Ngog Lituba, the "pierced stone"

Ngog Lituba is a low rocky mountain that is located in the Bassa and Bati nation, in the Nyanon district, north of the Sanaga-Maritime department.
Ngog Lituba bears the etymological meaning of "pierced stone". It is an immense rock formation that is situated in the Nyong and Kellé department in the central province of Cameroon. The Samaga, whose tempestuously flowing waters crash noisily against the walls of the sacred stone Ngog Lituba, crosses the heart of the vast forest.
This rock formation, known as "Pierced Stone", houses a grotto; and holds many sacred memories of the Bassa People.
Ngog Lituba looks like a very unusual volcanic rock, isolated in the middle of flat tranquil plains that stretch out for many kilometers,. There are no traces of surrounding craters, unless the surrounding geographical area itself is not considered a meteor crater of sorts.
Ngog Lituba, nevertheless, could well be a meteorite of exceptional size. As known, objects entering Earth's atmosphere from outer space undergo intense friction that generates temperatures capable of melting rocklike materials. With this is mind, a climb the mountain reveals certain areas of rock face that seem swollen and full of air; while other areas incase prehistoric human footprints obviously set in material that was still malleable.

Ngog Lituba and the origin of the Bassa, Mpo'o and Bati peoples

The origin of the Bassa people is linked to both Ngog Lituba and to its sacred meaning.
On the grounds of the myths and legends that are still passed down in Africa today, Ngog Lituba is considered the cradle of the Elog-Mpo'o, Bassa, Duala peoples and Bati group.
The myth referring to Ngog Lituba is both decisive and fundamental to theses peoples' culture.
They have always gone on pilgrimages to the sacred cave in commemoration of history; and to teach the tradition to their children. Up to then, such tradition had remained secret, kept by few initiates commonly known either as Mbombock or Mpeh Mpeh, depending on the tribe.
The oral memory of the Elog Mpo'o (Bisoo/Bakoko) states that these peoples came from ancient Egypt and the Chad regions. The legend recounts that these people were exiled by the Foulbč and then tracked down by their enemies, just as in the Biblical account of the Pharaoh's pursuit of the Hebrew escapees. These peoples took shelter in the grotto of a large stone, whose entrance was soon veiled by a providential spider that rapidly spun its web over it. The enemies of the Bassa people passed in front of the rock and without any suspicion in mind continued their chase, thereby allowing the fugitives to proceed along their path.
Since then, this stone known as Ngog Lituba is considered the birthplace of the Elog Mpo'o people; and the spider has become their totem.
Other traditions of the area hold Ngog Lituba as the cave from which the first two forefathers of the African people appeared, also they were supposedly protected from their enemies by a spider web.
Yet other legends relevant to Ngog Lituba state this was the place in which the living God ,Nyambé, ancient among the ancients, manifested himself in the dawn of time.
This God created the spirits, the first human couple without a navel, and the immense forest in which Ngog Lituba was placed.
The human couple generated its offspring that in time constituted a numerous and happy people. Nyambé lived amongst them and dispatched knowledge while keeping them safe against illness and death. The hole in the stone was home to the God.
While in the God's midst, man lived in peace and prosperity given his union of intent based on mutual friendship, symbolically linked like fingers of a hand.
When humans became either elderly or ill they would spend nine days at the foot of "Singue", a small tree that was planted by Nyambé, after which, they would regain their health and a renewed youth to restart a new life.
Unfortunately, when the people turned into an uncontainable mass, individuals questioning the God's role appeared. With the support of their followers, these figures claimed the right to spiritually guide man in place of the God.
The God chose to respect their will and set himself aside. However, before leaving man, the God came one last time to give his final exhortation. He showed the people a bunch of twigs bound together by a lace; and explained to them that this bundle, or rather the union of the people, could not be broken by even the strongest man among them, although anybody is easily able to snap whichever single twig. Therefore, the God asked that the people remain united in order to continue living in peace and happiness. He then took his leave from the world of man, walking towards the west, leaving the secret societies to honor him.
That was the point at which the African people lost their unity; and came to know suffering and death. Only those who listened to the God, following in the wake of his exhortation, were able to go on living in his spiritual gift.

Ngog Lituba and the other sacred mountains of Native peoples

Ngog Lituba is not the only presumed meteorite known on Earth to be linked to ancient myths of extraordinary past events that refer to the roots of mankind. Other similar stones may be found in Australia, in some states of the USA and in many other countries.
Australia has Ulhuru, the red mountain deemed sacred by the Native Australians, which rises up in the middle of the continent. The significance of this complex calls to mind Externsteine, in the Black Forest of Germany, spiritual symbol of many Native Europeans.
The sacredness surrounding Ngog Lituba also recalls Mount Graham, a.k.a "Dzil Nchaa Si An", the sacred mountain of the Arizona Apache, and the "Mountain of Adam", on the Island Ceylon, that bears a footprint that local traditions attribute to a god.

The violation of Ngog Lituba by the Vatican and the UN appeal

With total indifference to the traditions of the Bassa People, the bishop of Douala, Monsignor Mongo, who also belongs to the Bissoo ethnicity, in 1959, chose Ngog Lituna as a Marian pilgrimage place. He undertook the erection of both a statue of the Madonna and a crucifix on the mountaintop.
In light of this outright violation of the sacred nature that the natives attribute to Ngog Lituba, the Ecospirituality Foundation, on behalf of the Bassa People and in acceptance of the proposal made by the "Confrérie Mbog-Parliament" spokesperson, Samuel Brice Tjomb, has, since 2006, appealed to the United Nations of Geneva and New York, stating the repeated profanation of the sacred mountain, Ngog Lituba. The mountain, natural and spiritual sanctuary, is the object of continuous desecration committed by the Roman Catholic Church, whose intent is to transform this important pilgrimage place, cradle of fourteen native tribes, into a landed property given the monopoly the Church has in Cameroon, a laic country.
This explains the installation, over ten years ago, of the crucifix and the statue of the Madonnna on top of the mountain. The UN appeal of Bassa People also regards the restitution of Cameroon to its original mystic origins and the recovery of its traditional patrimony that is stowed in European museums since the colonization of Cameroon by France, Germany and Great Britain. Therefore, the appeal requests the creation of a mechanism to facilitate the identification, repatriation, recovery and preservation of the spiritual instruments used by the Mbock patriarchs, which rightfully belonging to the Natives.. Such tools have been confiscated throughout the decades only to be confined to European museums as mere ornaments.
The Ecospirituality Foundation asks that the United Nations acknowledge the will of the Natives of Ngog Lituba to exercise and freely benefit, in virtue of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, from the spiritual and cultural wealth of their sacred mountain.
In regards to the Natives and Indigenous Bassa People of Africa, Ngog Lituba embodies the only hope of these peoples' cultural survival. Peoples that for far too long have been victims of practices aimed at dousing their ecospiritual flame. Requests have been forwarded to UNESCO for the acknowledgment of this abandoned place now facing degradation as World Patrimony of Humanity in order to put an end to the Roman Catholic Church monopoly.
In any regard, this cultural and spiritual claim does not contain any political interest of sorts, given that it would be unacceptable to replace the history of Cameroon's independence, supported by the native peoples of Ngpg Lituba, with the current case brought to the attention of the international community.
To the Natives and members of the Bassa African ethnicity, Ngog Lituba represents the only hope of cultural survival. For far too long, these peoples have been victims of practices that continuously threaten to extinguish their ecospiritual flame.