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Day 112 | 13 Mar 2010
Data Hotel, Mamfe, Cameroon
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Mud Mud Glorious Mud..... This day
we had consciously and subconsciously been dreading for so long
turned out to remarkably stress free and at times, very enjoyable.
The border crossing was slow but straightforward. It is quite an
iconic border post as it is marked by an iron bridge with gates
either end and a large arrow painted on the wall with CAMEROON
written inside. This is useful if one has forgotten which country
comes next on the endless over-landing trail through Africa.
Believe me, What day is it? What date is it? What time is
it? Which country am I in? Which country comes next? are all
questions we often have to think hard to answer these days.
The road - the infamous road - from Ekok to Mamfe is the subject
of many traveller's tales. It has an awful reputation for mud and
precarious holes and can become impassable in the wet season. It
was with some trepidation, therefore, that we embarked on this 40km
stretch, extremely grateful that the previous couple of days had
been dry.
It was muddy and there were some very challenging moments, but
we were in the right vehicle and neither of the Land Rovers had any
problem at all dealing with the deep mud or slippery sections.
Following our Kiwi friend Darrin was great for us as we could take his advice on the more difficult parts. We made it to Mamfe in
three hours, which is optimum time, and breathed a sigh of relief
that we could tick off one more of those challenges that had been
festering in the back of our minds for rather a long time.
And what a welcome into Cameroon. The mud 'rondavel' huts
changed immediately into pretty wooden cabins and the landscape was
a beautiful combination of forest and mountains. Mamfe was also a
wonderful surprise. We have learnt never to expect much from border
towns but this one was very quiet and very civilised. Many of the
houses were gabled colonial style constructions, well kept and very
attractive.
Food Glorious Food....
Cameroon didn't disappoint on the food front either. Across from
our campsite we found a lovely bar restaurant which served us the
most delicious meal we have had in quite a few countries. A freshly
made hot pot of chicken, vegetable, plantain. Wow! Neil and I
devoured a plate which would have been enough for four and didn't
feel guilty at all after yesterday's disappointments and nearly
three weeks of struggling to find decent, home cooked food or
varied ingredients.
And then the rain started. What timing - just as we had crossed
the dreaded road. Our first tropical rain on our first day in our
first tropical country seemed rather fitting and it certainly was
rain with attitude. The sky turned completely black, the wind
whipped up and the the rain fell in torrents for about two hours
and then slightly less heavily right into the night.
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Day 113 | 14 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Synod Office, Buea, Cameroon
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I felt strangely at home and it took
me a while to put my finger on what it was. Then I realised it was
the smell of the wet grass, the significant drop in temperature and
the squelch beneath my feet. It reminded me of our many camping
holidays in England and it was a lovely, nostalgic feeling.
The rain had stopped at some point in the night and it looked as
if it would be dry. We decided to risk it and take the direct,
unpaved road to Buea. Both Land Rovers drivers were feeling
confident to take on some more mud and both Land Rovers, I'm sure,
were secretly happy about that decision.
The road was the most beautiful we have driven so far - deep in
the rainforest, passing many pretty villages, schools and churches.
It was muddy at points and we did a bit of wading and sliding but
nothing like yesterday, which left us free to enjoy the journey.
At Kumba we hit a beautiful new tarmac road which sped us to Buea
in good time. Buea is 1000 metres up the side of Mount Cameroon and brought a wonderful drop in temperature. Our Presbyterian Guest
House campsite is a great spot. The Presbyterians and the Catholics
are going to be our best friends from here down to Namibia as their
guest houses are known to be the best, cheap options for camping.
A Dutch guy, Rene, travelling alone was there and another Italian
couple, Maria and Mauro, turned up later on this evening. The over-landing network of
people, many of whom we have heard of or met, all seem to be
arriving in Cameroon at the same time, which is encouraging. |
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Day 114 | 15 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Synod Office, Buea, Cameroon
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More rain. We were awoken
to the sounds of an almighty thunderstorm, which continued for a
good few hours causing us to seek refuge inside the guest house. To
be honest though, this was quite a treat with a fully equipped
kitchen, comfortable sofas, a large dining table and a TV with
English channels. It was the closest we'd felt to home in a long
time. When the rain finally abated, we enjoyed being in and around Buea.
It is a lovely town with friendly people and all the groceries we
could wish for. The fruit is amazing and we are back in the land of
good quality street food - brochettes on the coals. Needless to say
we celebrated all this by buying and eating all sorts of food. We
also managed to find a tailor to turn our fabric from Ghana into a
dress for me and a shirt for Neil. |
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Day 115 | 16 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Synod Office, Buea, Cameroon
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We seized the day when we
woke up to a clear sky and decided to take a mini trek up Mount
Cameroon with our Italian friends. We started from Buea at 1000
metres altitude and walked up to 2000 metres. In my case, I huffed
and puffed and ached up to almost 2000 metres where I bailed out
and let Neil follow the guide up for the last stretch. Slightly
worryingly I seem to be rapidly losing any level of fitness that I
may once have had. Long hikes are called for in Southern Africa I
feel.
Despite the aches and pains, we were very glad to have had the
chance to be out and about without the car and to experience
walking through the rainforest with our friendly guide, Hans.
Back at the campsite, Maria kindly offered to make us all
dinner: real Italian pasta, real Italian olive oil, real Italian
tomato and chilli sauce and a real Italian chef. Heaven! |
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Day 116 | 17 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Synod Office, Buea, Cameroon
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The day began well and
finished not so well, for me at least.
The rain battered down all morning so we all spent a few hours
inside again - more TV and lounging on the sofas. Darrin, Neil and
I then decided to walk down the road to "Duke and Harvey" for
lunch, partly because it does great food, partly because the owner
is very friendly, partly because there are pretty tablecloths and
table centres but mainly because the name sounds more like it
belongs to a scene from Oliver Twist than a sleepy town half way up
Mount Cameroon. We almost expected them to be serving pease pudding
and saveloys. It made us smile so much when we saw it that we
couldn't resist stopping by for a delicious chicken dish, known as
Chicken D-G. We are not sure what D-G stands for but like to think
of it as Chicken Done Good. If we stay in Cameroon too long
we are certainly going to begin putting those kilos back on.
Unfortunately though, I came over dizzy and nauseous in the
afternoon and appear to have come down with our first bout of 'dicky
tummy' since we have been on the trip. Time to swap the tent for a
room. Toilet dashing isn't helped by having to navigate a ladder. |
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Day 117 | 18 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Synod Office, Buea, Cameroon
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More of the same for me so
a very quiet day. Neil and Darrin made another trip to Duke and
Harvey. |
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Day 118 | 19 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Synod Office, Buea, Cameroon
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I felt more alive today
so we took a drive down to Limbe on the coast, planning to come
back to the cool breezes of Buea this evening.
Limbe is a pretty beach town about 30km away, at the base of
Mount Cameroon It is slightly surreal with its ornately painted
buildings, immaculate churches, white picket fences and Botanical
gardens. Could have been Sidmouth, apart from the stinking heat and
the dark brown volcanic sand. In 1999 Mount Cameroon erupted and a
few kilometres along the coast you can see the lava flow, which
comes down to the road. Fortunately, no one was hurt. We were told
that the mountain had begun to shake earlier on this year, which is
normally a sign that an eruption is imminent. It came to nothing
but still, I don't think we'll hang around too long just in case.
As we were driving back up the mountain the sky turned black and
we knew that we were in a race against another rainstorm. It
arrived with incredible force. I don't think I have ever
experienced such heavy rain. Mount Cameroon is, apparently, the
second wettest place on earth and that I can believe.
We were so glad that we could shelter inside, watching the
lightning splitting the sky, knowing that we could sleep in our
room tonight and didn't have to venture out into our tent. |
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Day 119 | 20 Mar 2010
Auberge Tara Plage, Kribi, Cameroon
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We left Buea this morning
to drive south to Kribi, another town on the coast. Although the
rain had stopped during the night, it didn't take long for it to
get going again. We weren't phased though as there was no more 'poto
poto' just a perfect tarmac road the whole way. We were still
driving with Darrin and we realised quickly a further benefit of
driving with another vehicle. The first car gets stopped at a
police stop and the second sails on past before they have realised.
We took in turns to go first! Our campsite on the beach in Kribi
was a beautiful spot, surrounded by white sand and mangroves. The
only downside of all this vegetation is a significant hike in the
number of mosquitoes. We have had to raise the threat level to
critical and are taking all necessary precautionary measures. This
normally results in us all looking utterly ridiculous by about 5pm,
with t-shirts tucked into trousers, trousers tucked into long socks
with flip flops. I will never joke about socks and sandals again, I
promise. It really is worth it though if you value your ankles.
Our Dutch and Canadian friends, who we had met in Abuja, were
there when we arrived and it was fun to see them again. |
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Day 120 | 21 Mar 2010
Auberge Tara Plage, Kribi, Cameroon
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Three Green 'Drovers
sitting on the grass.
Three Green 'Drovers sitting on the grass.
And if one green 'Drover forgot to grease its prop shaft
There'd be ... two green 'Drovers sitting on the grassI
hummed to myself as the owners of the three green Land Rovers -
Neil, Darrin and Andrew - busied themselves with mechanical jobs
for the morning.
Later on we all walked along the beach to the Kribi Waterfalls,
which tumble directly in to the sea - an interesting phenomenon. |
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Day 121 | 22 Mar 2010
Auberge Tara Plage, Kribi, Cameroon
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I attempted to cut Neil's
hair which resulted in him adopting the tennis ball look. Oh well.
Fortunately he doesn't carry it off too badly with his less pasty
look and his beard. We went to the fish market in Kribi Town for
lunch. It was the freshest, most delicious fish I have ever tasted.
You select your fish from the market and it is cooked for you, on
the coals, while you wait and served with chips, plantain and
sauces, washed down with a cold beer. Even Neil, the determined
fish-hater, enjoyed the sea bass so it must have been good.
We had a very successful shop for everything we needed and then
took our lives into our hands as we and our shopping bags piled
onto the back of a 'taxi-moto' ( motorbike) for the 3km back to the
campsite. I held tight to Neil, whilst clinging to a large bag and
trying not to think about the fact that the driver smelt slightly
of alcohol, we had no helmets on and I was sitting on the luggage
rack. |
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Day 122 | 23 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Mission, Yaoundé, Cameroon
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We left with Darrin for
the drive to Yaoundé, which was mostly uneventful and good tarmac.
We saw some interesting specimens of 'bush meat' along the way.
Bush meat is the generic term for any animals caught in the bush,
be it cats, rabbits, monkeys, rats or snakes. Needless to say, when
a menu offers bush meat as an option, we tend to opt for a plate of
chips. We saw a few very large rodents - probably cane rats - and a
wild cat of some sort. Yaoundé is a busy, hazy, rather typical
African city. At the petrol station we bumped into Rob from the
Cycle for Hope team, which was a nice surprise and we hope to be
able to catch up with them while we are here.
Our campsite at the Presbyterian Mission is peaceful and rather
surreal. The guest house itself is a two-storey, gabled, red brick
building and we are parked on a very well groomed lawn. The smell
of freshly cut grass was very nostalgic.
After being warned that we shouldn't walk anywhere out of the
centre at night as a group of Europeans staying here last week were
attacked with machetes, we were assured that we were absolutely
safe in the field. We hope they're right.
We were so happy to see our Spanish friends here when we
arrived. We had last seen them in Abuja and had been seriously
worried whether their little 2x4 van would make it through the
crazy road from Ekok to Mamfe. It turns out that what had taken us
3 hours, took them a week. They had had all sorts of adventures,
getting stuck numerous times and eventually having to pay for a
truck to come and get them out. We stand in awe of their
perseverance and positive spirit. Now they have made it this far,
there really shouldn't be anything major stopping them between here
and South Africa. |
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Day 123 | 24 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Mission, Yaoundé, Cameroon
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We had a relaxing day
enjoying probably the most delicious bakery I have ever set eyes
on. You could tell we had been deprived of decent cakes and
pastries by the way we all just stopped one step inside the door
and gawped, mouths open wide, at all the wonderful delicacies on
offer: cakes, biscuits, bread, pastries, ice creams, pizzas...
Another clue was the way we then all proceeded to buy ridiculous
amounts of food, calculating how many different things we could try
if we ate bakery products for three meals a day whilst we were
here.
We had a lovely evening with Ruth-Abigail - an old family friend
who has been living and working as a teacher in Yaoundé for the
last ten years. It was great to be in a home again, enjoy good
conversation and be treated to a delicious local dish of ginger
beef. Later in the evening, her pastor and his wife and their
daughter popped in. They were a very fun and friendly couple. He,
Antoine, is a very influential man in Cameroon, working as
the chief advisor to one of the government ministers. They prayed
for our safety as they left and we felt extremely blessed and
humbled to have met them.
When we got home we were very excited to see Tango again - our
Lithuanian biker friend, who we had spent a few days with in Abuja.
His couch-surfing in Yaoundé had not really worked out so he had
ended up coming to the mission too. |
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Day 124 | 25 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Mission, Yaoundé, Cameroon
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Neil has come down with
the bug that I had in Buea, which has delayed our departure from
Yaoundé but this has given us the excuse to hang out with our
Spanish, Italian, Lithuanian and Kiwi friends for a while longer. |
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Day 125 | 26 Mar 2010
Presbyterian Mission, Yaoundé, Cameroon
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We finally managed to
negotiate ourselves around Yaoundé's incomprehensible taxi system.
It turns out to be rather strange. Basically people stand on the
side of the road and yell out a destination and a price. The taxi
driver then decides whether or not he wants to pick them up based
on a) his destination and b) whether he can be bothered for the
suggested price. The drivers seem to bypass hundreds of prospecting
customers, not even bothering to say 'sorry' or 'no not this time'
but just driving off with a shake of the head.
We met up with Rob and Kyla, from the Cycle for Hope team, for
an hour or so as well as doing some other jobs. Yaoundé doesn't
have a very nice feel about it, which was confirmed to us when Kyla
told us about one of their team members having been mugged. We are
definitely feeling ready to move on.
Back at the Presby Ranch Neil and Darrin taught Tango how to
play cricket before we all ate together. Tomorrow we will go our
separate ways, which will be strange after being with people for so
long. However, we feel it is right to go ahead and are very excited
about the next stage of our trip. It really is full steam ahead now
to Namibia and it is finally beginning to feel like a realisable
dream after so long. |
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