Cameroon is Africa's throbbing heart, a sultry mosaic of active volcanoes, white-sand beaches, thick rainforest and magnificent parched landscapes broken up by the bizarre rock formations of the Sahel. With both Francophone and Anglophone regions, not to mention some 250 local languages, the country is a vast ethnic and linguistic jigsaw, yet one that, in contrast to so many of its neighbors, enjoys a great deal of stability.