Cameroon

Great, no problems crossing Cameroon customs and immigration.  It was so quick we hesitated just in case we had missed something. At Kousseri we stocked up on food and other necessities because it was so cheap - especially in comparison to Chad.  Most of the goods come from Nigeria and you can find all sorts of things from cheap wine, garden rakes and anything you can think of that is made from plastic.

We headed to the Waza National Park, the largest in Cameroon where we heard you could see elephants, giraffes, lions, antelopes, monkeys, jackals and a wide diversity of birds-over 370 different species.  It is an important place for wildlife in Cameroon.  Much of the big animals have greatly reduced in number over the last thirty years due to hunting, drought and degradation of the plains.  In the 70's and 80's the area experienced severe droughts which killed and displaced thousands of people. The animals also either died of starvation or were killed to feed the people. To ensure that this type of disaster did not happen again the Maga dam was built on the Logone river to guarantee a permanent water supply and to support irrigated rice production.  However, this disrupted the hydrological regime of the plain.  Floods which originally covered parts of the park decreased and annual regrowth of grasses did not occur causing food sources to diminish quickly and the numbers of dependent herbivores to drop.  This then impacted on the whole food chain and the number of carnivores dropped.  Water reliant birds also disappeared

In the early nineties work began to restore the regions biological diversity by opening up an old water course.  Since that time most of the animal numbers have begun to increase for example elephants; lions (200-300 live in Cameroon 30-50 are in the park) and giraffes.  Birds have also returned. 

The warden in the park explained that they have built waterholes to attract the elephants but would like to dig them deeper in order to hold water for longer. They are awaiting funding for this. There are still problems with poaching in the park but due to understaffing they cannot control it, again there is not much they can due without further funds for staff and motorized transport to allow them to move around the park quickly.

We camped in the park reception area for 3,000 CFA and entered the park at 6am in order to see as much as we could before it got too hot.  It cost 5000 per person, 2000 CFA per car and 3000 CFA for a guide.  (One guide per vehicle).  After twenty minutes squashed in the back of the landy the guide went onto the roof closely followed by the girls.  All the tall grass made spotting any animal pretty difficult from inside. Using several systems to guide Slade - Mr Fluffy (feather duster) to tickle Slades nose to tell him when to stop and waggling feet for directions, we maneuvered through the park.  By the end of the day we had seen roan, antelope, impala, monkeys and lots of giraffes.  We had driven for miles across the park and through dense grass, the seeds filling up the seed net over the radiator, searching for elephants and seen nothing until suddenly the giraffes appeared. Very impressive to see the large male down to the babies. Birds were everywhere from white hooded eagles, maribous, vultures, egrets, herons, gulls and plovers and some huge cranes that Tubbs tried unsuccessfully all day to film close up.   The best time to see the animals is March, April at the end of the dry season - as it is easier to find the animals at the waterholes.  They have also burnt all the grass which makes things easier.

After another night in the reception area we headed off towards Mora.  The landscape here is still very dry but now we began to see lots of long grass and not so many large herds of goats and cows.  There were fields of maize which were being cut then stacked to dry in pyramid shapes. 

In Mora, a town which has been taken over by Orange mobile phone shops and advertising, the boys tried to get black market fuel. Too many people shouting too many different prices only led to increasing stress levels and calls for the girls to get out of the market.  From Mora the piste to Mokolo was very interesting.  The road started to climb into the Mandara Mountains. This area has a real tribal culture which became evident by the Dogon style clay huts which appeared as we began to ascend; the steep hillsides are intensely terraced for growing millet and are dotted with clusters of huts arranged in circles.  We ended up staying in the car park of a handicraft place in the traditional village of Djingliya, 5km south of Kozo.  

Coming out of the handicraft shop with baskets and other trinkets we saw children making toy vehicles, glasses and bicycles from millet straw.  Several hours later one boy had made an exact replica of Sid, minus oil leaks. We were impressed. 

The next morning we got a tour around the houses.  Each family typically comprised of husband, wife (up to 4 - never any more), and 10-12 kids live in about 7 huts which are arranged in a circle.  At the entrance is a clay water bottle to ward off evil spirits.  The first hut also had clay bottles inside to protect the home and is used for sitting purposes. The first hut opened up into a central space and we were shown separate huts for the boys and girls; the boys always sleep closest to the father to protect him.  Then there is a hut for the sacred cow; a calf is kept inside for 1.5 years and then killed in a special ceremony - however, it was dubious how a fully grown cow could fit inside.  A passage through another hut which was divided into a goat pen and millet store above -  housed wife one. The second wife was in another millet store - where the other two wives went, we can not remember. Another room was a store room for millet which also doubled up as a detention area for girls, prior to their marriage.  They had to stay inside for one month, seeing and speaking to no one outside the immediate family before their big day.  Seeing that women or rather girls get married as early as 14 this must be a very daunting experience for them, on all counts.  Another room was dedicated to the kitchen which had a fireplace and grinding stones.  We came out disorientated with a feeling like that of having experienced Dr Whos tardist.

Just outside Mokolo a child came flying out of bushes on his bike, straight onto the piste.  We did not see him just heard a thud against the landy and dust rising up.  We ran back and luckily the child was ok, with only a few cuts and a bent front wheel.  He was very lucky as his bicycle has taken the brunt of the impact at the back of the vehicle.  If we had been a couple of seconds slower, it could have been much worse.  We patched him up and gave him some money for a new tyre; he was more worried about paying for the repairs on his bike than his own injuries.  So many people drive fast on these pistes that there must be lots of accidents - kids are always wondering into the road, as well as every kind of livestock, you never know what is around the next corner or bush.

We arrived in Rhumsiki which is pretty spectacular.  A big canyon with huge rock peaks in the middle. The peaks are the hard rock remains of volcanoes. After treating ourselves to a very nice pizza and homemade bread courtesy of Donkey Shot, the owner of the Kirdi Bar, we found the Campement de Rhumsiki. It overlooked the canyon so we decided to spend a couple of days there with the idea to spend at least one day hiking the canyon.  A 25km trek later amply satisfied that idea.  We traversed in, out and around the canyon before 9am.  We then branched out into the countryside towards a copper working place.  Seeing that Rhumsiki sits on the border of Nigeria we were not that surprised when we were looking directly onto the tin roofs of Nigerian villages, a complete contrast to their neighbours thatched roofs - we suspect we entered the country as well - the guide was not very clear on that point.  The copper workshop was a tiny place, a kilometer or so away from the nearest road.  We had an explanation of how things were made and were shown some pieces that did not look that good- produced quickly for tourists we guessed.  It was then 12km back along the dirt piste towards the Rhumsiki rock that never seemed to get any closer; we were the only things that moved on the road that hot afternoon, everyone else was sensibly lying down or in the shade. (Whats that about mad dogs and Englishmen and South Africans in the mid day sun!) A nice way to spend Valentines Day, just the three of us!!

The next day we limped around and prepared for the trip to Garoua.  It took all day to get there but was another interesting drive.  We passed a depressing amount of kids screaming for cadeaux as they cheerfully waved at us.  The women also waved, wearing their Sunday best with matching sarong, tops and head dresses, making us feel very scruffy in our stained clothes. The scenes kept changing.  The cotton harvest was being brought in and mounds of it was being bundled by many people into piles and containers.  We enquired in each village about obtaining black market fuel from Nigeria but none was to be found, the piste and demand perhaps was too small. It is always surprising what people move around; a girl passed that day with a single cup on her head and we overtook 2 men on a moped pulling a wheelbarrow. 

Our goal in Garoua was to try and extend our Cameroon visa for two weeks, obtain a fishing permit  and stock up with stuff but first we needed a place to stay.  The friendly staff at the Benoue Hotel let us stay in their car park for free, as long as we ate in the restaurant. They also had a swimming pool which we gratefully lowered ourselves into.

After a sleepless night in the car park - people kept parking and driving around during the night, very thoughtless, where did they think they were, we located the police station.  The chief told us it would cost 50,000CFA to extend our Cameroon visa for two weeks. Normally they were not allowed to extend the visa until it had finished but he was willing to make an exception in our case. Too expensive for us and we suspected very lucrative for him. The sleepy lady at the Tourism office sent us to the Environment Department for the fishing permit for Lake. Turned out they only sold season tickets and we could get a permit on the lake on arrival.  Empty handed we drove out of town and refueled. The problem with black market fuel is it comes in 20L jerries and seeing that the Pinzgauer need 700 litres, the whole process takes a couple of hours. 

The Lagon Bleu, bungalow hotel at Lagdo Djiborde 19 km outside Garoua had been recommended to us. Looking over the lake, ten boukarous (tourist huts) surrounded by flowers made the place look very inviting. The friendly French owner allowed us to park on the private beach and use the facilities in on of the boukarous. We spent a very relaxing day there swimming, doing the washing and cooking burritos. It cost 5000CFA per car.

The road took us past the National Park of Benoue.  The landscape was changing now and it was becoming green with lots of trees.  We drove all day and skirted Ngaoundere to reach the Ranch de Ngaoundaba.  In Urs book and the LP it says it is possible to arrange camping.  A hotel on a cattle ranch overlooking a crater lake, it sounded great.  After Slade finished driving in circles on a very well swept car park a haughty man in Panama hat walked purposefully towards us. We politely asked about camping but before the words were out of our mouths, he had refused to let us stay.  He was the owner, a very unfriendly French man that obviously was not in need of our camping fees or customers - although the car park was empty.  It was getting near to night fall and so now we had to drive back to Ngoundere over 20km to try and find somewhere to sleep, thanks very much.  Luckily Elza had spotted a sign for a Lake Tizon close to the town, we decided to try there.  A friendly policeman, who had earlier told us to bring him back a fish from the lake directed us there with great detail, it was only 200m further on, on the right. 

The little known Lake Tizon is another crater lake. A friendly security man opened the barrier and let us in. Above the lake is a big hut with a terrace overlooking the crater.  Inside it looked like a mountain chalet, little fireplace and wooden bar. For  15000 CFA we were allowed to camp outside for 2 nights (5000 for entry). We spent the next day there. High up in the hills we had great views of a line of old volcanoes, forests, although you could see deforestation was taking place, the town and the lake. The boys spent the day trying to fish, Slade gave it up and blew up an inner tube to float around in. Another relaxing day. Slade set up his poike in the fireplace and prepared a good meal with the super, rich Don Baron red wine.

We successfully got a visa extension in Ngoundere for 11,000CFA.  The police at the immigration building told us it would be no problem.  A different story than in Garoua.

We took the corrugated piste from Ngoundere to Tibati. It is a winding dirt piste that crosses the Massif De L'Adamaoua. It is thickly forested. We passed lots of lorries struggling up big hills, seriously overloaded. Quite a few were stuck on various parts of the hills, the drivers often sleeping underneath waiting to be rescued or just waiting for things to get better. One lorry had lost its load completely and blocked the piste. The whole back of the trailer had come off. It had been chained to another lorry to stop it rolling off down the hill. We ended up finding a place to pull off in the forest and camp.  It is getting very hard now to find places to do this. The vegetation is either too thick or there are too many people. There are lots of trees in flower now, we camped under a particularly pungent one that attracted swarms of bees and occasionally gave off wafts that smelt like something had died, Kriss got some good shots of the pods, seeds and leaves of all these different plants.

Tibati is a very small town next to a reservoir. We drove for 20km down a piste. A stop in a fishing village overlooking the lake was enchanting. The lake stretched out with palm trees and large birds of prey flying over head. The men came out first to welcome us and then the children were allowed to come. Not many tourists come here. We could not find a place to stay so eventually found a place in the bush.

Apart from Ngoundere and Garoua there are not many more large towns directly north of Yaounde and no tarmaced road that runs all the way to the north.

The piste to Banyo was terrible, full of corrugation and we had to shout to be heard. It was 115km from Tibati to Banyo but it took over four hours.  From Banyo to Mayo Darle the piste was partially improved. This means that there is tarmac on the up hill and down hill sections of the road.  This really helped with progress.  Unfortunately there was lots of harmattan dust and cloud cover which blocked some spectacular views.

We found a spot in the bush to sleep next to lots of layered mushrooms that had been made by ants, Slade got very excited about them.  We were headed for Ndu which was 2000m high on the Ring Road, a 367km circular route. (The road used to be in a bad state but it has recently been improved, except after Lake Nyos to Wum). The road was steep up, we passed loads of people that were walking it.  We picked up one poor lady with a bad foot - she was very happy.  Driving through rubber plantations we reached the Ndu tea plantation that gave the place a feel of somewhere in Europe, it was so green. The town was busy, full of people and vehicles. .

It019s a beautiful road.  We stopped at the Kimbi River Reserve just after Bum before We. The park reportedly has monkeys, antelope and buffalo however the warden told us that we would not see anything at this time of the year, the grass was too high. The park used to have a hotel and was invested in but now its quiet and visitors are few. No money was going into the park to protect and manage what was inside. We had a great spot to camp on the river. The water was cold and fast flowing and was great for swimming and for floating on the inner tube down mini rapids. We spent a day there, the boys trying there luck with the fishing again. Good thing we have food reserves!

We had seen people walking through the forest to get to the local market. The security guard from the reserve who refused to leave us offered to show us this place.  We never saw it as the guard jumped out pointing vaguely to the right. He just wanted a lift.  Shortly after whilst we were stopped for lunch a loud and rather drunk police man jumped out of an overloaded truck and came over.  He had obviously been enjoying the local millet beer at the mysterious market.  He worked at Lake Nyos and offered to show us the way.

Lake Nyos came to the worlds attention when in 1986 there was a natural gas eruption and killed over 1700 people whilst they slept.  The area is now heavily monitored so that they can prevent the same disaster happening again. The security guard told us he had lost over 30 members of his family during that night.

The road turned into a rough track after that winding through the mountains down to Wum. When in Wum go to the main road intersection and find the lady on the corner that sells fresh fish covered in her special sauce for 600 CFA.  Very tasty!

After Wum we knew we were truly in the tropics. Banana trees, rice fields, sugar cane, palm trees and green lushness everywhere. We wound down to Bafut, the Pinzgauer scaring the locals by emitting large explosions from the exhaust. Bafut is the home of the Tikar community, traditionally the most powerful of the Grassfields kingdoms. The Fon (the head guy) has his palace here.  The palace is rows of huts where his 8 wives live and 50 queens; he inherits the wives or queens of the Fon before him. There is also a large traditional meeting house which is re-roofed every year and is in danger of collapsing from the weight of it. In the good old days they used to kill virgins as sacrifices at different ceremonies along with any other wrong doers. It was an interesting tour.  If we had met the Fon we could not shake his hand unless we had special permission.  As for the locals they need to perform all sorts of special performances before they can do so.

Above the palace is Gerald Durrells house where her wrote the Bafut Beagles.

We reached Bamenda where we stayed for several days at the Presbyterian Guest House, a lovely quiet place 10 minutes walk from the town. Slade had to change the spider joints on the prop shaft and with the help of a local guy and Urs managed to get the job done.  Two weeks later the Spider Joints were shot and we had to replace them, theres a lot to be said for buying genuine parts. We met a large group from the SIL who were on an African Orientation Course (how to get taxis, order food, live in village, etc). They were all very nice and had different skills they were going to spend the next couple of years transferring in different parts of Africa.

After we left Bamenda we stopped in a village and heard huge screams. They came from a very large pig that had its legs tied together and was being lifted up and put into the boot of a taxi. He was resisting strongly - they then calmly slammed down the lid and drove away.  We wanted to stay at the waterfalls 32km south of Bafang. Apparently they had filmed some tarzan films here so Tubbs was looking forward to seeing a good looking guy swinging through the trees, although on second thoughts he would probably be in his 80's now. We had now reached the southern most point we had been since Dixcove in Ghana. A boisterous and arrogant police commandant shouted at us that we needed to have security to stay at the falls.  His attitude made us turn back.  We did not get far before it rained; first rains in about 4 months. The dirt road turned into a slippery mess. The vehicles were all over the place. We stopped for the night at the side of the road, the pinzgaur was serving teas and coffees.  A overladen coffee lorry inched past us and did not get much further before gracefully doing 90 degrees. He also stayed in the road for the night.

We were woken up by the loud sounds of the forest.  A couple of hours later we decided that the mud was not sticking so heavily to our Tevas and Elza had taken her wellies off so it was safe to drive again. We managed to drive back up the hill and luckily had no problems. 

We drove to Kumba, one of Cameroons largest markets with more cheap goods from Nigeria. Agriculture became more intensive here.  Big banana (the bananas contained in blue bags), pineapple, papaya and rubber plantations. Urs got his second flat tyre caused by nails in the road and we amused locals by driving backwards and forwards through their village looking for them. After a frustrating search for the market we eventually got told that the market was closed on a Sunday.

We went to the Barombi crater lake, 5km from the town. A huge lake set below cliffs of forests. Lots of young people were hanging out in the building above the lake. One guy in white boxers told us he worked there and tried to charge us for swimming and camping. He had no receipts or anything official. Eventually we established that Mr White Boxers was having  us on and we stayed for free.

The market was a bit of a let down so we drove straight down to Limbe beach. Great to see the sea again. We wondered which part of Africa we would see it again. Beautiful brown beach with sand like velvet with a back drop of Small Mount Cameroon set it off perfectly (shame about the oil refinery next door!)

Climbing Mt Cameroon was our big achievement. It is 4000m high. We picked up a guide and a tent at the Mt Cameroon Ecotourism Office in Buea. We left the cars at the Presbyterian church. We set off up the Guinness route, which runners of the Mountain race had ran up at the weekend. It started to rain and continued to do so as we climbed up past the farms and through the forest.  It was good that it kept us cool but unfortunately soaked all our stuff.  When we reached Hut 2 we spent four hours in front of the fire drying everything. The rain had cleared the air so we got a great view out to the islands off Limbe and the estuaries and towns. 

The next day we had great views from the summit looking down over old lava flows and volcanoes. It was another 5 hours to the next sleeping spot.  We walked over these old lava flows and past the still steaming volcanoes of the 2000 eruption.  The final day was spent slipping over tree roots and mossy rocks down through the forest.  It is a beautiful place, a riot of vegetation. Knackered but happy we retired to the beach for 2 days.

Back at the beach the big overland Oasis truck was parked up; we had met Grant the driver in Mali. All his passengers had flown over to Kenya after attempts to cross via Sudan had failed. The truck itself was being shipped back to the UK. We have to thank Grant for helping stock our food reserves with Tescos Own. Never thought we would get so excited about Tescos own brand muesli and baked beans.

In Yaounde we were kindly put up the Swiss Embassy at their new compound. No embassy staff had moved into it yet so we had the place to ourselves with nice facilities and security. Not bad.

We managed to get 3 visas in 3 days. The Gabon visa cost 35,000CFA, Congo 30,000 and DRC 40,000.  All visas we could pick up the next day and were all for one month.

We had a good night courtesy of the Swiss embassy listening to Jazz. Peter Giger, a musician from Switzerland, was playing with different local band at the Petit TamTam club. We were given free wine all night (South African) much to the delight of Krissy and a gorgeous three course dinner. We had eaten before but managed to fit it in!

We took the piste to Kribi through the forest which took all day. The beaches here are gorgeous. We stayed for over a week at the Auberge Tara Plage. The girls spent a lot of time in the fantastic market getting clothes made and picking up some great bargains. If you ever wondered what happens to the clothes you send to Oxfam or NCH they end up in markets like Kribi and get bought by travelers.

Other recommendations, is the lovely restaurant owned by Farah just up the beach from the Auberge. It is set on rocks jutting into the bay and he prepares delicious fish and gambas. Venturing up the coast to see the other beaches is also well worth it. The isolated beach called Chez Pascal with freshwater lagoon next to it was great. The cocktails we made from the coconuts we found on the beach made staying there even more burdensome.

On the 25^th March it was time to leave Cameroon. We drove the piste to Ebolowa where we got caught in a massive procession celebrating 19 years of the Cameroonian Democratic People019s Movement. The road from there to Ambam has been tarmaced and we covered the 80 odd kilometers in less than an hour, which for us seemed fast as this distance can often take 2 or 3 hours. It is the best road we have been on in Cameroon and we suspect that its main use will be for the huge lorries that transport half a rainforest behind them and perhaps for oil and mineral movement.

 After driving around Ambam for half an hour we located the Hotel La Couronne, take track next to Police and Affaires Sociales and keep bearing left, and stayed in their car park.  Another party was going on with everybody wearing shirts and dresses with name of the political party and a smiling president printed on. Cameroons president Paul Biya has been in power for over 20 years.

The next day we were told that all exit formalities are carried at the border. There are two roads to the border, we took the road towards Abang Minkoo which they are still building.  3km from the border is immigration and the Douane. After completing the formalities we caught the ferry across the river to Gabon.

Cameroon Summary

Waza National  Park - can camp in reception.  Great for giraffes and possible to see elephants

Campement de Rhumsiki  - N10º30 995 E013º35 284 - Rhumsiki. Nice views over the canyon

Hotel Benoue in Garoua.  Allowed to stay in car park free as long as eat in restaurant. They have a swimming pool and lots of visitors who like parking at night.

Lagon Bleu at Lagdo Djiborde - N09º02 785 E013º 41 063 - 19km outside Garoua. Great views, camp on the beach and swimming.

Ngaoundere - N07º15 304 E013º34 588 - do not go to Ranch de Ngaoundaba. Stay at Lake Tizon 5km from town

The Ring Road - The road used to be in a bad state but it has recently been improved, except after Lake Nyos to Wum which is like a track.

Ndu - Hill side guest house

Bamenda - N05º58 025 E010º09 151 - Presbyterian Guest House

Lake Barombi - 5 km north of Kumba

Mt Cameroon - get guide and permits from Mt Cameroon Ecotourism Office. Keep cars safely at Presbyterian Church

Yaounde Visas - The Gabon visa cost 35,000CFA, Congo 30,000 and DRC 40,000.  All visas we could pick up the next day and were all for one month.

Kribi - N02º54 347 E009º54 123 - Auberge Tera Plage  2000CFA per tent.  Next to the beach

Ambam - Hotel La Couronne , take track next to Police and Affaires Sociales and keep bearing left

Border exit  formalities for Cameroon - not at Ambam but 3km from border