raids and neglects the climatic conditions as another possible explanation.
Climatic Conditions
The annual rainfall is considerably higher in the mountains than in the plains of the same latitude. On the plateau of Mokolo we have 958mm, but in the plain of Maroua we have only 786mm (Hallaire 1991:17). Considering the short period of rainfall in the semi-arid savanna, this must be seen as an advantage.