ABSTRACT
The preservation of cultural heritage is a thorny problem that has pre-occupied governments and world bodies at the highest level. Conservation practices are constantly being refined in order to meet the ever-increasing challenges threatening the destruction of the world's cultural heritage. The conservation of African cultural heritage poses many challenges because of inadequate or complete absence of funding, insufficient and unqualified personnel or simply because some methods of modern preservation are resisted by tradition. This chapter presents some traditional conservation practices in the Fondom of Bafut, in the North West Region of Cameroon, as a case study for comparison with experiences from other parts of Africa and the world. Bafut culture has been the focus of systematic investigation by social scientists. That notwithstanding, these studies have failed to focus on the traditional conservation practices, thanks to which this culture has been preserved.
